Reflecting on my time: the second week

The week from Monday 29 September to Sunday 5 October made up the second week of the survey of daily activites undertaken as part of assessment for COMP1900. This was the mid-semester break at the University of Queensland, and having the daily activities survey coincide with this week presented some challenges. First and foremost, it certainly wasn't a business-as-usual week, meaning that there was no time occupied by classes and my time travelling was dramatically reduced since I didn't have to commute each day.

On the other hand, universities traditionally make mid-semester breaks a week for personal study and assignment completion, and this was certainly the case for me during this week. I had one assignment due by electronic submission early that week, with a further three due the week after the break. Knowing exams were coming up, I deliberately studied for each subject at the time I would usually have had a lecture, practical or tutorial.

I'm afraid to say that I attempted to study each day of the break. The total time earmarked for study amounted to 63 hours, which included the 19½ hours I would normally have spent in classes. How effective those hours were however is another story, and is one I will leave for a later blog post about my overall study effectiveness.

My leisure time marginally increased, partly by way of an increase in recreational activities and part through some extra sleep. The break afforded me the opportunity to have some sleep-ins and avoid the 6am and 7am starts I usually did in normal weeks. Total leisure time was 94 hours, of which sleeping made up 59 (up from 55 the week before) and where I spent 35 hours doing recreational activities (up from 26.75 the week before).

Since I did not have to commute to uni each day, including commutes at peak hour when travel is slower, my time spent travelling dropped from over 8 hours to just 3.

I spent less time studying on the Saturday and Sunday as I was beginning to become unwell, perhaps indicating a need to have reserved a bit more time for leisure earlier in the week.