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February 18, 2022

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Tips to Study Effectively at Home

This blog post features studying advice from our alumni as well as some inexpensive things you can buy to make your home study more productive and comfortable

“Our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we continue to live.”

These words from adult education advocate Mortimer Adler show the beauty and power of lifelong education. As of the moment of writing, the pandemic is just beginning to slow down. Its arrival back in 2020 forced us to massively adopt online learning at home. Whether taking up free online courses, or trying to earn their high school or college diplomas, studying at home has become part of the new normal. In fact, Philippine tertiary education regulatory agency CHED has mentioned that online classes will stay in the long run, in some form or another.

That is why for this blog post, we’re going to share a few unique home studying tips and tools to help you succeed in whether you are completing your high school or college diploma or a data science or analytics program at Eskwelabs.

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Eskwelabs Alums Share Their Home Studying Tips

Our graduates know what it’s like to succeed in online learning. . Learning data skills in 8-weeks and 12-weeks with a cohort has provided our alums the opportunity to hone in on their online studying skills. . Here our alums Darwin and Riz share their tips for success.

Darwin Gabriel del Mundo

Darwin loves studying at home because there is no added cost for things like coffee or food. He also relishes the fact that at home, you can stay anytime (early morning or late at night).

In case you have a noisy home, Darwin advises to find time to study early in the morning while everyone is asleep or look for a time when everyone is away. He also recommends buying a good pair of headphones. There are many noise-cancelling headphones available in the market today.

Darwin also says that the Pomodoro Technique has helped him focus on his studies well. He says this technique, which is good for those who have short attention spans, involves setting up a timer to allot tiny breaks between work periods. Darwin explains that he applies a 5-minute break after 15 minutes of study. He adds the break could be as long as 10 minutes for a 50-minute study period.

Getting down to business is important for Darwin. That’s why he recommends setting up a work or study area that has minimal distractions and clutter. The basics for any study area, according to him, include a timer, pen and paper, headphones, and lofi music without lyrics.

For relaxation, he advises studying topics that excite you instead of excess distractions. Darwin also advocates exercise as a way to minimize mental noise and keep yourself motivated.

Riz Comia

Riz also enjoys home studying because there is no transportation or getting stuck in traffic involved.

She advises students to set up a study area away from the bed if they easily get sleepy. Riz also agrees with Darwin in setting up an appropriate schedule that works for you and setting up breaks. However, her variation is the 20-20-20 rule, where after a 20-minute work period, you would look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. Riz says this is how you could “have mercy on your eyes.”

Riz finds distractions especially challenging in the age of online learning. Therefore, she recommends using website blockers as browser extensions (apps running within browsers such as Chrome or Edge). This will prevent running down “rabbit holes like YouTube and Netflix,” as she candidly admits. Other tools she recommends include Google Calendar (for scheduling), Adobe Acrobat Reader (for highlighting and note-taking), and the Discord chat app (to build online study groups to keep you disciplined).

The work area where Riz spent time studying has an interesting assortment of labels, a to-do list (or calendar), and a bottle of water or mug of tea. The labels help her save time looking for her things while the to-do list is to keep her focused on her task. Meanwhile, she says tea or water keeps her hydrated. What Riz says is good for studying, according to relevant research.

Now that Riz has delved on the hardware and software necessary to study effectively at home, she moves on to the human aspect. She advises students to get 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night and use classical conditioning to combat anxiety, depression, and build good habits effectively.

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Cool and Cheap Upgrades for Your Study Routine at Home

Sometimes, it’s the little things that make a big difference.

We have compiled for you some simple items you can buy (many of which are inexpensive) in order to make your studies in your house more pleasant, comfortable, and productive. Many of these are available in your local mall or on your favorite online shopping app.

Wrist Rests

Watch the part of your forearm where your watch usually sits. Failure to do so will lead to hand and wrist pain, often known as carpal tunnel syndrome. This condition, common to gamers, can also be felt by students who use their computer keyboards for too long. What happens here is that the median nerve, located somewhere in the palm, gets compressed too long due to prolonged typing or holding of a game controller.That is why it’s important to find a way to allow your hands to be elevated instead of bend at an upward angle. Here is where wrist rests come to the rescue. The height of a wrist rest is usually on the level of the keyboard, avoiding the said upward angle that compresses the median nerve.

