Student working habbits..

willhub

willhub

willhub

Caporegime
Joined
3 Jan 2006
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Chadderton, Oldham
I'm just curious really.

When I get assignments, I'm usually really quick to start them, as in, get everything outlined, then start work as soon as possible, and I worry quite abit especially if I get abit stuck on something and progress starts to grind, I do long sessions sometimes, 4+ hours and generally do research and check my progress every day or so.

The thing is, I'm only on a foundation degree, and plenty of people in the flats I live in are doing bsc and ba and they appear to always be free and never really busy with work, they also never seem to be stressed about their work, and I hear some say "I've got 3000 works to write for tomorrow", and think, how on earth can they manage that and not be stressed at the same time, this is at 8PM too.

Are most people like this leaving stuff untill dead on the last minute? I wish I could do that and not get uber stressed, I've got 6 weeks untill I need to hand my work in and I'm struggling on something and getting worked up about it.
 
Yes lots of people do leave things until the last minute. Myself included.

Generally they don't do as well as those who spend longer on things because they start earlier.

If you're pretty smart then you can get a half decent mark doing it the day/night before, but obviously not as good a mark as you would if you had started earlier.
 
I think most students are like that, though it depends on whether they haven't planned their time properly or have other things to do with different subjects. I've noticed quite a few staying in overnight the final week before term to finish up writing reports. Also get those that leave it to the last day and are surprised when the network goes down due to being too busy with everyone else doing it.
 
I work better under pressure, plus I always like to think that what I've done before 1 day before the deadline could be no better than if I had done it 2 weeks prior.

Getting things done early would relieve a lot of stress, but I just never motivate myself enough!
 
The rewards aren't proportionate to the amount of effort you put in—certainly above a certain point, anyway. You can work ten times harder than someone else, but you're not going to get a ten times higher mark: and so, for the lazy among us, it becomes tempting to find some equilibrium where you can get the highest mark possible for the lowest possible investment of work.
 
From my experiance it just depends who you are and how you work. In my first and second year I never did anything unless it was a day or 2 before the deadline. Id never revised for anything in my life until the end of my first year, that was hard to work out what worked for me.

Then I did a placement year which changed my attitude a bit and in the final year I was making a start on things straight away, even if I was working on them until the deadline it would be a much more drawn out affair of doing bits and bobs each night and much more relaxed as apposed to the last minute dash.

Different people work in different ways.
 
I graduated in June and my work pattern was all about pressure.

For some reason I never got on with work I should have until the last minute. My dissertation and final long essays were written in a week. My revision was a solid 1 week (or 3 days in some cases) for the week before the exam, no more.

I just find my mind is able to focus under pressure and produce better work than knowing I have weeks to do something and losing track of slow progress.

Worked for me- got a 1st in history from Warwick in the end.
 
I would love to start my assessments when i get them, and do it bit by bit and maybe even surprise myself and finish early. But i have a disease. The disease draws all the energy out of me when i try to do the ideal. The disease takes the energy and stores it ready for 24hours before the deadline. It is a very advanced disease.
 
Lots of people leave stuff to the last minute, I would like to think that I could do my essays when they are set but alas, I usually just read and then write it over the 2 days before it's due.
 
I always used to leave things to the last minute.

Pure laziness really, but if I'd start something with a 2 week deadline at the beginning of the 2 weeks, I'd faf around and procrastinate, and end up doing the majority of the work in the last couple of days anyway. So might as well just leave it to the last minute and enjoy the rest of my time!

Mind you I got a 2:2.
 
I did this at school, did it at home, did it at college and I do it at work. My life is last minute.

Throughout my entire life all I've ever heard was "Graham could do exceptional things if he only applied himself". And it's true, once I summon the motivation to get something done I really do it well. But I just can't, call it boredom, short attention span, laziness... some massive part of me just really doesn't want to do things I don't care about. It's been the bane of my life and sometimes (when I summon the motivation, haha) I try to change it.
 
I've always left work until the very last minute and so far I've done pretty well. I'm positive that if I was more organised and started earlier my grades would be even better, but I can't be bothered. :mad:

I think it stems from the fact that I don't feel challenged with the work itself, it's more a case of the volume that is the challenge. Volume doesn't motivate me.
 
I'm on an MSc and I don't really have time to leave things to the last minute this year (year 3). First two years it was ok, I tend to work better when there's a firm deadline, and when I do a few hours of concentrated work it's always better quality than 8 hours of half arsed work.
 
qqg3 said:
I work better under pressure, plus I always like to think that what I've done before 1 day before the deadline could be no better than if I had done it 2 weeks prior.

Getting things done early would relieve a lot of stress, but I just never motivate myself enough!
Click to expand...

Ditto.

And here I am desperately trying to begin my 4,000 word introduction to my research project in for sunday - crap.
 
Jenjey said:
Ditto.

And here I am desperately trying to begin my 4,000 word introduction to my research project in for sunday - crap.
Click to expand...

What do you type, about 70/80 words a minute? Allow for an hour of thinking and smashing backspace, that's like 2 hours work. Simple :D
 
I never do work before a deadline, I get more motivated when my education is on the line.
I once had to drive to my lecturers place to hand it in, bristol, nice long drive for me :D
 
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