• What are some study hacks that enforce a habit of not procrastinating?

I know that I am not the only one in this boat where, if I am not interested in a class, I tend to procrastinate big assignments. For example, freshman year I wasn’t that passionate about English class. I enjoyed my teacher, but the material and reading bored me, which is a natural thing for every student. Everyone has at least one class they don’t enjoy, but they have to stick through it. So with this, I have a few tips that have helped me succeed in my years at Marymount.

My first tip is to train one’s brain to form a sense of drive in order to understand the assignment and all its parameters since it can be an overload of requirements. With this comprehension of the task(s), one knows the proper steps that need to be taken in order to form a plan. It doesn’t have to be perfect to the “T”, but spacing out the “to-dos” properly is a great head start. I like to get the largest struggle of the assignment out of the way first, so I don’t need to stress over it. For example, if I needed to write a final quarter essay in English, I would form my thesis and find my quotes first. That is always the biggest challenge for me, so I would knock that out. This also provides a sense of confidence and motivation for the assignment. 

My second tip is something that has most definitely saved me hours of studying/homework. A lot of the time, when I receive a new assignment, I make sure to look at the first few problems to understand what needs to get done in order to determine how long it will take me. For instance, I will look at the first few problems Dr. Doan assigns for the AP Statistics homework to see how long it will take me. It can range from 15-40 minutes and having that sense of the duration for each problem helps plan one’s schedule accordingly and efficiently. 

My last tip is to set your own deadlines. If you have an essay due December 7th, I would recommend making a personal deadline for December 5th, to ensure that you have enough time to review, make final revisions, and even meet with your teacher with enough time to not rush. I often do this with big assignments like a service-learning project or a quarter writing piece. I hope these tips helped!