Most people have a few New Year's resolutions. Some people want to work out more, join a few clubs, start over at school, etc. Starting over at school could mean completely restarting and bringing your B's and C's up to A's, or bringing your A's to A+'s.
Whatever it is, it is a new year where you can start new, positive habits. Below are six tips to improve your academic game in 2024.
1. Organize Your Homework
One way to improve your study skills is to organize your homework. For example, you can study for your tests and quizzes first, then do any projects, presentations and essays, and finally do your smaller homework assignments. Another way to organize your homework routine would be to start with the hardest work first.
According to an article from The Productive Engineer, doing your hardest tasks first makes you more productive. Maybe you struggle with a foreign language class, so you always put off the work. If you start with the language assignment, you feel rewarded after finishing the work, and it makes you more productive in the long run, which is the goal.
2. Make a Schedule
The hardest part of the school year is January-spring break term. If you make a schedule for all of your long term assignments and test/quiz dates, you can plan how much work you need to do each day. This will make sure that you aren't procrastinating, and getting all of your work done on time.
All of this will help to avoid burnout because you won't be pressured to do everything in a small amount of time. You could use a planner or Google calendar, or whatever else you want to use to keep track of this. Here is one example of planning your week ahead of time.
Monday: Research for history paper, get two slides of a science presentation done, French homework, math homework, English reading.
Tuesday: Finish researching for the history paper, get the next two slides of the science presentation done, study for French quiz, math homework, English reading.
Wednesday: Finish the introduction paragraph of your history paper, finish your science presentation, study for your English test, French homework, math homework.
Thursday: Finish the first body paragraph of your history paper, study for the math quiz, French homework, science homework, English reading.
Take the day off on Friday.
Saturday: Get the second paragraph of your history essay done.
Sunday: Write the last body paragraph and conclusion of your essay, French homework, math homework, science homework, English reading.
This is just one example of a schedule that you could use. More importantly, make sure that your schedule fits you and your needs.
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3. Study With Friends
One way to prevent burnout is to study with your friends. You could get a group of three or four people together and go to Starbucks and do homework. Also, you could make it a routine by setting a specific date and time to study each week.
An added bonus would be if these friends were in your classes, because then you could all review for assessments together. This ensures that you will get to see your friends, have fun, and make progress with your schoolwork.
4. Be Optimistic and Calm
If you really want to prevent burnout and improve your academic game, make sure that you remain optimistic and calm. We all have days where we study as hard as we can, and just fail an assessment. This recently happened to me in my English class.
I was struggling with the book we were reading, and ended up failing a quiz (which I had never done before). I totally freaked out. After meeting with my teacher, I realized that I needed to put it behind me because this was my only setback in the class. I had another quiz later that week, and I remained optimistic and calm, which was the complete opposite of what I was during the first quiz, and it went a lot better. Moral of the story: if you don't work yourself up and believe in yourself, your academic performance will be a whole lot better. Keep these two mindsets handy next time you have an assessment at school, so that you can do your best.
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5. Ask For Help If You Need It
Asking for help is so crucial in life, especially if you want to do your best. I know a ton of people who will never ask a teacher for help, because they see it as a sign of weakness or trying too hard. This typically ends with them getting a bad grade and never fully understanding the material.
It actually is a sign of strength to be able to admit when you need help, and have the courage to ask for it. Also, you don't need to impress your peers, you need to impress your teachers (remember who will be writing your recommendation letters). So, if you really want to improve your academic game in 2024, you need to ask for help when you are confused. Understanding the material and getting good grades will get you much farther than trying to be cool.
6. Put Yourself First
You're not going to be able to do your best in school if you aren't taking care of yourself. Make sure that you're getting enough sleep, hydrating, exercising, and taking breaks. If you have an essay due on Monday that you are stressed about, go out to dinner with friends or family on Friday to calm down, and sleep in on Saturday so that you can catch up on sleep.
Once you're rested and relaxed, you'll have a better time writing and editing your essay. If you work very hard during the week, you need to make sure that you're relaxing and catching up on everything during the weekend. Also, you need enough sleep to be able to do your best.
Keep these tips in mind this school year and continue to do your best. As long as you put yourself first, ask for help, and make a schedule, you have no reason to burn out!
