Ideas for staying on track

Hello All! Happy New Year to everyone and I hope everyone has had a good start to the year. My name is Shivani Govindia and I’ve recently completed an MA Advertising & PR (part-time) at Richmond. I’m currently doing a new internship at a charity called Afghanistan and Central Asian Association as a Communications Intern while I look for a longer-term role.

January always seems like a very long month and this is usually because of the cold weather but we have almost got through it!

After finishing my MA last September, the past couple of months have been strange as I now feel more ‘like an adult’ such as going into the working world. Doing my MA taught me better ways to be organized which I would like to share with you so you can be more stress-free throughout the academic year.

1. As soon as I started my first term, I made sure I figured out how I wanted to be organized with my notes. This is why I had brought plastic folders and plastic sleeves where I would put all my typed-up printed notes after every lecture. I did this so it was much easier to find my notes to look back on them when doing an assignment
2. I wrote each assignment deadline on a Word document and stuck it up on my bedroom wall so I remembered them and I  set reminders on my phone. Doing this helped spur me on to not leave work to the last minute and avoid stress
3. If I had group work to do for an assessed assignment, I made sure we planned to meet at least each week to go over what we needed to do and practise if we had a presentation. This helped us to draw on our ideas and give others a chance to share their opinions on what else we should include in the project to avoid unnecessary arguments
4. To make sure I asked my professors any urgent questions after a lecture for an assignment and this stopped me from getting confused or lost before a deadline. Nevertheless, the main goal is to try and stay on track and on top of things which I know is sometimes easier said than done

Though these four key things were helpful to me and could help you, there are many other ways you can try and stay organized to suit your own learning needs.

Lastly, if you are struggling, then don’t be scared to speak to your course leader who can go over things with you. Good luck all for 2022. We will smash it!