Whether you are a student at Kingwood Park who is a Silver Star, in band, a StuCo member, or you just have an AP class or two (or three), you most likely have a lot of things going on. School gets really difficult as you juggle your homework, responsibilities at home, work, extracurricular activities, and your social life while still trying to get enough sleep to not doze off in all of your classes. It can sometimes make you feel like you are slowly going insane. So, here are a few tips to help you throughout the school year:

1. Stay Organized: As cliche as this sounds, it’s really important to have your schoolwork organized. It helps prevent losing things like worksheets and project papers or forgetting about what homework you need to do. Some easy ways to organize are to use folders for your classes or keep a binder with dividers.
2. Don’t Procrastinate: This one is very important, because procrastinating assignments causes more stress than the assignment itself. A good way to avoid procrastinating is starting your homework as soon as you get home to prevent yourself from being distracted by your phone, TV, or dog.
3. Maintain a Planner: Keeping a planner and filling it out makes it easier to keep up with your assignments. Cross out the assignments you finish and highlight ones that are test grades or more important for the class. You can also write notes about after school events or things you need to remember.
4. Use Extra Time on Homework: When you have finished everything in a class for the day, spend the time you have available on finishing a couple of questions on your math homework or reading your English book. Don’t just waste the time you have at school playing on your phone. Not only does it help you get your work finished – it allows you to have more free time at home after school.
5. Do Important Assignments First: When you settle down and get ready to do homework, you should start out with the longer, more time-consuming work. If you have a project to do, work on that first, at least for a few minutes.
6. Relax: While your grades and schoolwork are important, it is also important to not stress about school too often. Take days that you only have a little homework and make plans to go out to a movie with your friends. Spend some time for yourself on days where you have homework, too. You should relax for about 15 to 45 minutes depending on your self-discipline and how much schoolwork you have.
7. Forgive Yourself: Don’t be too hard on yourself when you make a bad grade. Sometimes you have to relax and realize that some grades aren’t going to be as good as you want them to be. Just try to do better and do not beat yourself up over a number.