Planning Out a Day

By Riley Wagner, Editor             Published March 11, 2020

Studying and juggling outside activities can be very difficult, especially with challenging coursework, at Northwest. Planning out a schedule and following through is the key to success in high school because it makes accountability a priority. 

The best method for studying and homework is called the 30 and 5. In order to use this way, set a stopwatch for 30 minutes and concentrate on getting tasks done during this period. Put away distractions like phones and tell family that it is not beneficial to be disturbed. After all the hard work, take a five minute pause and have some free time.

This method rewards hard work and allows a student to stay on task during work time because they have a break after. It can also be modified slightly with work periods of 40 minutes then breaks of 10 minutes depending on the individual. 

When getting home, take a break afterschool and have a snack for about thirty minutes. It is nice to recuperate and rest after a long day at school however procrastination can’t go on for hours on end solely based on the need for rest. Find the motivation to get up and do what needs to get done. 

Another tip is to start with the hardest task first so that burnout is prevented. If a student has already spent hours doing schoolwork, their concentration will probably faultter by the time they get to the hardest task. Plus, motivation to do something difficult will be hard to muster because they have already been spending energy on other work.  

Next, naps are generally a waste of productive opportunity and should generally be avoided. By napping, hours are spent asleep and often prevent Northwest students from going to bed at a reasonable hour. 

Finally, and probably the hardest to hear, Fridays should not be wasted on procrastinating. It doesn’t make sense to waste a perfectly good period of freetime to wait to do work. Find the courage to face the pile on a desk and get the task done. 

Be sure to study and keep those grades up hawks!

Please write in to riley.223463@nv.ccsd.net for more questions about getting through high school (relationships, teachers, parents, friends, stress, etc.).