ALI WARSHAY is a senior at Westwood High School and is entering Harvard
College. Ali’s advice:
A piece of advice I would give to help manage time is that before anything else, know your organizational strengths and weaknesses as well as how much you can realistically complete well in a given day. I become distracted easily if I don't set a detailed schedule for myself; however, once I've allocated a specific amount of time for everything on my to-do list, tasks become much more manageable. I religiously use the Schedule Planner app, which syncs with my calendar and helps me visually manage my time. I'm also a big fan of the Stay Focused app on my computer, which blocks the amount of time I can spend each day on specific websites (especially social media). MORGAN MUNSEY is a senior at Sullivan East High School and will attend
East Tennessee State University. Morgan’s advice:
I use a planner with a month view and a weekly view. I put all club meetings, planned time with friends and family, sport activities, and big tests on the month view. Daily items I need to accomplish such as homework and reading I keep in the weekly view sections. Each night I spend 5-10 minutes focusing on what I accomplished, what I need to better, and what is to come the next day. This helps keep me prepared and less forgetful. I am a procrastinator. I always have been, and I always will be. It's so easy to say, I can do it later, and then forget to do it. So rather than making later the next day or in a few hours I use the timer function on my phone. If the time is 11:13 and I need to study but want to put it off, I give myself 17 minutes. Although it doesn't seem like much time, this routine satisfies my procrastinator personality. Whenever I have a moment of free time I make StudyBlue notecards. Rather than taking the time to type out full definitions, I use the talk to text option on my iPad. I may look a little silly to those watching, but this makes the process go much faster. Since I made the notecards on StudyBlue I can study basically
anywhere at any time. This allows me to study even when I only have a few minutes such as between classes or during lunch. The ability to do this is great when you have a busy week. I don't have the best handwriting which can make studying more difficult. When allowed, I love to take notes on Google Docs. The program is convenient because it updates as you type on one device to all of your other devices. The program also allows for easy color changes and graphing, which can make notes seem a little more enjoyable.