That time of year is approaching again when the school year is almost at a close. With many schools ending in as soon as a few weeks, it can be difficult to stay on track and finish strong. Whether you are finishing up your last year of high school and suffering from senioritis or getting ready to end yet another year of college, students across the country are anxious to move on to summer. So the question remains: how do you finish the school year with confidence?
How do you eat an elephant?
One of the hardest aspects of finishing well is keeping on top of the workload to complete by the end of the semester. It is unfortunately common for teachers to fit in as much homework or projects or tests right before the end, and if you begin to slack off during this time, it can seriously affect your grade by the end. One way to manage the work, finish it well and not become overwhelmed by it is to work on one thing at a time.
As much as this may sound like common sense, it is important to remember to focus on the priorities. Every once in a while it’s a good idea to step back and look at the picture as a whole, but this can often lead to procrastination and feeling overwhelmed. Instead, divide up the work based on priority, set yourself a certain amount of time to get that first task done, and then feel much better about the work left to do when you’ve already finished the first.
There are many different ways to prioritize homework. Two of those include getting the easy assignments done first, and saving the easy assignments until after everything else is done. Of course, picking which method is better for you depends on how you work best. If you are someone who is tired by homework easily, it might be better to prioritize the harder assignments like essays or projects first. That way, you’ll spend most of your energy on getting those out of the way and hopefully won’t be too tired to move on to easier things. However, if you’re someone who finishes homework quickly and feels better about getting as many things done in a specific amount of time as possible, it might be a better option for you to prioritize finishing the easier assignments first to have accomplished them before moving on to harder assignments.
Again, this all depends on how you work best. But along with looking at the big picture, don’t forget to break everything down and eat that elephant one bite at a time.
Finals
The dreaded end of the semester exams. Finals are a key ingredient to finishing the school year with confidence, as they can help keep your grade up and give you the best sense of accomplishment once they’re over. Here are just a few tips for doing well on the finals.
1. Actually pay attention in class. As hard as it might be to listen well or even keep your eyes open in the less-than-interesting classes, this is one of the most helpful ways to do well on your finals. The human brain is an amazing organ and it is able to recall a lot of information. Paying attention in class means retaining more information, making it easier to remember during the final.
2. Start studying early. Similar to paying attention in class, breaking down your notes into smaller sections and beginning to study those earlier can help you to retain more information in the long run. Even reviewing your notes from class every day over the semester will help the information become cemented in your brain earlier. Then you’ll have more capacity for cramming in as much information as possible the last few nights before the final itself!
3. Don’t stress, and get sleep. As difficult as this may be (and as a college student myself, I know it definitely is), it is important to not stress yourself out too much. Not only can stress be bad for doing well on quizzes on tests, it can also have harmful consequences beyond school. Too much stress can cause you physical pain, as well as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity or diabetes. When you’re feeling particularly overwhelmed or stressed about the work you have coming up, sometimes things as simple as going for a walk to clear your mind or even taking a break and breathing deeply can help to de-stress. Sleep is equally (if not more) important than de-stressing. After getting a full recommended eight hours of sleep, you will be able to function better throughout the day, as well as retain more information. As you are sleeping, your brain goes over and cements what it has learned throughout the day. Sleep is crucial for proper function as well as retaining the information you’ve studied.
Target Fixation
Visualizing your goals can actually really help you to achieve them. Similar to the concept of target fixation, the more you focus on what you want to achieve, the easier it will become to motivate yourself and to actually accomplish your goals. If your goal is to maintain a 3.5 GPA, then take it one step at a time to do your best possible work on every assignment and use your goal as motivation. Remind yourself why you chose what you are aiming for, and how rewarding it will feel when you get there. In the end, your hard work will pay off and you will be glad you spent the time working towards your goal.
As long as the last month or so of school may feel, once you get there it will feel like it hasn’t really been that long. If you haven’t worked as hard as you were hoping to, you might have some regrets knowing you could have given more effort and attained those goals. So keep your long term goal in your head and keep visualizing your success through target fixation!
Hopefully, keeping these tips in mind will help you to finish the school year with confidence and be happy with how you choose to spend your time and effort.
