8 Tips and Recommendations for the 2019-2020 School Year
1. Get a planar
Listen, I don't care if you don't consider yourself to be creative, or if you "don't have the time", you need a planar. Writing down what you need to do today, tomorrow, and next week will keep you organized and on top of your tasks. When students turn in late assignments, it's normally because they forgot. Whether you buy a $2 one from Walmart or personalize a bullet journal (like yours truly), you need to find a way to stay organized and write down your reminders and tasks for the day.
2. Don't be afraid to ask questions
Teenagers are socially awkward, that is without a doubt, but when we are sitting in a math class at 7:30am, we may not process things. That is when you need to overcome your fear of what other people are thinking and double-check with your teacher if you understand. There have been countless times when I ask countless questions, just to double-check if I am understanding so I can perform well on tests and quizzes. And hey, a question you may be asking may be on another person's mind, so help out your peers.
3. Make a no-word playlist
Sometimes listening to hard rap or pop songs in the middle of reading about the Revolutionary War can make it harder to study. For finals last fall, I made an "upbeat" playlist that was comprised of songs that don't have any words, but it keeps me in a good mood. Your brain will be more focused on the information that you are trying to retain, rather than the lyrics you are trying to understand. I recommend either making a classical music playlist, comprised of songs from musical scores from movies and tv shows. Or you could make one that is comprised of more mellow electronic, lofi study music. Both are really great to listen to when studying or getting homework done, it keeps you motivated and alert. I will have some of my playlists linked below for references.
4. Set time aside
This can go for many things but first set time aside every day to do homework and to study. Yes, our days can be long and tiring, especially with extracurriculars, but if you set aside 30 mins and just go full nonstop mode on your history homework, you will thank yourself later on not procrastinating it. After those 30 mins are over, take a quick break. I like spending that time doing chores, like changing out a load of laundry or doing the dishes. Then you can do another round of 30 minutes that are not interrupted. Everyone has different study methods, but this is just a way to get things done. Another way to set time aside is by spending time with family and friends. If you just came out of a week filled with testing, mountains of homework, and maybe one or two all-nighters, take time at the end of the week to spend an hour or two with your family watching a movie, or going out to coffee with friends. It can help refresh your brain and make you feel like all of that hard work was worth the genuine time you are spending with your loved ones.
Sometimes listening to hard rap or pop songs in the middle of reading about the Revolutionary War can make it harder to study. For finals last fall, I made an "upbeat" playlist that was comprised of songs that don't have any words, but it keeps me in a good mood. Your brain will be more focused on the information that you are trying to retain, rather than the lyrics you are trying to understand. I recommend either making a classical music playlist, comprised of songs from musical scores from movies and tv shows. Or you could make one that is comprised of more mellow electronic, lofi study music. Both are really great to listen to when studying or getting homework done, it keeps you motivated and alert. I will have some of my playlists linked below for references.
4. Set time aside
This can go for many things but first set time aside every day to do homework and to study. Yes, our days can be long and tiring, especially with extracurriculars, but if you set aside 30 mins and just go full nonstop mode on your history homework, you will thank yourself later on not procrastinating it. After those 30 mins are over, take a quick break. I like spending that time doing chores, like changing out a load of laundry or doing the dishes. Then you can do another round of 30 minutes that are not interrupted. Everyone has different study methods, but this is just a way to get things done. Another way to set time aside is by spending time with family and friends. If you just came out of a week filled with testing, mountains of homework, and maybe one or two all-nighters, take time at the end of the week to spend an hour or two with your family watching a movie, or going out to coffee with friends. It can help refresh your brain and make you feel like all of that hard work was worth the genuine time you are spending with your loved ones.
5. Healthy Food
Now, I am not going to go all food guru on y'all, but eating microwave ramen 5 nights in a row is not okay. Eating better food will make you feel better and it will help you perform a lot better. (Performing meaning with academics and extracurriculars) Eat an apple for goodness sakes children, it will make your body happy. But in all seriousness, maybe skip out on buying a ton of chips and cookies, and maybe cut up an apple or strawberries and pack it for later. Don't be afraid to talk to your parents about buying or preparing healthier snacks, they will be more than happy that their kid is not consuming a questionable amount of Taki's every day.
6. Log Memories
As you can tell, I enjoy writing, so this all comes naturally to me and I enjoy writing about my day and past experiences. For others, this doesn't come easy and it can be difficult to write an essay for school. My advice is to log your memories, you will be out of high school before you know it. Whether you display and look back through Instagram and Snapchat, or write pages in detail about that one Pep rally you went to where you got to pie a teacher in the face. Use that handy dandy planar that I mentioned in tip #1 and just write a sentence about your day. There is a little good in each day that you can write about every day.
7. Reusable Waterbottles
I am not the only person who has seen the "My intestines every time I take a sip of water" memes on Twitter a couple of months ago. This only adds to my point that teenagers are some dehydrated children. Buy a cheap reusable water bottle that you can get for $5 and fill it up with some ice and water before you leave for school. As an athlete, I know the importance of hydration so you don't cramp up. As a student, I still remember to this day of my 5th teacher constantly telling us, "Your brain needs a drink every 45 minutes!" and making sure that we brought bottles of water for the school day. If you are like me and hate the taste of your school water, bring a water bottle! Remember to bring a reusable one because there is already too much plastic in the oceans. (I actually had to do a paper about ocean pollution in Spanish, oof all the research is coming back to me.)
8. Look for the positives
Beating yourself up for something minor does not have good effects. It is hard to be positive all the time, sometimes it may feel stupid, but it is important to find SOME positives in a bad or unfavorable situation to not make you miserable.
People are so quick to point out the negatives, even when there are more positives, but just try not to be negative and be glad about the positives. As I mentioned above in the logging memories tip, find something positive about each day, each class, and each event. It will make high school less stressful and more enjoyable. I personally really enjoy school, which is a weird concept my peers don't understand. I enjoy going to school because I enjoy learning. I find the positives in connecting the dots with new and old concepts in my classes and I enjoy teaching it to my friends who have trouble connecting those said dots. You may not enjoy learning, but you may enjoy your extracurriculars, playing the viola with your friends in the orchestra, winning a basketball game with your team, or just reading in the library.
Thank you for reading this post. I hope some of you will take these tips and recommendations into consideration and use them to your benefit this year for school. I wish you all the best for this year of high school, middle school, maybe even college that you will be going into.
love,
yo girl emilia
P.S. Here are my upbeat, no word playlists:
upbeat study
lofi music
upbeat classical
Beating yourself up for something minor does not have good effects. It is hard to be positive all the time, sometimes it may feel stupid, but it is important to find SOME positives in a bad or unfavorable situation to not make you miserable. People are so quick to point out the negatives, even when there are more positives, but just try not to be negative and be glad about the positives. As I mentioned above in the logging memories tip, find something positive about each day, each class, and each event. It will make high school less stressful and more enjoyable. I personally really enjoy school, which is a weird concept my peers don't understand. I enjoy going to school because I enjoy learning. I find the positives in connecting the dots with new and old concepts in my classes and I enjoy teaching it to my friends who have trouble connecting those said dots. You may not enjoy learning, but you may enjoy your extracurriculars, playing the viola with your friends in the orchestra, winning a basketball game with your team, or just reading in the library.
Thank you for reading this post. I hope some of you will take these tips and recommendations into consideration and use them to your benefit this year for school. I wish you all the best for this year of high school, middle school, maybe even college that you will be going into.
love,
yo girl emilia
P.S. Here are my upbeat, no word playlists:
upbeat study
lofi music
upbeat classical
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