Showing posts with the label : master's degree
Showing posts with label master's degree. Show all posts
Showing posts with label master's degree. Show all posts
Monday, October 11, 2021
5 TIPS ON MY TIME MANAGEMENT DURING MASTER'S DEGREE
بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْم
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
 |
| P/S: The template is just an example of what I usually do and plan and not from my actual timetable during my master years. |
I am a planner person. I plan my day, my work and even when I go out for a particular day. For me, it is important to ensure that I manage to do all the lists I have by prioritizing and allocating my time properly. Reminiscing back on the most intense study years that I went through which was when I did my Master's degree, I thanked myself to have planned all my semesters effectively, to then be awarded an Excellence Candidate Award at the end of my study.
Master's degree is a journey of being independent with a supervisor as your guidance and the rest is all up to you. There will be no spoon-feeding and the need to read journal papers was intense—not just for 1 subject but for all 4 subjects (per semester). Reading is very crucial for master study. On top of reading journal papers, we are required to write many ourselves (for me, to write mini research papers/reports be it for individual or group work).
Initially, I did a template just for myself so that I can keep track on all the assignments for each subject. Little did I know the need to share with my master juniors as I saw them struggling on which tasks to do as the weightage for master's degree can be overwhelming and sad to see one by one left the program.
My Time Management During Master's Degree
Things to Note:
1. Scheme of Work (SOW) for Each Subject
I believe each subject has their own Scheme of Work for every University which consisted of the lecturer's details, the course outline and the schedule of the subject for the particular one semester. For me, every semester, we will be given a scheme of work (SOW) for each subject where a table of 14 weeks (per semester) of the subject is provided.
So we will know in which week do we have to submit our assignments, to do our presentations, when to have our tests and many more. For me, during Master's degree, it is compulsory to have the SOW as I will be able to plan my semester for each subject. Hence the above table shown above, which basically what my schedule will look like. If I do not be serious about the SOW given each semester by the Professors, I'll need to face a repeat paper or a bad GPA. It somehow also shows how much do you want to really learn and allocate your time properly.
2. Daily Routines Schedule & Master's Schedule
I will list down my daily routines from morning till night. Then I will put it side by side with each SOW for all subjects that I take (1 semester = 4 subjects). I will arrange all assignments into my daily routines (I am a fulltime housewife with a husband with two children and a fulltime Master student, imagine how chaotic it was).
This will then be pasted on the wall for me to alert. I also reminded my husband back then to check on it once it a while so that he knows where to help and what to do in caring for the children and working. We really work together and help each other out with our schedules.
3. Time Allocation Per Subject
This is very important to allocate your time to study, do assignments and read endless lists of journals during master's degree. If you only focus on one subject for too long, you might neglect on other subjects. It is important to first plan what do you want to do. Make a timer of 30 minutes whenever you do your work, as it will lessen the feelings of overwhelming.
These are what I do for all semesters and mostly I initiate myself to be the leader and planner of the group. So far, alhamdulillah, our outcomes received good remarks from the Professors and the classmates.
a) Form a group for each subjects that has group works. Identify how many assignments with group works. Make a WhatsApp group chat.
b) Choose a leader. Positioned each member with their strength and what they can do. Assigned tasks and set a schedule in which week that they have to update their work progress.
c) Keep updating and have consistent and healthy communications with each other. Always lift each other's spirit. Master's degree is where we work professionally and we only want to best outcomes possible. Help each other out inshaaAllah, Allah S.W.T will ease our affairs.
d) Confront crisis or hiccups professionally and discuss with the team.
4. Consistent Dua'as and Prayers
Master's Degree is also a journey where I learned that I own nothing. All belongs to Allah S.W.T. All the ideas, the easiness of my affairs, the results that I received (all 3. 75, 3.88 and 4.00) and many more are all blessings and rezq from HIM. If I were to tell about making dua'as and prayers during Master's degree, I would definitely need to write a book! 😍
- Center your master works and daily routines around the 5 daily prayers. Pray early, felt as if you have longer hours because of the barakah 💓
- Never skip your Dhuha prayers. Wake up for Tahajjud if possible (try your hardest).
- Always asks for prayers from your families and friends.
- Pray Taubah prayers everyday (if possible, try).
- Do not skip your daily Quran recitation even if it just few ayahs (if you are too occupied).
- I have a du'a book where I write all my dua'as for each subject and what I want to achieve. MashaaAllah I would cry if I were to revisit my du'a lists.
- Do your zikir if you feel too overwhelming with everything. Try to do Istighfar and Selawat. In between if you are too tired, recite Zikir Fatimiyah (Subhanallah, Alhamdulillah, Allahuakbar). InshaaAllah.
- Cry if you need to. Rest if you need to. Remember to always come back and fight stronger in this journey.
5. Support System
Reach out to your support system. You REALLY need their support throughout this demanding journey. Call out to them, have a chat and let go of whatever that you are feeling. You will feel better afterwards. Reach out to your seniors and your lecturers. Create bonds with them and have frequent conversations/discussions. Do not try to do and walk on your own all alone.
What I learned the most during Master's degree was that, you will need a whole village to reach the end of the line together. Trust me.
In a nutshell, I thanked myself for being a planner throughout my one year and a half as I can see myself being organized and well prepared on top of handling my kids, enduring online classes during pandemic & having the perseverance in burning the midnight oils along my master years. I am happy when my juniors use the template and to see themselves being more organized, prioritized their works, allocated the right amount of time & produced the best outcomes possible at the end of the day.
