Student Blog: Tools to Help You Succeed!

How is it November already?!? Crazy, I know. When the winter months roll around I start to get comfortable with the school year and fall into the same daily routine, which soon means I have to remind myself not to get lazy and keep the work effort up. Keeping grades up can be challenging, but I've found some techniques to help balance after-school activities and social time.

1. Don't leave your work until the last minute: 

This is a classic that almost every student has heard from a teacher a million times in their life, but in actuality, it's very helpful. Setting goals for each assignment goes hand in hand with fixing procrastination. I like to split an assignment by the time I have to complete it. When I'm assigned an essay due in 2 weeks, I assign a paragraph or 2 per day, based on how busy I am and other assignments I'm given for that evening. I also like to incorporate in one or two extra ‘no work days’, so if I come home from school with a headache, or my friends throw together random plans I know I have some buffer time to complete the assignment. 

2. Set a timer:

Getting through all of your work in one sitting can feel like fighting a battle. I fall into the trap of constant distraction, scrolling on my phone, lighting candles, doodling out of boredom, you get the idea. To combat this, I set up all my work and then started a timer, usually around 20 minutes. Once the timer rings I start another one for 10 minutes and use that as a break to do whatever I want. This helps keep you on task because you know you have a specific time to go on your phone and not fall into the social media trap of  ‘doom scrolling’. 

3. Understand what you got wrong:

When a test doesn't go my way, my #1 thing to do is meet with my teacher and understand what I got wrong. This is beneficial because then you won't make the same mistake twice and you can fix it the next time around.

4. Meet with your teachers:

When something doesn't make sense, I find it best to meet with my teachers and figure it out. This helps me a lot because understanding a topic to its full extent before an exam is a great way to do well.

Overall, the most important tip that works the absolute best for me is to ask when you need help. I sometimes forget they also have lives outside of school and can understand what we are going through. A simple conversation can go a long way and really help you out in the long run. 

I hope these tips can help you out, and thanks for reading!​​​​​​​