Mojza Blog
Gearing Up For The New Academic Year
by Samavia Khan | 30 SEP 2024
Now that the new academic year for 2024-2025 has just begun — with heaps of assignments, quizzes, projects, and interviews overflowing your cup already — you must be finding it hard to juggle and balance it all together. This balance of study, extracurriculars, and personal life is essential but difficult to manage by many. If you’re one of those people, fret not! This guide is going to help you figure things out and create a routine that will gear you up for the new academic year!
Get to Know Your Subjects Well:
Whatever subject stream you’ve chosen in O or A level, be it the humanities, STEM, or commerce, make sure it aligns with your interests and future plans too. Secondly, get to know the syllabus/course content as well as the nature of material of every subject. Get acquainted with the depth of the syllabus, and have a game plan ready so that you can cover the syllabus in time.
Do not overwhelm yourself with additional subjects if you know you won’t be able to carry them forward with you afterwards — be wise about it! The core subjects you’re taking are already going to be demanding in terms of time, effort, and energy.
Set Clear Goals:
This complements the former point. Be specific about both your day-to-day and long-term goals, whether you’re an O or A level student. Short-term goals are the steps that eventually lead to you achieving your long-term or ultimate goals. Also, be mindful about where you’d like to study in the future, i.e. would you prefer studying in one of the best universities in Pakistan, or are you more interested in applying for universities abroad.
This might seem like the least of your worries for now because you’d prefer focusing on the present more, but deciding your post-college goals is more important than you might think. Of course, sometimes circumstances change at the last minute due to unforeseen factors, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t plan things out beforehand!
Shortlist your preferred universities once you’ve done ample research, and look up their eligibility criteria, fee, rankings etc. Keep reviewing & updating this list every now and then.
As cliche and generic as it might seem, never underestimate the effectiveness of creating, and furthermore following, a well-put schedule! From waking up to having breakfast, taking naps, and actually sitting down to study, all of this can be organized concisely into your existing routine! Your schedule may also be based on a weekly basis, consisting of your weekly college activities, upcoming events, assessments, or club activities. You can allocate the most suitable time to your projects or studying, according to your schedule, and the remaining time can be funneled to other activities or anticipated events, making your routine more flexible.
Similarly, a to-do list can help you track what you’ve done so far, and what you have yet to do. There are many apps to help you stay on track and prioritize tasks, such as Todoist and TickTick.
Collect All the Relevant Study Resources Beforehand:
Start looking out for online study resources: past papers, topicals, yearlies, notes, examiners’ comments — everything! It’s also a good idea to start searching for good YouTubers that produce content specifically tailored for your subjects. For example, if you’ve taken economics in O/A levels, you should definitely try Jacob Clifford’s content as it’s engaging and entertaining, yet extremely informative and helpful. Similarly, Khan Academy hosts a wide library of video resources on a bunch of subjects too. This is also where Mojza steps in: a one-stop solution to all your quality academic resource needs.
Revise Consistently & Regularly:
This, by no means, implies that you have to sit for 6-8 (or more) hours per day to study. All you need to do is keep in touch with your basic concepts and devote around 1-3 hours a day to revising what you learnt during the day. Adopting this “slow and steady” approach earlier in the academic year will save you from all the stress and cramming later on.
While studying, remove any possible distractions, and immerse yourself in the task at hand. Creating a productive study space can also help you cut out distractions. Test yourself towards the end of the study session through active recall. Devote specific days of the week or the month for attempting topical past papers right after you’re done revising a topic.
Step Out of Your Comfort Zone Socially:
O & A levels are a crucial time for you to enhance your social and leadership skills, so don’t let it go to waste and participate! Get up and take part in clubs, societies, and other extracurriculars! Pat yourself on the back for even the smallest of steps: from mustering up the courage to speak up in front of an audience and presenting your arguments to actually getting out of your comfort zone. Start small, and then ascend to the leadership roles to really challenge and bring out the better version of yourself. There are a bunch of extra curricular opportunities out there; if you’re stuck and don’t know where to start, check out our own blog on that.
