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Hey guys, just wanted to quickly introduce myself as someone you can go to for academic assistance. If you need help with history, humanities, literature, or writing feel free to reach out to me either on here or my DM's.

So, it's finals today and I have a problem. I had all A's this semester, and a lot of them dropped to B's, C's, and one F... I don't know what happened, but I feel like my brain has been fried this month, it seems so hard to focus on work and study like I used to at the beginning of the semester. What can I do?

Is this burnout?

@The Eternal Anglo Where are you studying?

As in, physical location. Are you near a computer or a laptop when studying?

I study at my home PC, in the master bedroom

All my classes require online attention

What subjects are you taking?

(in general)

Intermediate Algebra, Python, Microcomputer application (Microsoft applications) visual arts, and intermediate english

Are you finding yourself neglecting one or more subjects until the deadline becomes uncomfortably close?

Yupp, mainly with math/microsoft applications

(first year student btw)

Are you familiar with the term "context switching?"

Not entirely

OK, so here's what I think is happening. It's the same problem I had throughout my college years.

You're studying on your PC, seems like that's by necessity

but there are so many distractions available

Discord, Twitter, who knows what else

So as soon as the material becomes boring or difficult to comprehend, your brain seeks the easier novelty available through these other mediums

And then you jump to another subject in which you think it will be easier to accomplish something at the time.

Is what I'm saying correct?

Sounds right actually

OK, so the first item of business is to limit distractions. Here's my advice for that.

If all your study material is online, that's a big challenge. It's much easier to focus on printed material.

If you can obtain printed material, I highly recommend it. But it's not a necessity.

What you have to do is, before you sit down to study, make a list of what you want to accomplish in each course.

So in today's Python session you're going to understand the concept of generators and write some example code or complete the exercises.

And that's **all** you're going to allow yourself to do once you start

Everything else gets turned off. Use a stripped-down browser, remove all other devices from the area.

If you cheat, you're only cheating yourself.

Once you check it off, take a break. Fifteen minutes is usually ideal. Get up, walk around, rest your eyes, check your various social media, then knock out the next item.

When you context switch frequently, you don't allow yourself to build up a foundation for learning, understanding, and retaining material. It all gets flushed out as soon as you switch to some other distraction or task.

If you have an old laptop laying around, it might be worth it to do a fresh install of your preferred OS on it, and ONLY install the bare minimum you need to use it for your coursework

and take it somewhere quiet, like the library or bookstore

that way you're in a place that's not as comfortable to you. That actually improves focus in my experience.

I never studied in my dorm room. I always went to the library. But all my material was printed back then (2000-2004).

It may be a good idea for me to print out what I can for studying purposes as well, and the 15 minute break seems good, actually

yeah, it's very important to take breaks.