It’s easy to stay stuck in a holiday mentality after months off uni, especially if you’re smack bang in the middle of your degree like me. But it’s important that we don’t let our work or busy social life overtake our studies.

Here are our tips for making sure your degree comes first, always.

Use Your Calendar

Keeping a calendar is the best way to schedule time for you, your degree and everything in between. Most calendar applications will allow you to keep separate calendars all in the one place so all you’ll need to do is open up the app and see what day’s you’re working, at uni and have assignments due.

You can also sync your calendar with Facebook events so you can see events happening on campus in the same place.

N/A Work At Busy Uni Periods

We tend to do well at the beginning of each semester because we’ve got a rush of motivation. Yet come week nine everyone starts to feel the pressure of assignments and exams we get too fatigued to care.

Plan in advance and don’t be afraid to take time off work during this period. We’re not superman, we’re students, and we can’t do it all. Taking adequate time for breaks during this period and ensuring you’re well rested will mean that you perform at your best when it really counts. Sure, you might miss out on a few bucks from the shifts but you can always make it up in the break.

Actually Ask For Help

It’s as easy as starting a group online with the people in your tutorials. This ensures you have a common forum where you can all voice your questions and get support.

It’s also handy to sometimes stay back after tutorials and ask your lecturer questions, especially if they’re not responsive to emails.

Don’t Neglect Your Support Network

In my personal experience, it can be very easy to isolate yourself and keep your head down studying. While it’s obviously important to study, don’t forget to make time for friends at least once a week to take the edge off. It seems counterintuitive, but making time for friends is a way of prioritising your education.

If you really don’t have time to stop studying, why not get the gang together for a study session? University libraries are almost always open and are not exclusionary to students from other schools. Grab a snack and get to work!

Study As You Go

As painful as it sounds, doing half an hour of revision after each class will actually save you a world of stress later on in the semester. Consider it like a challenge: some days you absolutely will not be bothered but have to power through anyway.

Paying attention to how much you’re taking in is a really important part of putting your degree first.

If Something Isn’t Working For You, Evolve

If you’ve requested less hours at work and still can’t manage them with uni, consider eliminating it all together. Same goes for people who demand your attention but don’t make you happy from being around them.

Cut out time-wasters and energy-drainers because you will exhaust yourself if you try to hold onto things that are detracting from your happiness.

The key to success at uni is working hard, doing what you love and making time for the people who support you and help you to be the best that you can be.

(Lead image: Community/NBC)