Your Guide to Straight A’s

Welcome to the table! School is a gigantic part of our lives. If you go school 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 36 weeks a year, you spend 5,400 hours a year at school (wow!).

For many, school is undeniably important and you may have pressure to excel academically. Yet, accomplishing those academic goals can be exhausting. But, I have some techniques to help you achieve more with less energy! 

As a high school student, I can share with you firsthand techniques that may help you, as they’ve helped me. I’ve gone from seemingly hypnotized by video entertainment for hours before touching homework to having strong habits that create impressive results that exceed what others thought I could do. These tips, blended with consistency and self care, can guide you to that fulfilling report card.

1. Start small and build up. Whenever you implement these techniques, make them easy and do them consistently before improving them. In the long run, this can help you maintain a powerful habit rather than burn out after a few quick days. So, if you feel like procrastinating your science project, try doing it for 3 minutes instead of 2 hours. You may find yourself continuing to study after the 3 minutes. Or, instead of implementing the Pomodoro technique (see below) every night, test it during longer study sessions, then implement it more. 

2. Time block your study sessions and write it down. Time blocking can look different depending on what you find works best for you, but a starting place is to use the “Pomodoro” technique coined by Francesco Cirillo. It’s simple: cycle 25 minutes of study with a 5 minute break for two hours or less; if you hit two hours, take a longer 15-30 minute break, then repeat the cycle. I started using this over the summer by allocating tasks within each 25 minute period and recording it in my planner or checklist. For example, a study session from 6-8pm, could look like this:

• 6:00-6:25: Math test studying
• 6:30-6:55: Biology homework 
• 7:00-7:25: More Biology homework 
• 7:30-7:55: English essay editing

This helped me beat procrastination and gave me satisfaction when I completed, then crossed out a task. Furthermore, you can time block your day, weaving in small tasks like “email my Biology teacher” and larger ones like going to the gym. That can help you notice time where you could study or do activities you enjoy, rather than scroll on TikTok for two hours. 

3. Schedule a meeting with your teacher from a class in which you wish to raise your grade. The main thing to focus on here is merely scheduling, not the actual meeting, because it can encourage you to somewhat prepare for the meeting since you’d probably have a smooth, productive meeting than an unfulfilling, awkward one. In the meeting, you could ask lingering questions or inquire about how you could improve. Resultantly, you may cultivate an improved relationship with the teacher which can help you in the form of a teacher recommendation, a mentor, and someone to cheer you on! After meeting, the next step could be to implement their advice, then schedule another meeting to create consistency.

Finally, remember to celebrate yourself along the way! It’s easy to fall into perfectionist tendencies that go undetected. I’ve done exactly that. When I did notice the perfectionism, I viewed it as my ambition, rather than a limit. But, perfectionism simply feels bad, and what’s the point in completing goals like straight A’s if it’s not fulfilling? Although big goals may require ambition, remember to prioritize the simple goal of being better than you were yesterday.

From,

Meredith <3

Citations:

Clear, James. Atomic Habits. New York, Penguin Publishing Group, 16 Oct. 2018.