NATALIE KRUSE attends Council Rock High School South in Holland,
Pennsylvania. Her advice:
I have a homework log, which is a daily calendar, and for each class I write down when the homework is due. Even if it’s due at the end of the week, I’ll still write it down so if I have extra time at night I can start early. I generally write down when I have a test two to three days ahead of time so I remember to spread out the studying over a few days, to reduce the time and stress spent the night before. When it comes to reducing distractions, I don’t listen to music or watch television while I’m doing my homework. I find that this helps me push through my homework at a much quicker pace. For social media, I’ll spend time on my phone when I first get home, but then I’ll put it down and won’t pick it up until my homework is done, or I’ll pick it up between subjects as a little reward—but I don’t give myself more than a ten minute break, because it will feel like you have a lot more homework than you do if you take multiple breaks. I try to start my homework pretty early after I come home so I can be done by nine or ten at night. After that I start to get tired and lazy and work at a much slower pace. JOHN RAMOS is a medical student at the University of Coimbra in Portugal,
and is a writer at TheStudentPower.com. His advice:
Set realistic small goals. I call them daily quotas, a term that got some attention on Quora. By daily quota I mean a small goal that seems insignificant, but when repeated day after day gets daunting tasks done. For example, 20 words in a foreign language a day (using a flashcard system, for instance) means 3000 words after 5 months. That’s almost complete fluency. Likewise, 10 math problems a day, every day, mean 300 problems done by the end of a month. It words because it’s a small time investment that compounds. Work in short bursts of productive work, instead of long, unproductive sessions (in which 80% of the time is spent on Facebook). Strategies like the Pomodoro Technique suggest working in periods of 25-30 minutes, taking a small break and then resuming for another 25-30 minute session. It reduces distractions and increases productivity. Enforce self-discipline with the help of browser extensions like StayFocusd (blocks social media and other time-wasters during certain periods of the day) and RescueTime (holds yourself accountable by measuring exactly how much time you spend working or wasting time on your computer).