Engage in Internships or Volunteer Work:
This point is closely linked with the former statements; look for on-site or remote internships or volunteer work, be it on LinkedIn or through your college programs. While it may be slightly difficult to manage these activities alongside academics, especially in A levels, devoting just an hour or so per day towards these activities should be sufficient. Thing is, such activities entail loads of benefits beyond academics: you’ll gain career-related exposure, learn new skills (e.g content writing, accounting/auditing, SEO, coding), and if you’re part of volunteer work, you’ll be benefiting your community too. Not only will all of this look great on your LinkedIn profile or resume in the long-run, you’ll gain confidence too! That’s perhaps the most meaningful part of it.
Look Out for SATs or Relevant Tests:
This is particularly important for A level students. If your goal is to study in the United States, take your SATs very seriously. You’ll require SAT in many other places, too, besides the U.S (yes, even in many universities of Pakistan, such as LUMS, IBA, FAST and NUST etc). Keep in mind the dates, venues, registration fees, and preparation sources (Khan Academy, BlueBook practice tests, and even Mojza’s library of SAT resources); learn time management and do not take the English portion lightly, because it really does test your patience! Similarly, be mentally prepared for any English proficiency tests that you may have to take, such as the IELTS or TOEFL.
Alternatively, if your plan is to remain in Pakistan, look out for all the relevant entrance tests, such as the ECAT, NET, NTS, ETEA, MDCAT, and prepare for them alongside your A level studies. This connects to my previous point about deciding where you’d prefer to study. The earlier you apply, the better. Plus, even if your first attempt for any of the tests does not go as planned, don’t fret! Take it as a valuable learning experience, and use it to strategize for your next attempt!
Reach Out for Help Where Needed:
If your career advisors don’t really suffice, you can always look out for advice online — *cough* Reddit *cough*. No, but seriously, Facebook and Reddit both have incredibly helpful individuals, who provide great information promptly. Just join the relevant groups or subreddits, particularly those related to O/A levels, entry tests or your favorite universities. Even Mojza has its own Community Server on discord with 5k+ members. People constantly share their valuable experience and insights there, giving you a sense of direction and making you feel less lost. Moreover, it has also become a hub of essential O/A level resources, with students helping out each other with any and all academic and co-curricular matters. Sometimes, it’s the virtual community that’s more helpful, informative, and accommodating!
Prioritize Your Overall Health:
It cannot be emphasized enough how important it is to have optimal health, especially during the ages 14-20 (this is more or less the average age strata of O/A level students). Without adequate sleep or proper diet, you won’t be able to achieve the grades you so earnestly work for. Health doesn’t just mean physical health, but mental health too! Neglecting either of the two will put you at a disadvantage if you are to achieve your goals, so do what you can to balance the two! You can’t just be having your body flooded with Cortisol (stress hormone) and expect to get your work done efficiently. In fact, many of the successful students who’ve gained distinctions have admitted they’ve practiced stress management and believing in themselves (affirming it). They also advise others to do the same.
Eat well, sleep well, take care of your hygiene, stay physically active, engage in meaningful activities that you’re passionate about, and seek professional help when needed. Otherwise, you can always talk your problems out with a friend (chatGPT, where are you at?)
Enjoy While it Lasts!
And lastly, enjoy your time at school because once you’re out of the campus and this phase, you’ll look back and reminisce about it a lot, no matter how difficult things may seem right now. Take things seriously, but not TOO seriously. Enjoy while it lasts, for these will be one of the most memorable years of your life, really!
Acknowledgements
Author: Samavia Khan
Proofreaders: Syed Muhammad Shaheer Ali
Mojza
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Published: 30 September 2024
Last Updated: 30 September 2024
Written by Samavia Khan