Guide to Productivity for College Students

By: Erin Hong, Jasmine Wang, Katherine Gan

A year into the global pandemic, back to back zoom meetings, breakout rooms full of awkward silences, and endless hours glued on your study chair seem to be the new normal. What started as a refreshing break to the hustle and bustle of in-person classes became a never ending cycle of boredom and burnout. According to a newsletter by MedicalNewsToday, a March 2020 survey showed that 38% of the US population felt tired or fatigued. Around 24% of those surveyed also reported an increased difficulty in concentrating since the start of the pandemic. The question now is, how do we combat this ‘zoom fatigue’ and continue to stay productive during this time? In this article, we will offer some insights into how we, as UC Berkeley students, struggled and dealt with burnout. But more importantly, we will share with you some tips and tricks on how to stay productive and make the most of your work time!

Productivity Anecdotes

Erin

My first semester of college, I felt on top of the world — I was meeting new people, exploring brand-new places, and finally feeling a sense of purpose in Cal’s widely renowned academic departments. I came to college straight off of my high school high horse, and my newly-minted freshman self welcomed distractions with open arms, whether it was through a hallmate that randomly stumbled through my door for a midnight chat, or an impromptu trip to the Berkeley Marina. This was all fun and games, until I received my first semester grade report. Staring down at the worst grades I had ever gotten in the history of my academic career, I knew I had to change my habits.

Snapped back into reality, I realized that I had virtually released any ability I had to study productively, and my grades were a true reflection of that. Feeling slightly alone in my academic downfall, I scoured the school website for resources, and crowdsourced even more advice from my classmates. Coming across a multitude of helpful resources that I had previously seen but never accessed, I immediately felt a little foolish. All around me, students were suffering from imposter syndrome, and I was definitely not immune to it. The stress of how to thrive in the competitive environment of UC Berkeley, a huge public school with, quite literally, thousands of both smart and capable overachieving students, felt insanely overwhelming. I felt hopeless for a moment, but realized I couldn’t change what had happened in the past. Putting my head down to work, I switched up my mindset, empowered and motivated to use every resource I could to get me back on track — the only thing I could change was what I did from then on.

After this realization, I knew I had to make a concrete plan to carry out my newly made goals. Prioritizing organization, I used Google Calendar to keep track of events I had to attend (lectures, club meetings, etc) and a physical, written planner to keep track of all the tasks I had to complete. For Google Calendar, I created a weekly schedule of my classes and recurring events, using the recurring features available on the site. I also made a habit of inputting any event that came up immediately into the calendar, so I wouldn’t miss anything on that front. As for my written planner, as the semester went on, I realized that most assignments were repeated weekly, so I created a schedule of assignments that I could cross off manually when I completed them. Knowing that I had everything I needed to do written down, in places that I always check, I was able to really concentrate on the quality of my work. These habits allowed me to almost eliminate the subconscious worry that I was missing a deadline, which had become an increasing concern for me during online school.

Throughout my tumultuous academic journey at Berkeley, I feel like I’m constantly learning about new resources for studying, and continually tweaking my own productivity and study habits to optimize them. But no matter how much I’ve learned about new study skills, actually implementing them is definitely the toughest part. To any incoming freshman, I would say: don’t worry too much about your first semester, but realize that the same things that worked for you in high school will most likely not work for you in college. And although it might take some time, make sure you really find what works for you; don’t feel bad about the things you can’t change. You learn with every step you take; I wouldn’t have been able to get to the place I am without all the steps I’ve taken backwards to get there. And really, don’t be afraid to ask for help and use all the resources you can get! People are there to help you become the best student you can be.

Jasmine

I have always been a planner, but more specifically an optimistic one. While optimism is a great characteristic to have, there is still a fine line between optimism and idealism. More often than not, I schedule an unreasonable amount of tasks I want to accomplish only to be disappointed at the end of the day when only four of the ten empty squares are checked. The feelings that follow usually resemble waves of regret, then guilt, and finally disappointment. Negative thoughts begin to flood my mind: “Why can’t you accomplish such a simple goal?”, “That hour you spent on YouTube could have been used to finish the essay”, “You’re so incompetent compared to your peers.” The optimistic mindset that I had in the beginning of the day quickly turns into pessimism and self-deprecation, and motivation to work completely dissipate into thin air.