Thank you for your time reading. InshaaAllah see you in the next post!
Love always,
AliahMazli
Tuesday, August 17, 2021
7 TIPS TO ACE MASTER'S DEGREE DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC. WAS IT DOABLE? WAS IT WORTH IT?
بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
 |
| by AliahMazli |
I
was amongst the first batch to experience online learning when COVID-19
pandemic hits us globally. I further my master’s degree in 2019 after I resigned
from CEFL in 2018. During my 1st semester, the physical classes went
very well with proper precaution as the Covid-19 cases were still below 50. Once it
is confirmed all classes must be conducted online, I felt mundane, anxious,
speechless and empty. I didn’t know where this will lead to. Doing master’s
degree 100% online where all must be searched and worked on your own, the
pressure was no joke. I felt like a baby trying to learn how to walk.
Everything was unfamiliar and I was experiencing many episodes of my “first-time.”
Staying
at home, further my study in master’s degree and had to babysit 2 children on
top of that really pinned me down as I had to plan everything with the help of
my husband. We have to make this work or I was afraid I couldn’t finish my
master on time. However, I am proud of myself as I was able to G.O.T (Graduate on
Time) with Excellent Candidate Award representing my faculty. I was on cloud
nine having to make my parents, siblings, in-laws, husband, children and dear
friends happy and proud of my effort along the years. They witnessed my ups, downs, perseverance, patience, undying
motivation and my fullest commitments to my study knowing I have learned a lot
of skills and gained endless knowledge throughout my master years.
Here
are some of the takeaways doing my master’s degree during COVID-19 pandemic:
1) BUILD ACTIVE RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE
LECTURERS.
How? Let them notice & know you by being involved in class, be
attentive and responsive. Offer yourself with lots of ad-hoc tasks and be in active
with the lecturers. The most important thing is to present your results to the
best of your ability and trust me, they know and they will keep an eye on you. Master’s
students are not that many for every intake and use this opportunity to build life-long relationship
with your lecturers. Who knows, they may be the one who would kindly write a
recommendation letters for you.
2) SETTING THE MINDSET.
Treat your
assignments/research papers as if you are in a working environment. Treat your
groupmates as your colleagues and create a mature, positive, professional vibe and treat everyone as the asset within the group. If there are conflicts, handle it professionally by acknowledging
the problem, listen to all members, propose and discuss solutions that is fair
for all. Celebrate small wins and encourage each other during the presentations and
always push each other to present the best work. Give full commitment, appreciate even the smallest gestures and help offered.
3) PLAN & TIME MANAGEMENT.
Identify
how many hats that you are wearing and create a timetable that can suit all. It
will be overwhelming at times but trust me, schedule helps and they will
eventually keep you sane. Have active conversations with your spouse, family
& friends. You need to talk/listen to keep your emotional and mental health
at its best condition. Do not be shy to breakdown and cry once in a while.
Things happen. Take your time and come back even stronger.
Doing your master's degree requires a lot of sacrifices. Your time, your money, your energy, your attention, your sleep, your gatherings and the list goes on. It will be hard at first but once you know your priority in your study, you will eventually give in and focus on what is important to you the most at that particular time. Like I mentioned above, plan your time well.
4) READ & WRITE A LOT.
Master’s
degree is no era of spoon-feeding. This is an era where you are expected to
know and do everything on your own. Don’t know what to do? Spend lots of time
at the library, reach the seniors and build good relationships with them and
have active discussions with your lecturers. If you just sit around, observe
& wait, say goodbye to your scroll. Don’t know how to write research
papers? Search a lot of publications, research papers and see how they write,
organize and present their papers. Learn and implement. Read a lot of other
books once in a while as it helps to give some breeze and refresh your brain.
5) START EARLY. PREPARE YOUR SCHEDULE ALIGNED WITH ALL SUBJECTS.
Master students, please start early as in your 1st week. Do not just sit around, wait and observe. You may be left behind and the train can never make a U-turn. Master study requires you to do a lot of preparation even just for a presentation. You have to read a lot of articles, research papers and knowing that you have to always insert the citations (where do you take the source from) for every thing that you write, requires you to make an effective reference folder to organize your sources. Trust me, during the final weeks where you have to do a lot of submissions, you will thank your schedule and your efforts for starting early.
6) SAY THANK YOU EVERY SEMESTER.
This is what
I have been doing since my diploma years. Whenever I received my result each
semester, apart from making sujood syukur, informing my husband and my family, I will directly go to
my lecturer for each subject and send them a thank you text.
“Dalam berilmu,
perlu beradab dengan guru.” That is what I always hold on to.
7) SPEND MORE TIME WITH THE QURAN AND TALK TO ALLAH (MAKE DUA'AS) CONSISTENTLY.
The thing that I learned the most was I do not own all of these knowledge. All belong to Allah and He is the One who granted me the ideas and the solutions to all my problems during my study years. Apart from that, the more I read Quran and spend my time with HIM, I noticed that everything falls perfectly although there were hiccups along the way where I was not sure if I was able to finish it. At the end of the day, I want the barakah and to ensure that whatever knowledge that I gained can be of benefits to myself and for me to use it to right way for others as well.
So, to the question:
Furthering my master’s degree during COVID-19
pandemic (100% online learning) - Was it worth it?
Yes, it was!
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