This may seem trivial, or somewhat obvious, but as second semester starts with exams and/or assignments, being close to friends and course mates can prove essential to how you revise and write assignments.
It may be that you go out for a few hours to catch up, or it may be you go to the library to help each other with your work. It's important to make sure that you don't just sit alone in your bedroom everyday until your assessments. You should prioritise your wellbeing and also check in with friends, to see if they're doing okay too.
2. Take a breath
Once exam and assignment season is over, and before lectures start, take time for yourself. This could be reading a good book, going for food with your partner or friends, or go out out!
I always suggest going somewhere new for food as I feel it keeps your brain active. You have to plan the times you set off unlike to when you go somewhere regularly and it becomes second nature.
You have to explore the drinks, the food, and the ambience in order to gage whether you would come back. Whether it's your first second semester or your final second semester, there will be plenty of places in Newcastle that you are yet to explore.
3. Keep organised
In the build up to Christmas, like most, I lost my organisation with seminar readings and my time management on particular modules. I started prioritising modules that had the longest deadlines, rather than the closer ones. Crazy right?
Now those modules are over (for me anyway), it is time to begin prioritising my modules correctly. Whether making a list of to-dos for that particular day or week, start keeping a calendar with everything I do in it, or writing everything down or keeping it on an electronic device- I find seeing what I need to do on paper useful.
At the beginning of each week, I make sure my email calendars are all up to date and I include my to-dos for when I have a minute to do them. I find it tricky to relax and have down time when I know I have an assignment, but I know it's important, so I make time to put it in.
Sometimes reading articles like this may seem obvious, but sometimes you forget to do the obvious! I forget that it's okay to spend an hour chatting to my friends, making sure we are both doing well, is actually an hour well spent.
That hour can be more productive than if I was sat in my living room with my laptop on my lap and my headphones on. So, second semester is all about getting my act together like I should have done in first semester.