Maybe some of you reading this right now find this relatable, a little too relatable even. My encouragement to you is that you are not alone! In fact, according to a study conducted by the University of Scranton, 92% of people who make New Year’s resolutions fail to achieve them. But how can we practically improve? In my two years at UC Berkeley, I’ve made several tweaks and additions to my study habits to help me become more productive. Although it may not work for everyone, hopefully this can point some of you in the right direction!

First and foremost, what helped me was to realize that it is not always good to be overly optimistic, but instead to be true to yourself. I discovered that the reason for my lack of productivity was overestimating myself and underestimating the time I have in a day to accomplish certain tasks. As soon as I realized this, I started to plan less in my day and schedule assignments realistically. Instead of ten assignments, I reduced it to four. Being realistic with my abilities helped increase my self-confidence at the end of the day. To be able to say “I accomplished all four of my goals” is a whole lot more satisfying than saying “I accomplished only four of my ten goals.”

In addition to assigning myself a realistic amount of work, I also reassessed my study habits. As someone who gets distracted easily, I find myself falling behind schedule as an aimless Instagram scroll all of a sudden sets back my whole schedule by an hour. What helped me combat this is to plan out an hour-by-hour schedule for the tasks I have to complete, but most importantly, to schedule breaks in between! That way, short social media breaks no longer seem like a ‘crime’ but is simply another task to complete.

A tool that helped me stay focused is a productivity app called Flora! This app plants a virtual plant that dies whenever you exit the app for a prolonged amount of time. At the end of the specified time, you are rewarded with a new plant that you can add to the garden! The best part is, you can do this with friends — introducing an aspect of accountability as well. Coupling productivity apps like this one along with an hour-by-hour schedule really helped me improve my productivity. I learned to use my time efficiently and work smarter rather than harder. At the end of the day, I think the key to productivity is to know yourself and be true to yourself! Do what is realistic for you and slowly improve from there.

Katherine

Coming from an extremely competitive environment in high school, I felt that I was fully prepared to tackle college. I figured since I was able to succeed with the habits that I developed during high school, I would be able to carry those same routines to perform well in college too. One of the habits I was persistent in continuing was manually writing down in a planner all the assignments I had to complete and all the events I had to go to. This was something that was extremely effective for me in high school, as my teachers would each have a list of assignments that I would just copy down before class ended each period, every day. However, college life proved extremely different — there were no longer mandatory classes every day, and professors would not always remind me of what needed to be completed. As a result, I realized that oftentimes, I would either forget to complete an assignment from not writing it in my planner, or just not check it at all. In addition to this forgetfulness, I found myself not using my time productively, as I would often have large chunks of time between classes and feel conflicted between doing work or trying to find events to go to, as there was always something going on around campus. Yet, this conflict often led me to overthink about everything that I had to do or wanted to do, and not actually get anything done as a result. I wanted to get the most out of my college experience, and this pressure was a big stressor that I dealt with throughout the entirety of my first semester.

In my second semester of freshman year, I recognized and acknowledged that this was a problem I was facing, and began actively trying to change my habits to work on improving this issue. I was able to meet a lot of upperclassmen through an organization I joined, who all had more experience with college life and productivity habits. From them, I was able to take away a lot of useful tips that I began incorporating into my own life, which really helped me boost my productivity and feel less overwhelmed with everything that was going on.

