As the school year settles and slowly harbors the all-too-familiar sense of apprehension, we can acknowledge the arrival of school’s beginning and summer’s end. With back-to-school content plaguing social media, I’m sure you are sick of hearing about all the things you should be doing to magically become successful in school. We all know how content creators preach advice that holds viewers to unrealistic and inconvenient standards, but this column intends to give you advice from a student perspective, hopefully proving to be more helpful. I have cultivated a streamlined list of the most beneficial back-to-school advice from my own experience.
- MEET WITH YOUR TEACHERS!
Find times during your day to touch base with your teachers. Of course, don’t waste their time, but do ask them questions, major or minor, to erase any confusion you might have. Not only does meeting with your teacher show your teacher that you care about their course and are committed to learning what they teach, but it also helps you get an extra boost of confidence when completing work. It may also get them to like you more!
- DON’T PROCRASTINATE!
Trust me, I get it. I am currently writing this article right before it’s due. I guess my true advice is don’t be like me. I understand that things come up or you don’t necessarily want to continue your seven-hour school day with even more work. But, simply put, procrastinating until the last minute never works. And I mean never. Just do your work, it’s not that hard. However, if you’re finding it challenging to stay focused on hours of homework and studying, one thing I like to use is the Pomodoro Technique. This method involves studying for 25 minutes, followed by a 5-minute break, repeated in intervals of four.
- DEVELOP ORGANIZED ROUTINE AND HABITS!
If you have an effective organizational system already, stay consistent with it, but if you don’t, this piece of advice is for you. The more you build a routine and make habits, the more your brain will retain these actions, and you will be less likely to forget to do things. Whether using your planner, Google Calendar, or your phone’s Notes app or something else, make sure you are consistently documenting everything. For me, I have a Google Doc with a to-do list that I use every single day instead of simply looking at MyPoly. It’s very important to stay on top of all your tasks, both school and non-school-related, so you don’t forget when you need to complete them by. Taking this piece of advice will ensure that you won’t be sitting anxiously in a seat empty-handed when your teacher collects last night’s homework.
Whether you take my advice or not, I wish you the best of luck this school year. Cheers to a year full of organized schedules, meetings with teachers, and limited procrastination!
