By TREVIN BRANDT
Staff Writer
Students are given a handful of responsibilities throughout the year, even during an unforeseen pandemic that has rocked the world. Even with the shorter classes, the amount of work students are expected to complete is quite heavy, especially if they have an AP class or a part-time job. As someone who is taking three AP classes while working a part-time job, I believe I have discovered a method for myself to be successful. Feel free to use any of these ideas if you think they will help you.
Step One: Make a List
On days where I feel overwhelmed by all of the assignments and things that I need to complete, I stop, find a piece of paper, and begin writing down everything that needs to be done. More often than not, I realize that the amount of work is manageable. When you feel overwhelmed by something, your mind amplifies the situation further than it actually is. By taking a deep breath and writing down a list of the assignments you need to do, you get to see a genuine representation of the work in front of you.
Step Two: Make a Schedule
On days where you find yourself with a lot of free time, map out what assignments you need to complete and when you are going to complete them. This keeps you on a schedule for the day so you are able to effectively complete your homework and tasks assigned to you. Divide the day into sections, and don’t forget to give yourself a lunch and study break.
Step Three: Give yourself Rewards
It’s always important to remember that you are not a working-machine. You are a human being entitled to enjoy free time. Make sure to include time in the day where you practice whatever activities you enjoy whether it be drawing, writing, playing sports, playing video games, watching movies, or watching YouTube. After a long day of work, you deserve time for yourself. But you need to remember that when rewards become excessive, the whole point of them dissipates. Spending the entire day on leisurely activities is not awarding or deserved, and can feel just as exhausting as a day of work if you allow it to be repetitive. When dividing the day into sections, make sure you keep this in mind. Say, from twelve to two, you will study for your math test, and then from two to four, as a reward, you can watch a movie.
Step Four: Let Yourself Sleep!
This may seem contradictory if your workload is extremely heavy, but sleeping is essential to ensuring success. If you allow yourself to be sleep-deprived, you not only will be completing homework much slower than normal, but your emotional state will be quite low. If you need time to study for a test before class in the morning, wake up early to study for it. Pulling an all-nighter will stress you out more than you already will be. It will throw any existing schedule you have out the window. Let me repeat this: Let yourself sleep!
Remember What You’re Working For
With the high workload, we students are given during this pandemic, it can be very discouraging and difficult to keep going when quitting is so easy. If you begin to feel this, take a moment to remember what all of this work is going towards. It may be hard to imagine this right now, but this pandemic will end. You will graduate from high school and begin your brand new life at college, in a job, in the military, or wherever your plans lead you. But in order to get to this exciting new chapter of your life, you need to do the work now. I understand that it is overwhelming, and feels never-ending but, time moves on, and you will find yourself in a much different situation in a matter of months. Look forward to that as you study.