High school is not easy. In order for students to go to upper tier universities, they are expected to balance an endless list of academics, standardized testing, school clubs, athletics, outside organizations, and internships. With the amount of workload that students have to handle, many parents and students believe that the only option in order to succeed is sleep less.
This is not true.
To logically explain, let’s say that a student decides to only sleep a few hours in order to study more. This begins a chain of events that will continue to escalate from that moment forward. Starting from the moment they deprive themselves of sleep, the student is already at a disadvantage the next day. They will find themselves struggling to listen in class and their capacity to learn more advanced concepts is slowed from sleep deprivation. This mental slowdown not only impacts their higher learning cognitive capacity but also their efficiency in performing learning tasks or even recalling information. This then decreases student efficiency and increases the amount of time they need to complete tasks such as studying and homework thereby causing a “spillover” effect where sleep deprivation one night causes further sleep deprivation the next day. Once the student begins depriving themselves of sleep they find themselves caught in a negative cycle of more and more exhaustion. It is this exact scenario that oftentimes is the main cause of student academic burn-out and works as a huge destructive force on student physical and mental health. Sometimes it can seem hopeless and impossible to avoid due to the incredibly competitive nature of high school and the college application process...
But, this is avoidable.
Over the years of college counseling, I have seen this constant theme among students that are burning out. Students tend to believe that there is no other option, and sometimes accept the idea that they will give up their physical and / or mental health just to get into a good college. This is not at all what I believe students should be doing, and I usually end up talking to students about their daily routines in order to fully understand potential issues that exist. Here are the three main points that I tend to end up providing to students, as many of them suffer from these issues:
Become more efficient on finishing tasks.
Become more aware of personal time inefficiencies.
Learn how to multitask whenever it is possible.
It may seem that these points are obvious, but parents and students both do not seem to fully grasp what these points entail.
When it comes to being more efficient on finishing tasks, I have noticed that most students tend to be mediocre at best. Many times when I ask students how long it takes them to complete certain tasks, I find out that they are spending easily 1~2 hours more than they should be. It may be that the student is slow at reading, too caught up in trying to write perfectly, or other possibilities, but these factors collectively serve to negatively impact the rest and personal time students have every day. This is one significant aspect that distinguishes the top students from the rest. I have seen the top students finish, at times, double the amount of work that a standard student completes while still maintaining high quality work and understanding of the content. The reasons for this can vary, but the important fact is that skills such as reading fast or writing efficiently are quintessential skills that need to be developed over time.
Students also tend to be inefficient. Procrastination is a common issue that many people face, but students are usually unaware of how much time they waste. It becomes important that if they have a tendency to be distracted, there needs to be a fixed schedule set up that allows students to keep track of their progress. Small changes like this can help students improve in managing their time and becoming more expedite.
Along the common theme of being more efficient and effective during the day, students need to also learn how to multitask. There tends to be the belief that if students goes to do an activity like volunteer, then they should not do anything else. Dependent on what activity they are participating in, such as volunteering at a hospital, students will sometimes find themselves with downtime, where they are just sitting around and waiting for the supervisor to give them another task. During these times, students should be taking these moments to work on assignments from school or study so that they do not have to stay up later. Finding such opportunities will only benefit the student more later on.
We, at Royal Education, are here to help through this process. Through our college counseling program, we help students improve their study habits in order to not only help them improve their grades, but also support them as scholars so that they have the skills needed to be successful in college. Along with all this, we are also able to help students through academic advising, college applications, and more. Feel free to reach out to us to schedule an appointment through the information below:
Website: www.royaled.net
Phone Number: (818)-275-3424
Facebook: www.facebook.com/royaleducationinc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/royaleducation
