Manage Your Time Wisely As a High School Student
Beginning High school can be stressful. There are new routines to learn, new teachers, new friends and of course more school work and homework. On top of all this, you still have your own hobbies/activities like sport or music to follow so how do you manage your time doing all of your current activities without being overly stressed?
Steps
- Sort your life as a teenager. Are friends important to be around at this time? Do you find yourself on the internet a lot? Are you someone who goes to the library to study in a quiet environment? Are your parents around to assist you or prefer to ask for teachers' help?
- Prioritize your weekly schedule as a student. Any educational/academic studies must come first, then extra curriculum activities, and then social life. Friends will want to hang out with you on the weekends, but they will understand if you explain to them that you need to study or catch up on school work.
- List the exact due dates for events, assignments, tests and other homework. This will greatly help you to remind you when things need to be done by. Next, sort extra curricular activities. Any activity dealing with school should be placed before the After School ones. Then, input non-educational events, such as babysitting, jobs around the house, etc, with team events, such as sports, coming first. Finally, treat yourself to a computer game or time with friends.
- Set a time limit on how long you study for each class. Don't go overboard on one subject and forget that you have several others to catch up on before going to bed. Also, don't rush through studying; take your time and concentrate. You may want to set an alarm clock so when it rings, go to another subject, and reset the alarm.
- Get at least 6-9 hours of sleep. If you have more or less sleep than you should have, you may start lacking in your schoolwork and become lazy because of the urge or want to sleep.
- Try to take showers before going to school. You'll be more refreshed, alert, and relaxed as you start the day. Night showers are sometimes "missed" if you have your face covered in books and realize that it's time to go to sleep.
- Go over your homework or assignments with your parents. It's always a positive action to get your parents involved. When this is not possible, ask your teachers for advice.
- Think of how non-educational activities are affecting your schedule. If you are babysitting or doing jobs around the house, compromise on set days and times that go around your school life. If you cannot commit to your studies because of football practice, then you must take action. When something gets in the way, you need to drop it, even if it's temporarily.
- Don't neglect your health. Just because you're short of time doesn't mean you should live on junk food. Try to get your fruits and vegetables everyday. Remember to exercise at least 30 minutes a day. Doing these things will support mental, physical and emotional function.
- Try to have a fixed timetable.
Tips
- Don't stress! In high school, stress can be a big factor when faced with a variety of things that they need to take care of, but don't know how to complete everything at once.
- High school is not a time to slack, so before you hit the couch with a bag of chips and a movie, make sure you take care of everything you need to. There is nothing worse than late and crappy work. It causes you to appear as if you don't care, which you don't want.
- Do all of your work first, then go over it after to see if you have made any mistakes. Not everything can or must be perfect.
- Realize that one assignment missed or done poorly is not the end of the world. Just don't let things pile up.
- Make the best out of your first year in high school.
- Think about your priorities.
