There is nothing better than having a head start in before going into a new, fresh year at school, college or A-Levels, the weight lifted off your shoulders that you are not going in blind-folded or unprepared.
It can be very stressful to know what you need to do to prepare for the year ahead from utensils to research you could learn to help you understand your course or subject better. Using these top five tips, you will understand what your teacher or lecture is talking about and be ready for a successful year.
Researching is the key to success. Get to know the subject basics. Back to front, this will give you a head start to the subject so you can tackle your assignments with ease as you already have that knowledge there that will save you a lot of time researching. It's good to work smarter rather than hard; then you can have time for self-care and meeting friends to have that healthy study/life balance as this can help your brain to relax. Therefore it's ready to go for when your working again to avoid yourself from getting overworked.
Keep quick, useful facts, quote and information to hand in a notebook so you can easily refer back to it when you are typing up an essay or producing a presentation. It's essentially your bible to your course and assignments that can save you from spending hours trying to find that quote you saw three weeks ago.
Why not get yourself onto an education academy, where a tutor can assist and push you further to boost your knowledge. There is nothing to be embarrassed about if you have a tutor. Whether you are quite knowledgeable or you are new to the subject, they can help you reach your potential and your goals.
If you are finding specific exams difficult or you need the grades to get into your next step in life, then going to a tuition centre can continually support you to achieve them.
Considering your future path is important at this stage, it doesn't need to be the final decision but thinking about it so you can inform your teacher or lecturer about it can allow them to guide you in the right direction.
To a lot of people, finding the perfect stationery for your pencil case is an exciting part to the start to your year. If you are going for the digital approach then setting yourself up on a laptop and using programmes like GoogleDocs, Sheets etc. so they can link to your other gadgets like your tablet and phone. It's the worse feeling when you don't have your document when you forget your laptop. Another great tip for being organised throughout your school year is putting everything onto your phone calendar that links to every device. Hence, you don't have to carry around a diary, and you can reply if you can go to something instantly.
If you are more of a notebook user then getting yourself a book that has a mixture of lined, plain and squared paper throughout the book as this will allow you to be able to do any drawings, calculations and writing in one place. Having everything in one place will avoid looking through multiple books. If you can, keep an eye out for one which has a slot at the back for loose pieces of paper and leaflets.
Time can fly by when you are studying during the day when you look up from your laptop and its 3:30 pm, and you haven't had lunch or even started on the assignment that is due tomorrow!
The best way to motivate you to tick everything off your todo list is to set a 20/30/60 minute timer on your phone. Anything over 60 minutes is too long, and your mind will wander, but giving yourself the challenge to see how much you can do in the time limit will boost your productivity levels. It's surprising how much you can do when you have a certain amount of time.
Schedule in lunch and 15-minute breaks throughout the day will give your mind that much-needed refresh to stop yourself from overloading and going into sloth mode. Healthy, fresh eating and drinking will feed your brain, giving it the power to work; it's often forgotten about when we are caught up in our workload.
Making new friends is great to have, but finding someone who is studying the same subject as you can mean that you can work on assignments and projects together. Having a study can improve the quality of your ideas as you can bounce an idea back and forth which you'll find that you can both develop the concept even further than you would if you are alone. Sometimes saying things out loud can encourage other thoughts to grow.
The internet is becoming a massive part of our daily life, but taking advantage of social media platforms by searching for groups that have others who are doing the same subject can help you when you need ideas or have a question. Within these groups, you'll often find that there are smaller group chats which you can get involved in to help one another if you are afraid of posting in big groups. You could also create one with other students in your class.
Taking the time to ensure you are ready for the next year of your life can be very overwhelming, but using these five tips can guide you through the process of getting everything ready. Grab your pen and paper and get organising. These are one of the most important parts of your life so taking it as it comes and being ahead of the game will make it a lot easier and you'll come out with the grades ad qualifications you need.