There’s no two ways about it: studying for your North Carolina real estate exam in a time of social distancing, self-isolation, and quarantine is a unique circumstance. For some people, the sudden influx of time at home is the perfect opportunity to focus on new goals. For others, extra distractions and a disrupted schedule could make studying at home quite challenging. Not to mention, there’s the constant news cycle of coronavirus updates, which can be overwhelming.
Studying for your North Carolina real estate exam during the coronavirus crisis means you’re probably facing some unusual challenges—and opportunities. Here are our best study hacks specifically designed to help you study for your real estate exam while practicing social distancing.
1. Schedule “news-free” time
Find yourself glued to your phone? While it’s smart to stay informed during this uncertain time, it’s impossible to know what the future holds in this ever-evolving situation. Constantly checking the news could be counterproductive when it comes to the real task at hand: passing your real estate exam.
If you’re finding it hard to turn off your anxiety and focus on studying, consider blocking off several hours during the day where you don’t look at the news—or your social feeds—at all. Schedule these right before your study time, then check the news after if you still feel so inclined.
2. Create study goals and schedules
Chances are, your daily schedule has been disrupted as a result of the coronavirus, which can really throw off your plans to study for your real estate exam. Find a “new normal” by creating new routines and schedules that fit with your quarantine or isolation reality. Making your study goals part of this new schedule could help you find purpose during the coming weeks as you achieve small goals. Since it can also be easy for the days of social distancing to start melting together, specific study goals can help you stay focused and motivated.
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3. Create a quarantine team
Are you quarantined with your kids, roommates, other family members? Teach them the real estate concepts you’re learning as a way to reinforce your own understanding of the concepts. Get creative about finding ways to turn it into a group activity. Chances are, the people who care about you most want to support you with your real estate goals, and this is a tangible way for them to help you during quarantine.
4. Get support virtually
There are so many virtual options to connect and get support while you study for the North Carolina real estate exam. Here are just a couple of ideas:
Schedule video conferencing study sessions with other students
Studying together virtually (or simply working with your video camera on) can help keep you accountable, even if you’re not directly engaging in conversation the whole time.
Reach out to real estate brokers for video chats
Do you know someone who recently passed the North Carolina real estate exam? Now could be a good time to reach out to them and ask for a video chat where you can learn about what their experience was like. You might also want to consider video chats with more established real estate brokers who can help explain complicated topics and how they relate to your local area. Continually talking about the same topics can help you learn the information thoroughly.
5. Designate a study space
If you’re someone who previously enjoyed studying outside of the house, preparing for the real estate exam in isolation could be challenging. Try designating a specific area for studying that feels different than other parts of your house or apartment. This could mean moving furniture during study time to create a different feel, changing the lighting during study time, or choosing one table or desk that you only use for studying.
6. Create a childcare schedule
If you’re trying to balance caring for children at home with studying for your real estate exam (and all of your other household and work responsibilities), first of all, we applaud you. It isn’t easy to tackle all of those obligations at once, but it is possible. If you have a partner at home to help share the load, consider creating a specific childcare schedule to help you each get some personal time to work or study. Creating a routine and schedule now can help you stay organized and supported throughout the duration of social distancing and stay-at-home orders.
7. Use online productivity tools
It can be hard to stay productive when you’re stuck in Coronavirus self-isolation, but there are a lot of productivity tools that can help you stay on track—maybe even a few that you’ll want to continue to use when life goes back to normal. Here are a few ideas:
- Pomodoro timer: Helps you break focusing down into smaller increments.
- Freedom: This distractions blocker can block apps, websites and social media sites on a schedule that you choose. Can’t stop checking the news? This service could help.
- Rescue Time: Ever wonder where your time goes each day? Wonder no more with Rescue Time, a tracker that will show you the breakdown for how you spent your day online.
