New Year Resolutions

What do you hope to achieve for the New Year? Whether you are preparing for your exams, thinking about your future career, or continuing with your studies, consider making one of these New Year’s Resolutions to ensure that this year is your most successful yet!

Start each day with something that motivates you

Your day follows a similar pattern to your year. You start out excited and ready to take the bull by the horns. However, you can end up sluggishly going through the motions. It’s the arc of the human attention span, but you can fight against it. The best way to do this is to simply be aware of it. By being aware, you will learn to start prioritising the most important things, putting them in the first part of your day. For us, this probably means our studies!

Plan more study sessions

Studying can be tough and requires a lot of reading and independent work. Sometimes there is the temptation not to study because we convince ourselves that we don’t have an inherent aptitude for a particular task. It’s true that some people are naturally inclined to be better at certain things than others, but that doesn’t mean mastery is out of reach. You just have to find the time to study more.

Bring up your scores

If you are in your final year, perhaps you are preparing for exams. Use this year change as an opportunity to reset, look over your past performances, gauge your weak areas as a student, and devise a study plan to address these things. Learn every test date available to you in the new year. Bookmark them. Schedule your study sessions and techniques ahead of time. Be structured, and you will find those scores continue to rise.

Master time management

We have all been there, the night before an exam, hoping and praying that we pass it. Then next semester rolls around, with all of its new responsibilities and distractions, and we find ourselves in the exact same position. Make this semester the last semester that happens. For Law students like me, time management is not only an important Law skill but is also critical to practicing Law effectively. 

Seek out real world applications

What better way to learn about your subject than to make it relevant to your life? Findings show that creating meaning through association, compared to memorisation, forms stronger chemical pathways in the brain and thus promotes long term memory. Instead of relying on textbooks for information, learn more actively this year by applying the concepts you learn in your studies to everyday events, from the news to interactions with others.

Stay motivated

Did I really choose the right degree? At some point during your degree, when motivation levels are low, and the mountain of work to do becomes high, it’s normal to question your choice. A University of London degree will stretch you to your limits and test your commitment. However, with determination and a positive mindset, you can succeed.

I know that the life of a University of London student is sometimes like a ride on a rollercoaster! In 2020, make a resolution to remind yourself in those moments of all the reasons that motivated you in the first place. Hard work does pay off, and you are no exception!

Haala is studying the LLB via distance learning in Pakistan.