lockdown 2020: hang in there kids

Dear Matric 2020
 
You have fought hard. You have fought bravely. You have managed to get through twelve to thirteen years of school and you have not faltered. Some of you are defying the odds in your families or households by being the first to reach grade 12. Although a new journey awaits you, give yourself a pat on the back for how far you have already come.
2020 is turning out to be quite a year with the dawn of the COVID-19 pandemic upon us. We know many of you could not have matric balls which is the big highlight of your matric year. Rewrites have been rescheduled and classes temporarily postponed. There is a lot of uncertainty and anxiety for students and parents alike. While these circumstances are not the most conducive in terms of studying and keeping up, I implore to all of you to keep pushing and keep going. You are the future of this country! 
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While many of you are feeling a bit despondent and finding it difficult to hit the books, we decided to offer some tips to help you along the way:

​Limit social media use​

Yes, I know this is difficult  These days a large majority of us are constantly on our cellphones. Given how much technology has advanced, it  allows us to do practically almost anything on it. With the dawn of social media, applications such as Facebook, now having over 2 billion users, I think it’s safe to say that it has taken over a significant amount of people’s lives. You might even have come across this post via social media! However, try to put your phone away for a few hours and hit the books! Now if you are finding this more difficult than anticipated, we recommend using this cool app called Flipd, which basically locks you out of your phone and you can control the settings as to how strict you want it to be. Check it out on the app store (IOS and Play Store). By doing so, this will definitely increase productivity.

​Keep Hydrated

Now that it’s lockdown, it’s easy to snack on junk food and indulge in fizzy drinks. However, it is essential to keep hydrated. While water may not taste as good as an ice-cold coke, it does play an important role in delivering nutrients and removing toxins to and from the brain. If the brain is fully hydrated, this will result in greater mental alertness and concentration span.

​Study Effectively

Yes, you have been studying for almost twelve years already, but how does one study effectively? Firstly, everyone uses different methods to study and absorb information, so it is important that you find which method works best for you. Several methods can be used which will be explored in another article, but make sure to do some of the following:

• Study for short periods of time (45 minutes to 1 hour) with 10-minute breaks in between.
• Taking breaks is essential as the brain gets tired too!
• If working while listening to music works for you, then do so…
• Read over your work, paraphrase, make notes and test yourself. This would be a great way to see if you can recall any information which you have read over.

​If you are reading this, you’re probably thinking, ’easy for you to say’, right? Well, take it from someone who has been in your shoes, (even though it has been a couple of years). Someone who was not a top student, nor an amazing athlete but still managed to make it into university and obtain a degree. It takes more than being a top student at school to make it in the real world. Having determination, hard work, prayers (loads of them) and some faith in yourself, is a pretty good recipe for success.
So, my fellow mariculants, while you study at home, attend classes on Zoom and await anxiously as to when life will get back to normal, remember to give yourself a pat on the back