Mature students...how do you do it??

[postcardfromme]

I'm going back to university to re-train and doing a course which is heavy on reading. I don't know how I am going to get through the next 3 years!!! As much as I want to do it...I find that I am too exhausted to read and can't focus and retain the information! I don't use public transport so can't use commuting time to read. I can see how that would be somewhat helpful!

Any advice would be hugely appreciated!

You just have to get through it. I had to re read pagea and pages at the beginning, after a month it started settling in and by the end I was sad to go because I finally got into it properly 😂
Frankly, you need to make time, there is no magic. Unfortunately!

See if you can get anything in audio book form. That might be ok while you are driving

What course are you doing?
You have to think of it as a full time job and give it the relevant time.
There's no magic solutions

Do come and join us here, OP - lots of people just starting their courses:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/site_stuff/4327788-Is-there-a-specific-Mature-Study-Retraining-board

@EdmontinaDonsAutumnalHues - thank you!! I am on my way over to you!

I did a degree as a mature student. You rarely have full days . So after a lecture go to the library and write your notes up.
Read Read and read more.

Good luck!

What form does your reading come in? I found that, both with the prescribed reading and my personal research, there was an enormous amount available on Kindle or Google Books - so when it came to writing my dissertation I realised I’d already done most of the reading late at night or early in the morning, under the duvet, via the Kindle app on my phone. None of that felt like work.

Your institution also presumably makes JSTOR accessible to you? Get on top of all this and you’ll spend fewer midnights in dimly lit libraries …

I often had to work on the train - but it certainly wasn’t the easiest environment in which to concentrate.