“I can’t deal with this anymore; I swear I’m going to drop out of school instead.”

“The AMOUNT of assessments that I’ve gotten, I’m not even going to try. Who cares if I flunk it?”

“Studying? Again? I’d much rather throw bricks at zombies in Minecraft or sit there and binge-watch the newest season of Stranger Things.”

I bet a lot of you have heard that or said that. Don’t try lying to yourselves.

So, for your ease, and with my amazing and expansive knowledge of what to do when you just want to fall asleep over that final chapter of ‘Parabolas and Curves’, I’ve got just the thing for you. Bear in mind, following this would be quite understandably the best course of action.

1. Lock your phone in a safe and throw it into the ocean.

No, don’t take that highly dramatic decision. Instead, from one fellow student to another, please, please don’t keep your phone anywhere near you. This is probably something you’ve heard about a million times, from educators and parents and probably even people like me. But from personal experience, keeping your phone near you isn’t how you’re going to complete that Science Depth Study that’s due next week. After all, they’re testing you on Radioactivity, not the nuances of Instagram.

2. Books over screens

For those of you looking at the screen like, “WHAT? YOU WANT ME TO WRITE MY NOTES OUT?”, no, that’s not what I mean. In my opinion, and experience, I’ve always retained information better when I have it in front of my eyes. It’s a strange sensory feeling, really, like the preference I have for physical books over e-books. For me, looking at the notes on my desk, highlighting and re-reading over what I’ve actually highlighted, even flipping the page already means that I’m retaining more information that what I would’ve done, pointlessly scrolling across a screen. Even for the solving of practice papers and worksheets, I make it a point to print them all out.

 Trust me, this works.

3. Exercise, take a break in between

Most people would tell you, “Oh, I sit down for 3 hours and finish my work. It’s so much better than wasting time in between”. Wrong!

Taking breaks in between subjects allows you to clear your mind for a while and prepare it for the next buck load of work you have to complete. When you drag your studies on in one long, monotonous session, halfway through, you just want to get it done and over with, so you begin to work faster, which often leads to sloppy work and fatigue. Instead, after finishing one subject, get up. Walk around, in my case, I workout in between, grab a chocolate muffin, just get away from your laptop and your books for a little while.

However, do not, under any circumstance, check your phone. It’s a trap.

4. COLOUR!

When making your notes, images, graphs, mind maps, are much, much more engaging, and interesting to read than staring at a paragraph of endless words. Not only do they summarise the information you need to retain, but they also effectively reduce the amount of time you have to spend memorising one subject, positively impacting your time management as well. Bright, vibrant colours, psychologically appeal to your brain, boosting your energy and garnering your interest, just like the advertisements plastered around for Taylor Swift.

5. Create a timetable with a reward system

Life becomes far easier when you have a set routine to follow, rather than having to scramble for a plan on the spot. Spend a day deciding which subject combinations you want to do on which days and write it all down. Stick it up right in front of you, so you can glare at it and complain every single day while dutifully completing your work. Additionally, for a little extra motivation, set a reward for achieving a certain goal. The one I usually use is, “If you follow this routine for this entire week, you can take a day off on Sunday.”

Appealing, isn’t it? It could go along the lines of lollies, snacks, or even a few extra minutes of TV.

And finally, keep telling yourself this.

“All the work I’m doing now will mean I won’t have to work as much in the future. I could sit there and do whatever and everything would be worth it. Besides, I want that extra lolly anyway.”

Signing off…