How to Focus on School Work
Be sure you understand your assignments., Use a planner to budget your time., Prioritize your assignments., Set time aside specifically for school work., Have a designated work space.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Be sure you understand your assignments.
It is nearly impossible to focus on school work that you don’t understand.
Before you leave school, try to ask the teacher or another student to explain any assignments with instructions that aren’t clear to you.
Once you clearly understand what your teacher wants you to do, then you can begin focusing on your work.
Sometimes it might be helpful to see if your school offers tutoring, especially if you find that confusion over your homework is often why you struggle to focus on it.
Working with a tutor will definitely help you stay on task with your school work and help improve your grades, as well. -
Step 2: Use a planner to budget your time.
This is especially important if you have a busy extracurricular schedule or are on the forgetful side.
Writing your assignments in a planner will help you visualize your day, week, or month ahead and help you plan your assignments around work and social events.
This will help you stay focused on your work and keep you from becoming overwhelmed, which can lead to procrastinating.You can use either a physical notebook-style planner or download an app on your phone or tablet.
Be sure to organize your planner.
Using color coded tabs or sticky notes can help you keep track of your assignments work, and extracurricular schedule.
For example, use blue tabs to denote upcoming assignments or tests, red tabs to show your work schedule, and yellow tabs to show your social schedule.
If you use a physical planner, be sure to keep it neat.
A chaotic-looking planner that you can't read or understand won't help you focus.
Avoid scribbling out words or writing illegibly.
Write neatly and be sure to write in erasable pencil or use white out to make changes to assignments written in ink. , Beyond just budgeting time for your assignments, you will also want to rank your assignments in order of importance and due date.
This will help keep you focused on assignments as they come due and keep you from getting bogged down by trying to do too many assignments at once.For example, if you have a five page English paper that’s due in a week, that assignment should take priority over a science project that’s due in a month.
Tests should always be marked as high priority in your planner.
Take into account how long assignments will take, as well.
Think about the "big picture" of your school schedule.
Instead of only focusing on what is due in the next few days, for example, take a macro view and consider what assignments are due this month.
Then, as time allows, make an effort to chip away at future projects.
This way, when those due dates approach, you won't have to rush and stress out over how to find the time to complete those assignments., What time of the day you choose doesn’t matter, as long as you set aside a dedicated block of time for focusing on your school work.
During this time, you have to mentally tell yourself that for this block of time, your only goal is to get as much school work completed as possible.
The amount of time you’ll need to set aside will vary based on how much homework you have and how difficult your assignments are, so be sure to allot enough time to complete your work.If you’re a morning person, get up early, eat some breakfast, and work on assignments before school or work.
If you are a night owl, then arrange for time to work before bed.
Regardless of which time of day you choose to do your work, be sure that you’re getting enough sleep.
It’s counterproductive to be sleep deprived while you try to focus on your school work. , Avoid trying to focus on your school work while watching TV or lying on your bed because it is too easy to fall asleep or get distracted.
Designate a quiet area as a work-only space.
This can be your kitchen table, a table at your local or campus library, or your desk in your room.
Regardless of which space you choose, make sure that you have sufficient space to work and spread out so you can focus on your school work. -
Step 3: Prioritize your assignments.
-
Step 4: Set time aside specifically for school work.
-
Step 5: Have a designated work space.
Detailed Guide
It is nearly impossible to focus on school work that you don’t understand.
Before you leave school, try to ask the teacher or another student to explain any assignments with instructions that aren’t clear to you.
Once you clearly understand what your teacher wants you to do, then you can begin focusing on your work.
Sometimes it might be helpful to see if your school offers tutoring, especially if you find that confusion over your homework is often why you struggle to focus on it.
Working with a tutor will definitely help you stay on task with your school work and help improve your grades, as well.
This is especially important if you have a busy extracurricular schedule or are on the forgetful side.
Writing your assignments in a planner will help you visualize your day, week, or month ahead and help you plan your assignments around work and social events.
This will help you stay focused on your work and keep you from becoming overwhelmed, which can lead to procrastinating.You can use either a physical notebook-style planner or download an app on your phone or tablet.
Be sure to organize your planner.
Using color coded tabs or sticky notes can help you keep track of your assignments work, and extracurricular schedule.
For example, use blue tabs to denote upcoming assignments or tests, red tabs to show your work schedule, and yellow tabs to show your social schedule.
If you use a physical planner, be sure to keep it neat.
A chaotic-looking planner that you can't read or understand won't help you focus.
Avoid scribbling out words or writing illegibly.
Write neatly and be sure to write in erasable pencil or use white out to make changes to assignments written in ink. , Beyond just budgeting time for your assignments, you will also want to rank your assignments in order of importance and due date.
This will help keep you focused on assignments as they come due and keep you from getting bogged down by trying to do too many assignments at once.For example, if you have a five page English paper that’s due in a week, that assignment should take priority over a science project that’s due in a month.
Tests should always be marked as high priority in your planner.
Take into account how long assignments will take, as well.
Think about the "big picture" of your school schedule.
Instead of only focusing on what is due in the next few days, for example, take a macro view and consider what assignments are due this month.
Then, as time allows, make an effort to chip away at future projects.
This way, when those due dates approach, you won't have to rush and stress out over how to find the time to complete those assignments., What time of the day you choose doesn’t matter, as long as you set aside a dedicated block of time for focusing on your school work.
During this time, you have to mentally tell yourself that for this block of time, your only goal is to get as much school work completed as possible.
The amount of time you’ll need to set aside will vary based on how much homework you have and how difficult your assignments are, so be sure to allot enough time to complete your work.If you’re a morning person, get up early, eat some breakfast, and work on assignments before school or work.
If you are a night owl, then arrange for time to work before bed.
Regardless of which time of day you choose to do your work, be sure that you’re getting enough sleep.
It’s counterproductive to be sleep deprived while you try to focus on your school work. , Avoid trying to focus on your school work while watching TV or lying on your bed because it is too easy to fall asleep or get distracted.
Designate a quiet area as a work-only space.
This can be your kitchen table, a table at your local or campus library, or your desk in your room.
Regardless of which space you choose, make sure that you have sufficient space to work and spread out so you can focus on your school work.
About the Author
Marilyn Roberts
Specializes in breaking down complex practical skills topics into simple steps.
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