A lot of people think of a new school year as an opportunity to improve on last years grades or make honour role. This was always my goal, because I had a scholarship to maintain and, frankly, a fear of poor performance. My success throughout high school and undergrad were a result of hard work and discipline. Those two things combined are a guarantee for your success, whether that means making the Dean's list, or simply improving on last year's performance.
Before I go on, I want to acknowledge the fact that our school systems are targeted to a certain type of person, or learner. This is why some people struggle throughout their whole academic lives, and others seem to excel without trying. If you are the former, I want to encourage you to know that you are not stupid or lazy. In fact, you may be brilliant with your hands, or have a profoundly creative mind. No matter what your experience with school has been, you have something to offer the world. Never doubt it.
Anyways, with school starting tomorrow (Happy Labour Day!) I wanted to share some things that really helped me make the grade. This post is more catered to my university and college friends, but it can totally apply to high school as well!
1. Stock Up on Cute Supplies
This is the most exciting part about this whole thing. I love pretty planners, pens, highlighters...you name it. I even like to update my MacBook wallpaper to something beautiful and inspiring. I strongly believe that finding something both beautiful and functional can make you feel more motivated to tackle the day's tasks.
1. Floral Planner 2. Desktop Weekly Pad 3. Dry Erase Dot Planner 4. Golden Office Set 5. Oversized Wall Calendar
There are so many beautiful (and affordable!) planners out there. If you're like me and can't keep a paper planner up to date, I strongly suggest making your laptop or phone calendar your best friend! What worked for me is having a weekly desk pad (#2) that I could complete and then rip off at the end of the week. Another option is mounting a dry-erase weekly calendar to your wall, so you can easily write down assignments (& not waste paper!).
Now, having a cute planner is not going to give you an A on a paper...but it can help facilitate good working habits and help you stay on top of upcoming assignments, which brings us to the next point.
2. Use Your Syllabus!
This is so important. Imagine you're going on a road trip to California. You're totally prepared, so you enter the coordinates into Google Maps on your phone... but then you turn off your phone and put it in your suitcase. Makes no sense, right? You make the same mistake when you go to your first lecture, take the syllabus the prof gives you and shove it in your backpack, never to be seen again. Your syllabus is your roadmap to all the assignments and readings that you will need to complete during the semester. This means that each term, you need to take out your iCalendar or planner and write down every due date from now until you hand in your last paper. That way, you can see when you have 3 papers due in the same week from September, which allows you to get a head start so you're not cramming and handing in poor-quality work.
Now that you've logged all your assignments in for the semester, it's time to write down your readings. I didn't like to put those in my calendar because it made everything look too cluttered. Instead, I downloaded an app that I could use solely for readings. The one I liked the best was Todoist because it allowed me to colour code my readings by class and schedule alerts if I missed one.
Most professors at my university posted the syllabus online before classes even started, so I would do this somewhat tedious process before I even walked on campus. That way, there was nothing between me and my first readings.
3. Buy Your Textbooks Early
Another big tip (for your own sanity) is to buy your textbooks early! Now that you've had a good look at your syllabus (before school even starts!), it's time to search for your textbook at local second hand stores or on Amazon. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you can even find your textbook online for free by searching 'Title name free pdf' (but you didn't learn that from me...). Many students are also looking to sell their books from past semesters, so use Kijiji, Facebook groups or Craigslist to your advantage.
Having your textbooks early not only helps you to avoid horrendous line ups at the bookstore, but it ensures that you won't get behind on your readings (since you know they're going to assign you 50 pages on your first day, right?). Which leads me to my next point...
4. Do. Not. Procrastinate.
This is a hard one for a lot of people. If it's not fun, who really wants to do it? It's just a little reading, the professor will go over it in the next class. NO. Getting behind in any way in college is a recipe for disaster. It leads to stress and exasperation and crying because your dad drank the last juice box... Not a pretty sight. That's why I always try to do what I can before the semester starts so I'm prepared for the workload that it brings. It's much easier to stay on top of three, 10-page readings per day than it is to read all the required readings just before a test.This also applies to assignments. Like we talked about before, you already know which weeks are going to be hectic with lots of due-dates. Take the time to plan out when you will start on which assignments, so by the time that week comes around 2/3 of those papers are already done.
If you're someone who really struggles with procrastination, you could try self-deception. By this I mean writing in your calendar that your philosophy paper is due a week before it actually is, just so you have it done on time. Whatever self-trickery you need to do to help you curb procrastination habits will be a lifesaver during exam season.
5. Make Good Notes
6. Balance is Key
At the end of the day, it can't just be all work and no play. Do you need to be dedicated to your schooling to succeed? Absolutely. Are there days you need to say no to an outing because you need to do some essay writing? For sure. But if you're going to have a happy and healthy school year, you need to understand that there must be times of rest. Sleep in on Saturday, watch a couple episodes on Netflix before you start your readings, chat with a family member or a friend... whatever you need to do to ensure that you are taking your mind off of school for a few hours is great self-care.
School, (especially university) is an opportunity for you to learn about something you're interested in...something you might want to dedicate your life to. You have the power to make it a great experience. These are the tips and tricks that made my undergrad and high school 'career' something I remember fondly, and this can be the same for you, too!
You are incredible and full of potential, so make this year one for the books!
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