How To Study On Holiday

Okay but before we get into this post I just want to say how proud I am of this shot!! I took it using my little Sony point and shoot because guess who left their big girl camera charger in England (yes good it was me) and it turned out so much better than I expected! I also used Lily's handy post on tips for taking travel photos on your own, and while this isn't exactly a travel photo it still helped out a lot. Although, if you're supposed to be studying, taking photos of yourself standing pensively at a french door probably isn't going to help, so there's tip #1 for you! 

ANYway, I thought for today's post I'd share some of the things I've learned over the past years having to study on our annual family ski trips, and how you can still be productive and have a holiday at the same time. I've done a ski trip the year of my GCSEs, my AS Levels, my A Levels and this year with four coursework deadlines over the next three weeks. I'm not saying I'm an expert or anything on what good studying practice is but I'd say I've at least learned something, so here we go.

Put the phone down

I know, I know. Groundbreaking. But this is a basic study tip. And I also know that in today's smartphone generation (believe me, my little sister is one of them so I've got the firsthand experience) it can be an extremely difficult concept to just leave the phone alone for however long but what I used consistently through all my big blocks of exams was an app called Cold Turkey, which completely locks your phone for the amount of time you set it to. Like, completely locks it. And yes, it's scary, but my productivity pretty much triples if I don't have constant access to my phone.

A good balance of carrot and stick

For some reason this is one of my dad's favourite phrases. Essentially, carrot = play and stick = work. A holiday can't be all stick and no carrot but it also can't be all carrot and no stick. Ski holidays especially are a toughie because when you're in a ski resort and have a clear view of a lush looking ski slope in front of you, it can be so hard to say no, I need to study today. But, what I like to do is schedule in my carrot-heavy days. We go skiing for 6 days, so out of those 6, this year I've skied three and stayed home and worked 3. What makes it easier is scheduling your stick days for the days when the weather is going to be terrible, but obviously that doesn't apply to every holiday. In previous years, I've skied every day but done half a day's skiing and gone down after lunch to work for the afternoon.

Don't overestimate what you can do

At the end of the day, you are on holiday. That means it's going to be hard to do a full 7 hours a day studying like you might do at home (before you come at me, I'm not saying this is essential AT ALL - we all remember that Guardian article) especially if you do what we do and go on big holidays with family friends. So, before you go, plan the amount of time you'll have each evening or each day and take enough work with you to fill that time. Use the time you do have productively, but also don't be too hard on yourself if you don't quite do what you thought you would, or if you have an evening off to enjoy being with your family.

Work to goals, not time

That being said, it's also extremely useful to stop focusing on the amount of time you have, and focus more on the amount of study you have. This applies much more to GCSE exams or A Level exams where you might have set chapters of notes to do, or sets of exercises, so rather than sitting down and saying "I'm going to do forty mintues of studying" sit down and say "I'm going to do this chapter of notes/this number of maths problems and then give myself a twenty minute break". This helps you focus more on productivity as well. I'm as guilty as the next person for sitting down for a forty minute session and spending twenty of those minutes writing pretty titles and then getting up and thinking I've been much more productive than I have. This way you actually use your time much more efficiently and you're actually able to cross those things off your to-do list. If you cross as many things off in a day you'll really feel like you've earned the next day's fun.

Remember you are on holiday!

I've tried to reiterate through this whole post that you don't have to study all day every day. You're on holiday for a reason, and that's to have a break and relax and escape everyday life for a bit. It's okay to have an evening off to relax with your family and friends, and if you've done enough studying before your holiday or you know you'll do enough afterwards, you can really enjoy the break knowing that you've done enough. It's a tough balance to strike, but with a good work ethic and discipline, studying on holiday isn't actually all that bad. Plus, you get pretty views and good food while you work, so silver linings!

I hope this post may have helped a couple of you at least, like I said before, I'm in no way an expert on the best study methods, this is just what I've found has worked for me from my experience, so it might work for you too! Now, back to my essay...

What are your tips for studying on holiday?

Em xx