With school just starting up, everyone is getting into their flow. For me, the first week of my junior year was relaxing. During the second week, the assignments started piling up and I had to play catch-up. Because I wasn’t as focused as I should have been, my second week was a lot more stressful than it needed to be.
Since this is now my third year of college, I’ve found what works for me and what doesn’t when it comes to being productive and studying. I’m taking five classes this semester, which is the most I’ve ever taken while being in season as a collegiate athlete. In college, volleyball season starts in September and doesn’t die down until November. This is also when school tends to become the most difficult for students.
#1 Be Organized
Because of my busy schedule (I’m on the road traveling for a volleyball game while writing this), I need to be organized. From writing every little thing I need to do down in bullet journal to organizing all of my volleyball and school events on my calendar app, I need to have a way of knowing everything I need to do.
For all of my assignments, I write them down twice in my planner. The first time is the day they’re assigned, and then I write them down again on the day that they’re due. This way, if there’s some time in between when the assignment is started and when it’s due, it’ll be easier to remember and stay on top of it. Check out how I get organized!
#2 Schedule time to study/do work
When you’re organized, you know when you’re free and when you should be working. There have been so many times that I’ve had to schedule an hour or two here and there to make sure that all my work is completed on time. With season in full swing, it’s even harder to find time. For the past three weekends, I’ve been traveling for away games. Traveling is always tiring, so it’s even harder to be productive. But since I’ve scheduled the time that I’m studying, it’s easier to get my work done.
#3 Take regular breaks
To make sure you’re being as productive as possible, take breaks in between assignments and studying! There are two rules I like to follow when I need to be as productive as possible: the 50/10 rule or the 45/15 rule. The 50/10 rule is that for fifty minutes to doing homework or studying, take a ten minute break to either be on your phone or walk around to stretch your legs. The 45/15 rule is the same, except for forty-five minutes of work and fifteen minutes of relaxing. This is one of my best tips and I found it really helps me!
#4 Work with a classmate
There is nothing like working with a friend or a classmate to help each other! Last year, me and one of my roommates had a class together and we would study together all the time. This year, we have multiple classes together and find time in our schedules to work together on the homework, quizzes, or papers. We study really well together, so it’s the perfect setup.
If you don’t have a friend in the class already, find someone who seems to be into the course so that you can both work together to make sure you get all of your work done and get a good grade in the class!
#5 Get your work done early if possible
If you only listen to one of the tips from this post, please listen to this one! The earlier you get your work done, the less time you spend stressing about school and the more time you have for anything else, like Netflix, hanging out with friends, or other schoolwork.
Today, I had several assignments due. Multiple quizzes, assignments, and homeworks/papers! I started doing them last Wednesday and by Sunday, I only had the paper and one quiz left to worry about. I wasn’t stressed and I managed to pull off great grades on all of the assignments!
Thank you so much for reading! I hope you found some tips that would help you be productive with your work or school assignments. Leave a comment down below if you liked these tips or have used any of them!
Love,
Kaitlin
Kaitlin H Powell 