Finding time for mass, while studying

[Deo_Gratias42]

As a professional student, I have never had less than a week’s notice for exams. Cramming for exams is not ideal anyway. 12 hour study periods are not very effective for long term memory anyways. One should not ask, “how can I find time for Mass while studying” but rather “how can I find time to study around Mass?”

 

[bednar]

Do you have a Newman center? What is the access to Mass? Have you used masstimes[d]org to find the closest and most convenient options? I am a graduate student in Biophysics with a previous 10 year career in MEMS engineering and materials science. If you would like to PM about some time management ideas feel free. Twelve hours is way to long for a studying activity. Look into a time management technique such as the Pomodoro method or similar. If you have less anxiety about your spiritual life, your school work will benefit.

Sam

 

[SecretGarden]

I’m doing my master’s in theological studies therefore I understand your struggles. There are weeks when I’m able and others such as this weekend, it wasn’t possible. I tried but I couldn’t. I’m going to try and go sometime this week. I think one has to schedule mass into one’s schedule as much as possible.

On Sundays I try my best to go to the morning mass and then hit the books after. Sometimes the priest will know when I’m going to the library because I bring my laptop up as I receive communion. (I’m afraid of it getting stolen) Sometimes if I’m really tired, I’ll sleep in, hit the books, go to mass at 5pm and then return to them.

Part of the tricks I have learned is knowing when and where are the masses in all of the areas that I study. For example at my university, I know we have a weekly mass on Thursdays at noon. The Newman centre has daily ones at 4pm and weekends it’s at 5pm. On Sundays, my parish’s mass is at 10:30am (which is located close to school) and the church closest to my house mass’s is at 11am. (My home is an hour away from school)

By knowing the times, it enables one to be flexible with one’s schedule as well as it provides a reward. Going to mass after a long day studying is pretty awesome. Starting the day is also pretty cool as well. When I go, I find that I’m able to study better.

Plus when I’m working, I will put ewtn or salt and life tv (they both have a live stream via the internet) and I’ll listen to the mass. They also have the rosary and the chaplet of divine mercy that I also sometimes listen to when I work. These can be a great help.

You should also try to attend some type of faith base activity in addition to mass every week as well. Most universities have Catholic groups that meet regularly. By getting connected with them, you will learn more about your faith as well as learn techniques in how others also manage. I know several groups are either offered through the school’s chaplaincy or the student unions group. The community will help you to meet some fellow Catholic students, It clears the mind and gives one some human interaction as well. Afterall, it gets to a point where we need to get away from our studies and have some fun. Dedicating a few hours a week to them will help you to grow in your faith and will also help to clear the mind from all of that studying.

If you need more suggestions, message me. I’ll try to help to the best of my ability.

 

[DarkLight]

I like to try to go on 6 hours I feel lazy if I sleep 8 hours,
I’m feeling lazy today a because I slept till 6:45. I’m in the mechanical engineering program.
Its such a joke though, I’ve found out performance mostly depends on who your instructor is and if they are out to prove they are smarter then everyone. My materials instructor was a walk in the park. question banks, before test, a joke really. I wish he taught all the classes, I’d be an engineer in 2 semesters.

 Cheers! :thumbsup:

Practical advice: find out what your personal best sleep time is. 6h is great if you can do it. But if you need 8, you’ll ultimately be better off getting 8 most of the time. Whatever it is, calculate when you need to get up for mass and make sure to go to bed with enough time before that to sleep. It’s easier to get up and get there when you’ve slept, then go home and study.

Welcome to engineering! You work all day and night in a lab for a three credit class while your liberal arts counterparts write an essay every once in a while for a five credit class. You did touch on something important though – knowing when to take a particular class is almost as important as what class to take. Get a good idea of who teaches what and when and try to take classes when a reasonable professor is teaching the course.

I was a computer science major and our motto was, “sleep is optional, but not recommended.” Good luck!

You’ve never had to actually write one of those essays, have you. Trust me, the little things that you write for the gen ed classes are about as relevant to what we do as the tests for math 101 are to what you do.

 

[Jessup]

As a professional student, I have never had less than a week’s notice for exams. Cramming for exams is not ideal anyway. 12 hour study periods are not very effective for long term memory anyways. One should not ask, “how can I find time for Mass while studying” but rather “how can I find time to study around Mass?”

Thats the only way I learn anything is if I have about 9 hours a day minimum. To go through the book, do the examples and work out problems. I'm not doing 12 hours short term cramming. I never cram, I always work. But I'm finding out that my most effective time for mass is the 730 am or the 5pm. As I've learned the hard way yesterday when I went to the 930 am mass, and it pretty much destroyed my whole productivity.