As time progresses, learning can become harder and harder depending on how well you can manage your time, and many students can become overwhelmed when entering difficult courses in college or even high school. Today I want to cover some of the techniques from my personal experience that have helped me succeed by managing my time over the years, and hopefully, you can implement some of them into your everyday routine as a student.
Most likely you've already done this, but writing out a list of all of your classes from hardest to easiest can help you determine what you should tackle first. Another easy way to figure out which classes you should prioritize is what grades you have in each class; simply work on the classes that have the lowest grades first. After this, you should figure out what schoolwork will give the best "bang for it's buck", in the sense that you should try to complete projects or schoolwork that affects your grade the most in that class first, and you can even skip over work that counts for little or no points, or do it after you've finished the rest of your work.
If you have a teacher who likes to go on and on for hours about nonsense that you already know, then it presents a great opportunity for you to get some schoolwork done during this "downtime". You can also find classes that are easy for you to understand, and if you look ahead in the book during class, you could open up even more time for you to finish your work. A realistic goal would be to free up between 1/8-1/6 of the time you spend in school to do schoolwork, and this can significantly lower the amount of work you have to do at home or in your dorm. Reading your teachers can also help you understand the learning environment, and it's also necessary to know which teachers will be laid back or strict, and also what type of work your teachers prefer.
Sleep is more important than studying. Studies have shown that students who cram late at night don't score any higher than students who would've just slept the right amount and didn't know the material. Of course, if you stay up all night there's a pretty good chance you'll do good on that exam, but you likely won't remember what you studied a week later. However, in most situations, it's better to go to sleep for at least 6 hours a night instead of studying. In addition to that, you should also be sleeping in 90-minute intervals to ensure you wake up during light sleep; This isn't necessary, but you will wake up feeling well rested and ready to start your day. Ideally, you should sleep 7.5 hours on weekdays, and 9 hours on weekends. If you have time for 9 hours of sleep every day, go for it!
Yeah, I know this is going to sound stupid, but try to meditate every day, even if it's just for ten minutes. The goal here is to simply let your thoughts pass you by and to turn off the voice in the back of your head. Just try to fling all of your thoughts away from you until you get the hang of it, and then it will come easier as you do it more often. If you forget that your meditating, or open your eyes not knowing where you are, then you're doing the right thing! Meditation can cause new structural formations in the frontal cortex, and it also improves memory and overall well-being. Your roommate might call you a hippie, but at least you'll be acing all your classes!
Don't let school take over your entire world. Being on top of your work all the time is great, but if you miss every single party to stay in and study, you'll likely lose motivation to keep working. Having fun doing things outside of school is healthy, and it's important to balance the things that you have to do with the things that you want to. Don't be afraid to party every now and then, just make sure it doesn't get out of hand.
So about now you're probably wondering how you can possibly fit all of these things into your already-full schedule. The answer is you don't have to. As long as you prioritize your work and set realistic goals for yourself, you should be able to reach whatever goals you have for your grades and have plenty of time left over in your schedule to do what you please. Time management is an easy thing to forget, but by just tweaking a few of the things in your everyday routine, you could be getting better grades and having an easier time doing it.