Learning how to compartmentalize my time was one of the key factors that helped me manage everything I had to do. I discovered a few resources and tools that greatly helped facilitate this process, which we’ll be elaborating on in the next section. Google Calendar and Todoist are two of my personal favorites. Tracking my daily schedule on Google Calendar by putting any classes, events, or meetups helped me see clearly everything I had planned for the day. Taking it a step further, I also began blocking off time to complete assignments to ensure that I would stay on top of all my work. All I had to do was spend a few minutes planning my day, and then I’d be able to reference my calendar to see what I should be doing during that time. With this, however, I also realized that scheduling breaks for myself was just as important as scheduling work and responsibilities. In the beginning, I was a bit too ambitious and had myself scheduled to be working almost every available hour of the day. After being unable to keep up with everything I had planned, I began setting more realistic goals, and also made sure to plan in breaks as well. This greatly improved my focus and made me more productive on a daily basis.

Going through the first semester was definitely a good learning process. Although I struggled initially, the lessons that I was able to learn about myself and my study habits propelled me to work harder and continue improving. This has ultimately helped me feel much more confident in what I can accomplish!

Productivity Tips + Tricks + Tools

Todoist is a free Google Chrome extension that essentially serves as a “to-do list.” You can write down any assignments you have to complete, or remind yourself of other tasks you need to do. I find it extremely helpful for keeping track of everything I need to get done, as whenever something comes to mind I simply make a note of it on Todoist. Just like other to-do lists, you can write down what needs to be done for each specific day, so if something comes up that needs to be done on a day that is quite far away but you don’t want to forget it, you can assign Todoist to remind you on that day. I’ve found it extremely useful for managing all the little tasks I have to do along with major assignments, as I can always reference the list and check it off once done. Plus, it’s extremely satisfying marking things as completed!

Sticky Notes is a digital version of the traditional sticky note, available via Google Chrome extension. It is very useful for tracking major deadlines, reminders, or even jotting down some heartwarming inspirational quotes! Because Sticky Notes are displayed on the Desktop, it is also super accessible and easy to use.

Notion is a tool that has many different functionalities, all of which are designed to help you stay organized. We’ve used it to keep track of assignments and job applications, but also to organize timelines and schedules for a team project. There are tons of templates readily available for different purposes — all free on the platform! You also have many options to customize the design, structure, and layout for each template you use.

This form of organization definitely takes a lot more energy, but it works really well for keeping track of all the tasks you have to complete. Erin prefers writing all herassignments out, as the process of writing helps her remember her tasks for the future, and gives her time to thoroughly think out all mandatory assignments, so she doesn’t miss out on any. Make sure you choose the option that is right for you, whether it be lined paper or a bullet journal style; personally, Erin really enjoys blank notebook paper where she can write freeflow!

But what about exams though?? — Erin

It’s that time in the semester: midterm season. You’ve fallen a bit behind on watching class lectures, there are 10 review sessions coming up, you have a project due the day after the exam… in this crucial time, what do you prioritize?

To be honest, it really depends on how much time you have before your big exam. I would prioritize exposure to unseen material first, if you have been falling behind in lectures, as you might be able to get easy points from merely seeing some of the material once. Next on the list, optimizing the time you have left after exposing yourself to the material at least once. Think to yourself, what kind of class is this? Are the tests problem set heavy, or are they more memorization based? In my time at Cal, I’ve found that more technical classes in the math, computer science, and chemistry departments are more of the former, while biology and language classes are more memorization based. In my experience, it was definitely the most helpful when I practiced for the test based on how the test was formatted, as the more familiar you get with the way the test is taken, the more you can concentrate on the actual content of the test.

Although we cannot guarantee these recommendations will work for everyone, our hope is that these tips and tricks will help point you in the right direction and assist you in perfecting your individual study style! The most important advice from us to you, is to know yourself and do what is realistic for you. Once you’ve established that standard, then gradually adjust and adapt to the college environment! And finally, never be afraid to seek out support from your peers or professors, chances are they are more than happy to help out. College is a place to experiment and explore, so be bold and try out multiple methods. It may take time, but we guarantee you that you will find your own productivity handbook!

Sources

• Stats on mental health during Covid (e.i. Includes concentration, fatigue and anxiety): https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/mental-health-during-the-pandemic-1-year-on#Where-we-were-a-year-ago
• Stats on academic performance and study hours: https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/06/23/report-covid-19-has-hurt-college-students

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