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Tips for Staying on Top of your School Work this Semester

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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Miami chapter.

It’s 11 p.m. on a Sunday night: you have set up camp in the library and two coffees deep you are getting ready to pull that dreadful all-nighter – again.

You have started every semester since freshman year off thinking that this is the semester you will finally be able to stay on top of your schoolwork. It never happens. Ever. Total face plant every time. The whole situation has started to feel like a vicious circle that’s impossible to break. Well, *drumroll* it’s not, and here’s how to break it:

Buy a calendar
Seriously, it will change your life! You may not be one of those super organized people who walk around with their pocket calendar as if it’s a holy scripture – and that’s okay. Instead, buy a wall calendar to hang over your desk, or even your door. At the start of each semester, write down your exams and papers due for each class. It will give you an oversight of all the things due each week, which I promise makes a world of difference.

Divide up your work
No more all-nighters, ever. Looking at all the things due next week, you may feel overwhelmed in that *I’m-going-to-go-hide-under-the-covers-for-all-eternity* kind of way. The solution to that problem may be the biggest cliché of all time, but it’s oh-so-true: start in time and do your work bit by bit. If you write three paragraphs per day, that paper will be done before you even had the time to say “panic attack”. Or, if you devote just 45 minutes everyday to study for you test on Friday, there will be no need to cram – you get the drill.

Make use of the time in-between your classes
This could save you hours of dreadful homework. On that odd day when you have half an hour or an hour between your two classes – don’t waste it on social media. Pick up that reading, start outlining that paper; even if you don’t finish it, at least you started. You will thank yourself later!

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