The beginning of the school year is always a fresh and motivating time. Homework is as easy as it is going to be, stationary is new, and sleep schedules are not yet ruined. Staying on task and getting assignments done is simple… However, as the school year drags on, the aforementioned motivation can dwindle. Goals may seem unattainable, and homework becomes overdue as students struggle to keep up.

Kayla Din, a sophomore, shares her goals and what she wants to achieve in the upcoming months. “For this school year, I really want to commit to my extracurriculars, and maybe start researching about colleges. I recently picked up band and I’m starting to get into engineering and volunteering,” she says. These are very interesting goals, but Din also has smaller goals. To stay motivated to achieve those, she claims to “create little sticky notes to slap on [her] wall.” She also says that “studying with other people or listening to music” helps her study.

Mira Mikulka is a junior and she also thinks that music is useful for staying motivated. “I like listening to good music, like playlists that are specifically for studying,” she comments. Even though Mikulka knows what study habits she likes, she also knows that there is always room for improvement, saying “one thing I could do to motivate myself more to study is to go to coffee shops.” However, she stated, “I can’t drive, so I can’t go anywhere.”

Din also wants to improve her academic habits. She says, “I think I should create a better schedule because I usually study at random times… Sometimes I study in the morning or the night.” Creating a schedule helps keep track of events and prevents students from having too little time to study, which typically leads to cramming for tests or turning in assignments late.

Studying a little every day is the most effective way to remember topics and also is helpful to prevent burnout. Music that has little to no words may also help to focus and make doing homework more enjoyable without getting distracted, and visually seeing what assignments have to be done by writing them down is a simple way to never forget an assignment.