With this nifty little tool, long Internet research works and thesis typing become a walk in the park.

Do Not Disturb Sign

This little thing you hang on your doorknob may be a no-brainer, but it’s a vital way of marking your boundaries at home.

Appeal to your parents or other family members to abide by the rule of obeying the “Do Not Disturb” sign. Otherwise, you can tell them that your future potential earning power lessens every time they interrupt you. Don’t overdo it though, as you should also try to make up for it by doing chores sometimes.

Forest App

The “no cellphones in class” rule can no longer be enforced when classes are held online.The closure of many school libraries also means that the home also doubles as a library, thanks to the Internet. However, when doing one’s assignments, it’s easy to just waste time constantly checking your phone for likes or news feed updates.

How can you avoid this distraction?

Enter the Forest app. This app is especially effective for tree huggers. According to online tech publication Make Use Of, the app limits your smartphone usage by “withering” a virtual tree if you fail to stay away from your phone for a preset amount of time (i.e. you can set it if you want to focus for an hour and not touch your phone for that time period). If you are able to control yourself, a virtual tree will grow. Eventually, your self discipline will lead to a virtual forest of trees.

And if you’re a hard core environmentalist, you’ll be happy to know that your discipline can even help plant real trees worldwide!

Venetian Blinds

Society’s bastions of productivity, such as schools and offices, often use venetian blinds to cover their windows.

According to architecturaldigest.com, these adjustable horizontal slats are highly effective at filtering and blocking out light while letting in the view outside. This is especially crucial if your window experiences more intense sunlight as a day goes by. A simple tug on a string is all you need to maximize or minimize the sunlight coming into your room.

Since natural sunlight is known to improve one’s mood and enthusiasm, having Venetian blinds ensures that you get the sun rays you need, all day, without hurting your eyes.

Ergonomic Chair

If your study materials are your subjects, then your study chair is your throne.

One of the best ways to dominate (or simply pass) your school subjects while classes are still online is by investing in an ergonomic chair. In general, a chair like this enables you to maintain a healthy posture and sit for long hours without causing you body pain.

Homes and Gardens has mentioned some ergonomic experts’ advice on how to select an ergonomic chair. The bare minimum features this type of chair should have include mechanisms for height adjustment, a way to make the chair swivel, and the presence of lumbar support and casters. The chair height must also allow you to rest your feet flat on the floor with your hips parallel to your knees.

Having an ergonomic chair, however, doesn’t mean you should not take breaks anymore. Remember that regardless of the chair you have, find time to stretch, stand up, and take regular breaks to maintain productivity throughout the day.

Soundproofing Strip

This strip can help minimize the noise in your home and give you that small (but valuable) measure of peace to keep you focused. It also prevents cool air from your air-conditioning from leaking out of your room! Soundproofing strips are available in many local e-commerce apps.

Check out this video to get ideas on how to install this.

Set Yourself Up for Success in Your Studies and at Work

Now that you know how to set yourself up for success in home studying, why not prepare for the future of work as well?

Data analytics and data science skills are in demand both locally and in major developed countries like the United States. In response to this demand in the job market, many professionals and even some students have started enrolling in data science schools to enhance their career prospects.

With the home studying tips that we provided, you can have a better chance of succeeding in our fully online Data Analytics Bootcamp and Data Science Fellowship. The data analytics learning track lasts around 8 weeks while the data science program takes around 12 weeks to finish. In short, our two bootcamps won’t even take much of your time compared to other courses of the same caliber.

And through our Industry Apprenticeship, you will get the opportunity to work and earn right after graduation.

Studying at home can be a challenge. But with our tips and our data know-how, you will not only be able to effectively study at home. You will also be able to prepare yourself for the world of work.

Tips to Study Effectively at Home