Back to school: homework/coursework

Hello to you!

So recently I feel like I have fallen behind with my blogging recently because as you already know from the title, I have just gone back to school. I am in my second week of year 11 now and i'm not used to suddenly getting back on track with deadlines and juggling lots of homeworks at the same time! While I was finishing some of my art coursework earlier I was inspired to write a post about keeping up with work as I figured writing it down can help me and maybe it will help you too if you also procrastinate a lot! I think I may have written a post like this in the past, but I don't remember.

So I am in my last year of secondary school now so it is very important I keep up with revision as well as my homework and coursework. I'm going to try and sum everything up in 5 bullet points which you can note down yourself! Hope this helps you a bit, and let me know in the comments if you have any useful tips of your own!

1. Keep track of time. Believe me, I know too well how easy it is to get sucked into youtube or tumblr for a good few hours and to completely forget about your homework until it is too late to do. This normally end up with it being scribbled down during tutor time, which means it gets handed in looking a bit crappy! When you know you have homework to do, it is hard to relax because it is like a weight on your shoulders so it's best to just get it out of the way. Obviously I don't do this, so I would suggest setting an alarm that will remind you to do your homework and actually make sure you do it once the alarm has gone off!

2. Organise. If it looks like you have a pile of homework, break it up into different sections and work out how to do a little bit of each piece every day. This is what I do and it really helps because if I have a lot of homework I will feel like it is too much and my brain will just shut down and I end up doing nothing at all. If you do it a bit at a time, it is so much easier to keep on top of! And if you really feel overwhelmed with homework you can always ask your teacher for an extension on the deadline. Then make sure you get on with the work you have been set!

3. Try to do a little bit of work when you have free time. What I have done in the past few days is start doing my work whenever i'm bored, because it means I have something to do (other than raiding the fridge) and I'm actually doing something productive. This one is easier than you think!

4. Don't leave it all to the last minute. This is similiar to number 1 because it is no fun staying up late the night before your work is due and trying to complete a mountain of stuff all at once! Try to start your homework on the day it's been set - you don't necessarily have to complete it all in one day, but if you start it off then you will be slightly more motiated to actually finish it. I feel like deep down everyone has a need to complete the things they start so even if you only do one question, it WILL be easier to finish.

5. Don't freak out! Yes homework/coursework can be boring and deadlines are horrible, but don't panic if you think you have way too much stuff to do. Work through it bit by bit, and eventually you WILL get through it! You will feel accomplished if you finish a piece of work and it's like a weight gets taken off your shoulders. If you really think you are getting too much, talk to your teachers about cutting back on the homework a bit or ask if you can get extra time to complete it. As silly as it sounds, teachers are there to help you and they should have your best interests at heart whether you think so or not! Well, at least most teachers do. (I can think of a few of my teachers who are exceptions to that statement, but I won't name and shame them). They don't want you to feel like you are being overworked so if you have a legitimate reason to why you think there should be less work given out there shouldn't be a problem!

I hope this post helped you a little bit if you are a procrastinator like me, and I might be posting a few more back to school posts like this soon! If you are reading this and you know you have a piece of homework/coursework to finish, then go and start it now...if you start it you will be able to finish it, so what's the worst that could happen? Good luck!

xo