Belated Back to School Tips

So I have been back at school (well sixth form) for a week now and I'm sure most people have started school already but I still wanted to make a bunch of tips (especially for people who have productivity issues like myself) to help people to get started with school I guess idk. (Also doing this so I have something to refer to when I feel like I've forgotten how to study yay)

Side note: You've probably heard most

of these tips but nothing wrong with 

emphasis on a couple points right?

1.1) Have some way to organise your work- Whether it's a planner the school gives you or a planner you buy yourself just have one and USE IT! We all think we have great memory and we'll remember the homework even without a planner (and even if that is the case as it has been sometimes with me) you might still forget an important piece of detail that you wouldn't have if you had written it (e.g. you might get a piece of homework for English to write a 500 word essay, without writing it down you might remember the essay part but forget about the 500 word and end up writing too little or too much for your homework.) Jotting down your homework will make sure you have all the little bits of information. 

Another important thing to have in your planner is a due date for your pieces of homework or coursework etc. This way you'll know exactly what piece of homework you should be prioritising, like you don't want to do a piece of homework on Tuesday that's due Friday but then miss out the homework for Wednesday. It's also useful to tick or cross off a homework task that you've completed as you'll know how much you have left to do with a quick glance; it also feels incredibly satisfying to know that you're done with something. If you're struggling with something you could always mark it red so you know what you need help with.

Amazing way to organise

1.2) More organisation tips because there's so many ways to organise wow!! Now you have your planner you need a way to organise the actual content you get. Good investments would either be a folder or notebook for each subject depending on the type of work your teacher gives. If it's a worksheet sort of based subject a folder would be handier to store all your sheets and not lose them whereas if it's more written based and worksheets are rare a notebook would be a smarter investment. You'll probably find that you will not invest solely on folders or notebooks and it might actually be a bit of both. There is also a chance your school will provide you with some of this stuff (for example we are given folders for each subject in my sixth form). However you decide to organise your work is up to you but try and keep everything in one place and have each subject in a separate notebook/folder. Last year I had one massive folder for all four of my subjects and by the end of the year it was just a mess and I would not recommend it at all.

2) This one may be a little late if you've already started but make sure you have all the essential stationery before the school year begins. A good thing to do is look through your current pencil case and jot down everything you don't have that you need so when you go out shopping for school you know exactly what to get. Also remember to get any stationery which is specific for the subject you are doing. (e.g. a compass for maths) The brand you get doesn't matter just buy stuff which is good enough (basically don't be silly like me and buy expensive stationery because it's prettier and then wonder why you don't have enough money for food). Just because studyblrs (which honestly make me less productive because I'm too busy staring at the amazing notes) have really cool stationery doesn't mean you need it. As long as it works you'll be fine.

Ah the art of feeling productive without doing any work

3) Try to ask for help- The reason the word try is there is because I know that not everyone feels comfortable asking for help (I am one of those) but if you're struggling with something you won't magically get better if you don't reach out. If you really feel uncomfortable asking help from a teacher try a friend who does well in that subject first and see if they can help you understand it. If that doesn't work and getting help from the teacher is the only way you can get past it just try to ask for help. I promise you that they don't think you're stupid for not understanding something and that they're happy to give a hand. (I say this but watch when on Monday I'm struggling and I refuse to ask the teacher for help lmao) Also if you don't like asking for help face to face, see if you can email your teacher as that might help you feel less anxious about it.

4) Break up your work- Having tons of work to do can be overwhelming and put you off doing any work whatsoever so break up the work you need to do into little tasks to help you get through it. Not only will it take off a massive load as you no longer feel bombarded but it'll just feel easier and quicker to do. In the example of having an essay rather than looking at it like that split it up into

• Planning 
• Writing the introduction
• Making your three main points (Or however many you're asked to do)
• Start elaborating on these points with evidence to support them
• Keep switching between the last two points until all the points you have made have been explained in depth
• Write a conclusion

If the essay is typed you could even start off in notes and change it into prose once you know the direction you're going in. 

With a project you could split up each topic that you're going to research and write about for the day and slowly bring it together rather than feeling like you have to do it all at once.

5) Avoid the internet as much as possible- You say that you're only going online for a small break but trust me next thing you know it's 11pm and you're either on the depths of tumblr or searching weird videos on youtube. Unless you need it for studying you should avoid it and even then leave the subject that needs the online work to last so you can at least get through some other stuff before. I know that sometimes you might come home from school and you're way too tired to get started and you need a bit of rest before you do but the internet is a no go. Instead try and do something that doesn't involve the internet whether it's to read, draw, spend time with some family members etc. to rest so that you're not distracted. Personally I've found that when I do something like read when I get home I end up being much more productive than if the first thing I do is turn on my laptop.

Don't touch until you do some work

I'm sure there's more tips I could give you but honestly I'm incredibly tired and one tip would have been to sleep early which I'm currently not doing so I'll just end it here. I mean five well developed tips (technically six because the split in 1) is pretty good right. Anyway I hoped this helped in anyway.

-Minoo

(p.s. I'm so close to 200 posts wow. Actually that's not that much considering I've had this blog for about 3 years)