One of the main reasons that you decided to take an online high school program was because you had so much going on in your life. Ironically, it now appears that you don’t have enough time to complete all of your tasks.
Don’t worry! It won't be a problem at all! If you’re looking for ways to get more done in less time, this article is for you.
ChallengeU students take their courses on the Edgenuity platform. It’s important for students to read each course syllabus, which provides an overview of the course and is available on the course portal at the beginning of each semester. To make the most of your time, it’s helpful to familiarize yourself with the course expectations by carefully reading each course syllabus.
Make a list of important dates from the course syllabus so that you can refer to this list often. Before signing up for anything (work, social, or personal commitments) that might create a conflict with your academic requirements, double-check these dates.
To help you keep track of your progress, create your own “mini-deadlines.” For example, if you follow the Edgenuity platform's suggested study schedule and you have an assignment due by the third week of the course, you need to remember to plan a study session in order to complete this assignment on time. By organizing your time better and writing down the due dates for assignments in advance, you won’t feel stressed.
Prioritizing is easier if you are more comfortable saying “no” to non-essential activities that take you away from your schoolwork and other important commitments. If this is hard to do, talk to someone you care about, such as a family member or a co-worker, and let them know how important it is for you to succeed in school. Because they care about you, your loved ones will have a better understanding of your predicament and will be more accommodating. You can’t lose your focus if you don’t accept non-essential commitments!
Don’t be one of those students who procrastinate until the last minute. The term “procrastination” is often used to describe this type of behavior, but we prefer to refer to it as “self-sabotage.”
If you don’t take the time to read the required chapters or to write and rewrite the necessary reports when attempting a task at the last minute, you are shooting yourself in the foot. If you don’t turn in your assignments on time, you will miss out on the excellent grades that you could have obtained if you hadn’t rushed.
Here's a good way to stop procrastinating and to study better. Take studying for a history exam as an example. If you don’t feel like reviewing history on a particular evening, instead of procrastinating, you could reread your notes from another class. Go back to studying for your history exam afterwards. You will continue to study for the history exam and do other schoolwork, but in a different order. That way, you’ll learn better because it’s proven that 30 minutes of study in one subject followed by a change is better than two hours of study in the same subject. This is an opportunity for you to study for other courses in addition to preparing for your exam. Procrastinating is often related to boredom, laziness or fear of failure, so change your routine!
Every twenty minutes or so, take a well-earned break. This will allow you to recharge yourself so that you can do more reading, writing, or studying again.
As you become more focused and efficient, you’ll be able to accomplish more in a shorter period of time.You’ll be less likely to cut corners on sleep and more likely to get the rest that you need to perform well at work, at school, and in your spare time (no matter how brief it may be).
We wish you all the best in your studies!