Advice on how to be productive and efficient during high school

Every year, I promise myself that I am going to be neat, organized and motivated throughout the school year. This ends up lasting for two to three weeks before I start forgetting all about my resolve. 

But this year is different.  I finally decided to come up with a system that I would be able to consistently follow. Instead of burning myself out with too much work in the beginning of the year, I am writing out my schedule for the coming week during the weekend before and making sure that I only give myself a manageable amount of work each day. A typical day’s workload consists of my work for the next day’s classes and an hour set aside to work on college essays.

Last year, even though I told myself that I would, I didn’t start studying ahead of time for most of my classes. I realized that since I didn’t write out all the tasks I had to do, I underestimated how much time it would take for me to study for tests. I would think that it would only take two hours to study for a certain test when it actually would take three or four hours to properly review the content. Now that I have started listing my tasks out, it motivates me to start earlier because I realize how much work I need to do. 

As a senior, I also have to work on college essays, so having an organized and sustainable schedule is even more important for productivity and success. The changes I have implemented to my studying this year have been more practical than previous years and they are manageable enough that I can be consistent with keeping up with my schedule. 

Some of the tools I use that are especially helpful are writing down all my important tasks on the Reminders app on my phone and always writing down school assignments in my planner. Also, I use the screen time feature on my phone to limit the amount of time that I am on social media each day. 

My advice for underclassmen is to consistently work hard and manage time well. Often, teachers give you time in class to work on your homework so use that time effectively so you will have more time to do other things once you get home. Also, use the new tutorial system to your advantage by finishing assignments or studying for tests during that time.

Moreover, try to finish all standardized testing if possible in junior year because that will give you more time in senior year to focus on college applications. It may seem like you have a lot of time in senior year to take your tests but it adds a lot of stress because you will not know your exact test scores when figuring out which colleges to apply to. 

Some of my classes I have taken over the past three years have been difficult and you will probably encounter similar experiences. The best way to survive is to plan, plan and plan some more and realize that everything takes a lot longer than you think it will.