Dealing with school, social life and sleep (and also eventually finding some time just for you) is not always easy - it's the least we can say. I also, sometimes, struggle with it. However, now that I finished high school a few years ago, I think I got the trick on some stuff. Until today, I never failed an exam, but I did got better and worse grades, and better and worse state of mind depending on how I dealt with my time and classes. I thus decided to share my experience with you. Keep in mind that these are based on my life, my classes and that what works to me, may not be good for you. For the record, I'm in law school. I also have to mention I'm dealing with terrible attention issues, so maybe these tips are not relevant for people with a high attention-ratio.
Nb : our school system, in Belgium, is not at all the same than in the US. I have read a few "school advice" posts from american and english bloggers, and I figured these advices could nonetheless be useful ;-) )
1. Attending all the classes is not mandatory
I know almost everyone will tell you the opposite, but I disagree. Of course, if you have a good auditive memory, you should go to class. For the others, when you go to class but your mind is not there, or when the teacher just read the textbook...what is your presence in the classroom good for ? You would make a best use of your time working at your desk/the library, or drinking coffee (or something else) with your friends.
I say that out of experience : since have a low attention ratio, and it happens a lot that I drive all the way to the university for nothing, because I don't pay attention at all to what the teacher says. It often happens that after 2 - 3 times, I notice that it will always be that way for one class, and that I actually have notes for this class, and then I decide simply not to go.
The tricky thing is that if you do that, you cannot let yourself forget this class actually exists. I always find a special time in my schedule to work on that specific class, and the thing is : since I know I'm not going there, I actually work better (because of the "stress"), and the only time I ended up with a bad grade for the classes I decided to miss was before I came up with that technique ;-P
2. Taking free-time to relax and have fun is mandatory
I know sometimes it is hard, and you feel guilty when you know you still have 3000 things to do and you decide to do something else instead, or you have "free time" you could spend studying, doing something "more" for a class and you just sit and watch stupid videos instead. Listen to me carefully : you shouldn't feel guilty.
Classes can really soon become overwhelming. You sit in front of those hundreds of pages and you feel like you would actually need to sleep 2hours per night to get through all of this, so can you really think about doing something else than work-related stuff ?! The answer is yes. When you start seeing nothing else in your life than study-related stuff, it's when you start hating school, feeling bad, and when you start doing always more, but not better. You should take free time, because...
1) it's good for you, your health and your mind
2) you only have one life
3) you will come back to your classes with a fresh look at them
4) having less time will push you to make better decisions about how you study
5) if you don't, things will always look worse, and you'll have the feeling no matter what you give up, it's never enough. The thing is : it's already too much. You're giving up on yourself.
For instance, I put two stops every single day. First, I never work after 9PM, even if I'm only half-way to the end of what I should have done (well, of course, if I only have half a page left, I'll go on until 21h10 ;-)). The second stop is in the afternoon. Sometimes, I only have class on the morning, and I have nothing planned in the afternoon and a thousand things to achieve. Well, I always take a break at 3PM, until most of the time 4PM : I make myself a coffee and watch a tv-show or talk with a friend or do something else, totally unrelated with school. You can also go and meet with someone or do some shopping, but the thing is : I live in a little village with just one supermarket and almost only old people ;-) I go to school by car every day. So, it's unfortunately not an option for me :-(. Sometimes, I take a whole day off - or a night off - and sometimes I work a lot for school, but I ALWAYS stick to the 9PM & 3PM rule.
3. Don't try to get as comprehensive notes as you can. Try to get useful ones.
Trust me on this one : you definitely don't want to end up with 300 pages long notes when there are 3 days left before the super big huge test you absolutely have to pass. Most certainly, you spent hours and hours of your time trying to make them as amazing as they can be : you do have all the dates, "important" details, the exact name of the person the teacher mentioned when he gave the example. Great. Maybe you could sell them as a textbook for people who will take this class next year (I actually did that). But the thing is : all the really important stuff is drawn in these pages, and you'll have to get through them in 3 freaking days. It is a bad idea.
The thing is : don't spend so much time trying to make outstanding notes, because you'll end up using all your time making them and there will be no left to actually work the material. Instead of making comprehensive notes, make some which will actually help you get that good grade : small notes, with every important thing and some stuff to help you understand what was going on. Some details can be important, but not every tiny little things are. It is quite hard at the beginning, but ask yourself : if I had to summarize and explain this to a friend, would I talk about this ? If the answer is no, just don't put it in your notes.
4. The mantra is : don't learn the material by heart. Understand it.
This goes hand in hand with my previous advice. I personally am perfectly unable to learn stuff by heart, and sometimes it can become a real problem (when you have conditions to learn or stuff like that). It also kinda became something good as I was forced to learn another strategy pretty soon in my schooling, and I have seen that this is what works better in college. Please just don't go through those pages without trying to understand what things you learn imply.
Always try to put it in a real-life example, to rewrite what you learn in your own words, to explain it to someone else and to ask yourself questions about what those things really mean (and if you don't have the answer, ask to someone else). If there are exercises, try to do them or at least to see if you understand how it goes (and not just the day before the exam. Do that instead of looking for the date of birth of the woman from the example the teacher gave you in class ;-) - cf the previous advice). The thing is, once you understand the material, it is much easier to "study". It goes faster. So if you think you're losing time by doing this, you're wrong. Thankfully, I was here to tell you that ! ;-)
5. Study the table of content of the course
Maybe not the one the teacher gave you, but another one you made yourself. Making a table of content is actually something that really helps me (I know if I remember what was going on under this entry or if I have to check it up), and studying it is the best advice I could give you : knowing which things were in which chapter is super important, but it goes beyond that...
1) It helps you when the teacher asks to compare two things
2) You can see brighter the differences between elements that can be easily mixed up
3) It is a big summarize of the course, so if you put enough sub-elements in the table of contents, it's useful for a last-minute revision
4) The teachers like that you have a global vision of the entire course. Even if you studied "less" some of the chapters, you will always have something to say, so it won't look like you didn't give a crap about their class.
5) It actually already happened to me that a teacher asked a question to which the answer was actually a piece of the table of contents of his book...
6. Never ever compare yourself to others
It's not because they work every single day and re-read the class that you also have to. It's not because they have 300pages and you 250pages that your notes are worth. And it's not because they have a rule of "never skipping a class" or "always reading the class ahead" that you also have to. It might be an inspiration - and then it's ok. But you shouldn't try to do exactly what others do without questioning yourself : "does it actually works for me ?" "am I not losing my time doing it ?". We are all different. Don't listen to a person saying their way of working is better than yours, because it's bullshit. Do it your own way, you'll make mistakes and you'll learn from them.
Also, don't compare your results to the ones other have had. Their life is not yours, and both your priorities are not the same. Maybe they just knew better the answer to that one question, or maybe they are really passionate, or they just spend their whole life studying. And if you are the one with better grades, please don't be a show off. You're not better than others just because of that. You can offer your help, but don't make them feel bad or stupid.
Of course, all the other tips you can find on the internet are good (make a study schedule, keep track with to do lists, study on a regular basis, keep your workspace neat - this one is actually one I really struggle with ;-) - take a look at the syllabus, etc etc. I tried to give you advices I don't think I see enough on the net, based on my reality rather than on some ideal situation in which your days are 48hours long :-P ! I might, someday, make a post about how I schedule my time because it's something I like to talk about, and maybe another one about how I work on a daily basis. If you're interested in reading about it, let me know, I'd be glad to help ! :-)
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