School Life Hacks All High School Students Should Know!
High school is hard. Full stop. And I completely get it. I mean damn, I’m not even halfway there and I already find myself questioning my motivation sometimes.
But while high school often sucks, and can get really difficult and confusing at times, there are a few things that may help change that.
As teens, we have to wake up early, go to school all day, and then go home and study, amongst other things like working, extracurricular activities and having a social life. Despite being unable to make all that go away, I want to try and make it easier for both you and me.
Here I’ve compiled a list of my ‘Top School Life Hacks All High School Students Should Know!’ in order to make high school a bit less of a struggle.
Hope you enjoy!
Smell Peppermint:
Did you know that the smell and taste of peppermint is actually beneficial to stimulating your brain and allowing you to concentrate. So, if you’re in class, an exam or studying at home, smell the scent of peppermint or chew on peppermint gum to allow you to focus!
Google Translate:
After writing an essay of any kind, copy and paste it into Google Translate and listen to how the essay is read in order to find spelling or grammatical errors.
Use Highlighters:
When studying, use highlighters as a way to draw attention to information you’re unsure about. Not only will it help you memorise the information as it is seen as most important, but it will also make it easier to find when switching throughout topics. (I would also recommend colour-coding your highlighters based on subject!)
Drink Water To Wake Up:
No matter how much sleep you get, you will always be tired when you wake up in the morning. That’s just how it is, especially when it comes to being a student. However, the scientific reason behind this is because you’re just dehydrated. As soon as you wake up, drink a large cup of water or two to replenish and re-energise your body, ready for the day!
Memorize Pi:
In order to memorise the first 8 digits of Pi (𝝅) which are 3.1415926, count the amount of letters of each word in the phrase “May I Have A Large Container Of Coffee?”
For example, May=3 I=1 Have=4
This will help you remember pi!
Use The Pomodoro Technique:
When studying for long amounts of time, our brain tends to lose focus as we lose interest. To ensure we study or work for a healthy length of time and vividly remember the details of the content, try to apply the pomodoro technique to all of your study sessions! To do this, you work without distraction for 25 minutes, followed by a 5 minute break. You repeat this 4 times before taking a longer 20 minute break. It works so effectively!
Write In Blue Ink:
According to scientific research, you are much more likely to remember study notes written in blue ink than any other colour of pen. So, from now on, scratch black pens and lead pencils, use blue pens instead!
Write It Down:
Did you know that writing any set of information down is equivalent to reading the same set of material 7 times?! If you want a quick and easy way to effectively study for a test or exam, make sure you write down your notes!
Say It Out Loud:
As well as writing down your notes, it’s important to say any relevant study material out loud. While it starts off quite weird talking to yourself, research has shown that you are 50% more likely to remember something if you say it out loud instead of read it to yourself.
Lock Screen:
When it comes to high school, your phone lock screen becomes your best friend. In order to keep on top of your classes, place a photo of your schedule as your background photo to avoid getting lost. If not, put a motivational quote as your background to remind you how amazing you are everytime you turn on your phone!
Take Notes Using Different Coloured Pens:
Take your notes using different coloured pens! Not only will using a set of different coloured pens make your notes look aesthetic and organised, but it will also make it easier to recall the content easily. However, if you’re not into coloured pens, stick to writing in blue ink and use highlighters to colour coordinate instead.
Watch Youtube And Play Games At School!:
I don’t know about you, but at my school, the wifi blocks loads of websites including gaming websites, youtube, clothing stores and shops. While I don’t 100% recommend this, if you are super bored at school, go into incognito mode on Google Chrome. Make sure you’re only google chrome and press the keyboard combination Ctrl-Shift-N for Windows and Command-Shift-N for Mac. This will allow you to look at whatever you want at school!
Use Google Scholar:
Instead of using Safari or regular Google, use Google scholar! (With the URL scholar.google.com) Not only will you find more reliable and relevant sources of information to research from, but it also provides every type of citation for each web page!
Take Notes In Class:
What to avoid spending hours before each exam gathering and writing down notes for your upcoming exams? Instead, write your notes in class! Every lesson when completing work, keep open another document where you write down any relevant information. When it comes time for preparing for a test or exam, you’ll be set with pages of information you can cut and paste accordingly.
Sound Smarter In Your Writing:
This is one of my favourite tricks! In order to sound smarter when writing any sort of essay or report, look up synonyms for any word replaceable with another! This is so you don’t repeat the same word multiple times! You can also use this tip to cut or increase your word count!
Want To Simplify Wikipedia?:
Wikipedia is one of my go-to sites when it comes to research. In order to find a summary of those crazy long articles about almost anything, simply replace the ‘en’ in the wikipedia URL with ‘simple’ to get a simplified, summarised version of the article.
How Much Do We Learn?:
While I know this isn’t exactly a ‘hack’, this information is really great to know! Here is a list of all the ways we learn and how accurate they are. Screenshot the list below to keep in mind when studying for exams or conducting research. I promise you won’t regret it! Did you know that you learn…
10% of what we learn
20% of what we hear
30% of what we see
50% of what we see and hear
70% of what we discuss
80% of what we experience
And 95% of what we teach others
The Bottom Line:
For the most part, high school is great! But no matter how great it is, it can also be a really overwhelming and stressful aspect of a teens life.
Using these hacks, I hope that you found some great tips and tricks in order to boost your productivity, motivation and happiness when it comes to school!
While you already may have known about some of these hacks, just remember that every step closer to reaching your ultimate goal, or every bit of time-saving, life-easing advice can be a huge help and play a massive part in your everyday life!
Thank you for reading this post! Hope you enjoyed it!
Mia Xx
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Hi, I’m Mia!
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