At EHS, it’s common to see students staying up until midnight, rushing to finish assignments before it’s due. Hence, it is not unusual to hear students complaining about a lack of sleep or frustration with teachers. However, are students bombarded with homework or is it just a lack of time management? And, how can freshmen capitalize on the wisdom of those who came before them?
Many underclassmen admit that procrastination may be one of the hardest things to overcome.
“Once I get home, I get distracted by everything, including everything about my phone,” said Nishtha Patel ‘27.
EHS seniors have the most experience with challenges and decision making throughout high school, and it’s fair to say that they have the most experience developing solutions to overcome the typical student predicaments. Thus, seniors can offer advice to underclassmen who may be struggling with procrastination.
Many seniors find this relatable to their past years: Procrastination has been one of the biggest problems when it comes to getting work done.
“I would procrastinate and stretch out my work out more than it usually is, and I was really bad at organizing and prioritizing my tasks and homework that I needed to do,” said Daksh Goel ‘24.
A simple solution to procrastination, recommended by many seniors, is to create a schedule or a checklist and keep track of due dates with online calendars. Many students attempt this as a first step to better organization. Not only does it help with procrastination, but it is a great way for students to organize their chaotic schedules.
Over time, I learned this trick to change my location when it’s time to actually get work done, my bedroom just wasn’t cutting it anymore so I’d end up moving around my house. Once that stopped working, I moved outside and found it incredibly therapeutic to do homework out in nature.
— Alicia Hudson ‘24
“The ‘schedule method’ really worked for me, so I feel a lot more reassured about managing my workload in college and the future,” said Julie Pien ‘24.
Another issue the seniors addressed was overworking and managing time. Many underclassmen are going through the same problems.
“Many times, I can’t seem to manage my time well at all,” said Shreya Kuberan ‘27. “I end up working for hours very inefficiently with nothing finished in the end.”
Experienced seniors propose finding peaceful and quiet areas when completing assignments, as our surroundings and environment are often a key obstacle causing students to be unproductive during homework.
“Over time, I learned this trick to change my location when it’s time to actually get work done,” said Alicia Hudson ‘24 “My bedroom just wasn’t cutting it anymore so I’d end up moving around my house. Once that stopped working, I moved outside and found it incredibly therapeutic to do homework out in nature.”
Students also commented that they feel stressed and overworked while studying or doing homework, burning themselves out and affecting their mental health negatively as a result.
“When I get stressed, I have a feeling that I am going to fail everything and that I am useless,” said Diksha Dinesh Kumar ‘27. “So what I tend to do is overwork myself really late at night to the point that I get sick.”
Such undue stress may be caused by pressure from peers, parents, and teachers to excel, which can hinder the quality of work produced and lower students’ confidence. This stress is like a cycle: Students get stressed, overwork themselves, put out a bad product in the end, face disappointment, and then start all over again. Overworking, no matter the specific cause, can be fixed by first fixing focus.
The ‘schedule method’ really worked for me, so I feel a lot more reassured about managing my workload in college and the future.
— Julie Pien ‘24
Experienced seniors also recommend listening to calming music, preferably without lyrics. Lyrics can be distracting for some students, moving the focus from the work to following the words of the song.
Seniors recommend listening to music because it removes unrelated thoughts and helps the student focus. Some seniors have learned to turn to brown noise while working. With its ability to balance noises around us by playing deep, lower frequencies loudly, and higher frequencies quietly, brown noise helps students find themselves relaxed and working with improved concentration. Some examples of brown noise can include rushing, steady waterfalls or rivers, rumbling thunder, crashing waves, running showers, heavy rainfall, or heavy wind blowing through trees.
Even with the variety of challenges of high school, EHS upperclassmen have much to offer underclassmen regarding techniques to overcome these challenges, helping all succeed at the nest. All this trial and error will only aid teenagers for the years to come after leaving the nest.
