My own study effectiveness

As you can see, my life at the moment would probably be a case of 'all work and no play'. That is certainly true, and the thing that is probably getting me through all of this is the knowledge that this time in three weeks this semester this hard work will be all over and will be worth it - if I pass all my courses I can relax before getting my graduation certificate on the 1st December.

Upon reflection, though, I could not say for certain that all those hours of study have been overly effective. I think blended into the hours that I earmark as 'study' is also a great deal of distractedness, dithering and procrastination. I don't believe, however, that having a job on top of the number of subjects I am currently undertaking would in-and-of-itself improve my study effectiveness. At the time of the survey I was pretty stressed, and I think having to deal with getting to and from work and spending time doing work away from my study comittments would only have added to my stress.

I am fully aware that there is room for improvement in my study effectiveness. Having employment would be ideal - I miss the volunteer work I used to do with St John Ambulance before this year. I would also benefit from having a scheduled recreational activity to do during the week or on the weekend, to break up my study time.

A complication that arose during the surveying phase for our group was the inclusion of sleep in the 'leisure' category. This therefore rendered that category less-than-useful, since there ws no way to isolate how much sleep I was getting or how much free time I enjoyed. This can be seen in the following graph of my Week 2 survey (click for larger view):

In contrast, by allocating sleep to a category of its own, it improves the sensitivity of the other categories and allows them to be seen. A graph of the same data reflecting this change is featured here (click for larger view):

Overall, I think that this task has provided an excellent opportunity to audit my own study behaviour, just at the right time before my exams begin. Although large changes may not be possible before exams start, I can at least ensure that my study for the next three weeks is productive and focussed. I can then focus on implementing more integral changes for next year when I start my medical degree.