So you have a month left of classes… and the thought of “summer, summer, summer,” revolves around your mind, exactly how it does in the beginning of High School Musical 2. Sometimes it is hard to remain focused on school, when the end of the semester is so close in sight. Here are some tips to help you stay motivated to get yourself through the remainder of the semester:

1. Write down the goals you want to achieve for the remainder of the semester, and leave it somewhere visible in your room.

I have mine written in expo marker on my mirror, and looking at this every morning at the start of my day helps to keep my mind on the right track. Most of my goals are fitness and academic related, but these goals can be anything you want to achieve before summer rolls around.

2. Don’t procrastinate doing your schoolwork; do your assignments as they are assigned to you.

If you are continuously putting off work and assignments, you’re going to ultimately wind up forgetting about them, and not turning them in. Doing them as they are assigned is not only productive and a good way to help provide you with more study time for the classes you struggle more in, but it also guarantees more free time later for fun activities, like going out with friends on the weekends.

3. Surround yourself with your more academically inclined friends and not the party friends.

We all have a group of friends that we call on to go to parties with- not that I am saying they aren’t academically inclined to do well, but the majority of what you do with them is go out. So instead of hanging out with them Monday through Thursday, go to the library where everyone else is focused on school, form a study group with people from your classes, or get a private room in the library and get all of your schoolwork done by yourself. This way, there are less excuses to not getting your work done.

4. Use some form of calendar for your study groups, last class sessions, and exam times.

Many people (myself included) use a form of calendar for themselves all semester long anyways. But I find that this time of year is the most pertinent to use the calendar. If you use Google Calendar, it’ll send alerts to your phone before an event. This is good to use to not forget all of the study groups or times that you need to dedicate for finals, as well as the time block that your finals occur during. It also may not be a bad idea to block off time on your calendar to do work for specific classes. If you see it on the calendar, you are less likely to put it off for a different time if you already scheduled yourself time to accomplish it.

5. Continue to eat well, give yourself mental time-outs, and use fitness as a source of stress reliever.

Because this time of year is so jam-packed with events, studying, and tests, it can be really stressful to get through. It is important to make sure you are eating proper meals- meal prep ahead of time so that you have no excuses to not eat. In between study sessions, take breaks and go for a walk, or do an activity for fifteen minutes that you like- read a book, listen to music, or color. These are stress-relieving activities. If you normally work out, this can also help reduce stress. The most important part is to remember to take time for yourself, it will make this time of year a lot less stressful on you physically and mentally.