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Sunday, February 19, 2012 By Sophie Park
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For some students, family and friends are the most important aspects of their lives in high school. However, many at TCIS would say that studying is the most important. Studying is something all students must do. Students study to maintain or improve their GPA and to improve their SAT, or other standardized tests scores. However, despite the need to study, some students do not spend their time wisely. They make a conscious choice not to study and still want better grades.
In a survey pool of five TCIS students, the averages spend 3 or 4 hours a day and 5 hours max studying. If you take away the time you eat dinner and the time dedicated to extracurricular activites, you can see that studying fills up everything.
However, all students have the same opportunities. It is a matter of how well the available time is used. Time, for example, is something that no one can control, and there are always ways to spend time wisely.
There are only a minute number of students who do not get distracted while doing their work, and these are the people who are using their time wisely. Many students are unsatisfied with their current grades, although they are not doing what is necessary to improve.
Isabell Park (10) says, “I know I can work better if I just concentrate on one thing but I get distracted really easily. Even when I turn wifi off I still look for other things to do.”
This seems to be a problem with a lot of students. Many students watch too many tv-shows, even with with the knowledge that time playing is studying time wasted. A lot of students blamed internet sites such as Facebook and Tumblr for their need to procrastinate. It seems that students already know what the problem is but they find that it’s not easy to fix.
The worst kind of procrastination is when there is a test the next day and one realizes they did nothing the whole day. After coming home after a long school day, they think about getting some rest before studying. It is only 4 o’clock and there is plenty of time left... right? Wrong! Before they know it, it is 10 o’clock and by that time, they realize they should have studied beforehand. However, it is too late by then.
The best way to stop procrastination is using schedules. Schedules can be made on a computer using applications or in the school handbook. Here are the steps toward a productive afternoon.
The first thing is to make a list of everything there is to do. Write all the assignments or tests there is even if they’re due next month.=
Secondly, organize the list so the most important ones are at the top. The ones with the highest priorities should be with assignments that are due the next day or with projects that are critical to their grade.
Thirdly, write out the schedule for the day. Also write down any after school activities or sports. Excluding those times, see how many hours there are left in the day to use productively. Remember to take out an hour or two for dinner.
What many people think at first is that, due to their sudden increase in determination, they can achieve many tasks in a very short period of time. Do not make this mistake and try to over achieve. Make sure to put in plenty or break times. Another advice is to not studying one subject for more than two hours. While dedicating a very small amount of time can be unproductive, too much time can have the same effect.
If there are many things due the next day, then the schedule will be filled up with just immediate assignments. If there is not a lot of homework that day, then there will be plenty of time to study for the test in the upcoming days.
Change is not going to happen suddenly or easily. If students really want to improve in order to get better grades they must work at it and stop whatever is preventing them from doing their work. They will need to find ways to keep themselves on task and they will be feeling much better about themselves.
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