04.05.2024

Hi Elaine how are you doing today good. how are you I'm good as well so thank. you for agreeing to do this interview it. should only be taking about 5 to 10. minutes um of your time today so as you. know I'm doing a study um regarding the. study habits of USC students on campus. so could you walk me through your. typical study. routine um I think my typical Serv study. routine I would say I would go through. all my notes to ensure that my notes. were complete at the beginning and like. so and that I didn't miss anything. important and to do so I would usually. just rewatch the lecture or go through. lecture slides if I have time to refresh. my memory as at the same time we're. taking several classes so all the all. the information I've gathered from each. class might be kind of jumbled up and. afterwards after I understood all the.

Topics I would do practice problems if. given by the professor to as a lot of. exams questions are similar to practice. problems I would I would see in USBC. especially that makes sense and you're. currently um a senior graduating this. may right yes I'm a senior graduate this. me okay and how do you decide typically. where to study on any given day like. coffee shop Home Library. Etc I think it depends on what course I. I have an exam on if it's an exam that. requires like memorization or. understanding I would prefer a quiet. area such as like a study room or a. breakout room or even my. apartment because I prefer studying with. no music or no sound if I'm actually. trying to memorize or understand but I. would say that I would. also be comfortable with a quiet Cafe if. it's only understanding but memorization.

Might be kind of hard and if it's an. essay writing I prefer writing my paper. in a coffee shop or in a public area as. it will motivate me from getting bored. and I would say that it promotes new. ideas by being surrounded by other. people who's also doing work I see okay. and I guess just building up on that. you've kind of answered it already but. overall do you feel more productive. studying in a library or a coffee shop. and can you just maybe briefly explain. why. again if we're comparing between a. library or coffee shop in terms of. productivity I would say library because. you're surrounded with other students. especially for example ly or dhini. you're surrounded with other USC. students and they're doing the exact. same thing but then if you're in a. coffee shop you don't know what other. people are working on they might be.

Working for their jobs or some might be. studying so it's a wide range of people. so I think being surrounded with a lot. of other people who are also doing the. exact same thing as what you're doing. such as studying amongst USC student. would be more productive I would say I. see and on a typical week let's say um. especially closer to midterms or final. season or maybe even during a regular. week throughout the semester how often. would you say you study in a coffee shop. compared to a. library for my case since I commute from. campus I don't live within USC area I. would say that I would go coffee shop. probably once every 3. days because me myself I'm a coffee. person so I think just exploring. different cafes it it kind of prevents. me from being. bored um compared to just studying in. the library going back to the library.

Every single day. I see and on average how long is a. typical study session um that you would. have in a coffee shop and how long would. it be if you were in a. library the average session in a coffee. shop. would it only it also depends as to what. time the coffee shop closes until. because a lot of coffee shops in La they. close relatively early except for some. coffee shops that open until midnight. for example so let's say a coffee shop. that a coffee shop that closes around. afternoon I would probably stay like two. to three hours but a coffee shop that. closes like late at night I would I. would presumably stay there longer so. probably five hours but in terms of if I. if I was studying in the library. especially during final. season I think being locked locked in. the library and then just grinding the. entire day from morning to night would.

Probably be um the best assumption but. if you would say average in the library. I would say two hours probably I see. okay and would you do you think the. timing would change if you did live on. campus and didn't have to commute to get. to the library at. school yes I would say the time would. change if I actually live within campus. I would go to coffee. shops less uh probably not as often as I. go now so I would probably say that the. average time you spent in the library. would probably be approximately like. five. hours in a given week let's say that. this is not during exam season but. coffee shop probably I would go once a. week and I would spend like two three. hours there yeah that makes sense does. the time of day influence where you. choose to study I guess you already. touched upon that a little bit but let's.

Say um whether it's the weekday or the. weekend um would you prefer on certain. days or certain times to study um at a. certain setting versus the. other I would prefer studying in a. coffee shop in the morning and study in. the library later at night so I won't be. bothered when a coffee shop is closing. for example and we wouldn't even be. kicked out so I think having the like. having the comfort of not being kicked. out in the library would probably be the. best option yeah that makes a lot of. sense and I feel like some coffee shops. also open pretty. early yeah do you notice any oh sorry oh. no um do you notice any differences in. your stress or anxiety levels when. studying in a coffee shop compared to a. library. I realize. that the environment that a coffee shop. brings it's more comfortable compared to. a library and in the library a lot of.

People are filled with anxiety and. stress as they might have a deadline or. they're starting for a midterm that they. have the next. day. but as as compared to Coffee Shop some. coffee shops might have people who are. just chilling and talking and just. spending time with their friends and the. other half of the coffee shop might be. like people studying so having that. comfort and kind of looking around your. surroundings especially in a coffee shop. seeing how chill people are and they're. having fun I would say that the. environment that coffee shop brings is. more relaxing and has a lower stress. level okay and um as I recall you. mentioned that when it comes to. memorizing ing studying material you. prefer to have no distractions but you. also said that you typically prefer to. study in a coffee shop in that case how.

Do you handle distractions in that. environment in that environment I would. usually bring some sort of like maybe. noise cancellation airpods or earphones. to prevent like to prevent any noises. from coming through and while I have. aods in I don't have any music on I just. use it for the purpose of noise. cancellation I see okay and I guess. bouncing off of that how does the use of. Technology factor into your productivity. and does one environment better support. your technological needs than the. other um I think are you are you talking. about like how we're using laptops in. our daily in the a daily basis or how. yeah like when you choose to go study in. a coffee shop or Library um how do you. find that either one of the environments. is better is a better environment for. you to be using your technology whether.

It be like iPad airpods laptop phone. than the other. one. um right now I think a lot of people. uses technological devices like iPad and. laptops especially during classes like a. lot of people. uses a note taking through their iPads. as compared to just a plain piece of. paper and pencil yeah and I think it. kind of um it's easier in a way that we. can just tap the keyboard instead of. instead of um writing on a on a piece of. paper because I I I personally. enjoy note taking on pap paper because. that kind. of reinforces my memorization but in. terms of a time management or in terms. of a time crunch I think typing is way. faster so you can also follow through a. lecture and you won't miss out on any. important topics but if I'm writing with. a pencil it would take a longer time to. actually follow through so that in that.

Case I would need to rewatch lectures. yeah that makes sense um so you would. say that on average you do use your um. technology gadgets a lot when it comes. to doing school work right yes because a. lot of school platforms uses Blackboard. or technological platforms for inst. instance yeah that makes sense and. regarding the coffee shop versus the. library do you find that do you find. yourself using your technology more in. one of those environments compared to. the other or would it would would you. say it's about the same I would say it's. about the same as a student right now. okay okay last question is overall where. would you say that you enjoy studying. the most and how does this preference. align with where you feel the most. productive I would say that I prefer. studying in a coffee shop the most with.

noise. cancellation as I can't study with music. or any noises I would say coffee shop is. still my number one my Top. Choice okay yeah that makes a lot of. sense okay that concludes the interview. thank you again so much for signing the. waiver and agreeing to do this interview. with me yep thank you so much Chloe hope. you enjoy the rest of your day. too