One of the most difficult tasks for a student is finding a way to get homework assignments done in a timely fashion, and without stressing over it. But since homework is so relentless – coming from virtually every course you’re taking – it can be overwhelming. There’s no way to make it go away, but there are ways of making homework easy – or at least easier.
You’ll have to take it in steps, but once you master the routine, homework won’t seem as difficult anymore.
1. Do It Right Away
Procrastination is probably a university student’s biggest enemy. You delay completing one assignment, and then another, and still another. Before long, you’re waist deep in uncompleted assignments. At that point, you feel overwhelmed, and just motivating yourself to do one of the assignments takes everything you’ve got.
Related: Carving Out More Time to Study
The longer you let your assignments sit uncompleted, the bigger and more intimidating each becomes. But if you can knock out each homework assignment as it is given, there’s no chance of a messy pile up of backlogged tasks.
Yet another benefit to doing your homework right away is that you’ll be tackling each when the assignment is still fresh on your mind. Homework assignments – like the job duties you’ll have later life – don’t improve with age. By completing them immediately, you’ll keep your head clear and your schedule open for whatever comes next.
2. Create A Homework Schedule – And Stick To It
You’re a university student and all too familiar with the fact that homework is part and parcel of the whole higher education process. You have to embrace that concept, and an excellent way to do that is by creating a homework schedule.
You should have time blocked out each day for homework. It can be one hour, two hours, or any amount of time that you consider necessary to get your work done. And even if you can’t dedicate all of your scheduled hours to homework on a given day, spending even one hour will move you forward in completing your assignments.
Related: How to Manage Your Schedule and Complete Assignments On Time
You can schedule a certain limited amount of homework time each day, and then dedicate one or two days each week to handle overflow and major assignments.
3. Break Major Projects Into Smaller Parts
If homework assignments weren’t bad enough, there are always major projects. Even if you try to establish a steady flow of homework production, a major project – particularly a very ugly one – could throw your entire schedule into chaos.
If you have a major assignment, and particularly more than one, it will be important to break each project down into smaller parts. It’s unlikely that you’ll complete a major assignment in one sitting. When you are assigned a project, study it carefully and see how you can break it down into manageable units.
Related: Time Management and the Pareto Principle
If you can complete a major project in five sittings of one hour each, you’ll probably find it a much more pleasant experience than trying to take on the entire job in five hours the night before the project is due. The key with major projects is to keep them moving forward, and to avoid stressful last-minute crunches.
4. Recognize That Homework Is Your Highest Priority
It’s not an exaggeration to say that homework is the lifeblood of your university career. This is where you are truly learning new material, showing what you know, preparing for exams – at least on a preliminary basis – and determining any weaknesses that you have ahead a time.
You have to embrace this concept.
Start viewing homework not as an obstacle, but as your highest priority as a university student. That change in outlook might convert homework from pointless drudgery into your entire reason for being a university student. And that’s not far from the truth!
5. Don’t Overdo It
Though this advice may seem like a reversal of everything I’ve written so far, it’s really meant to help you keep it all in perspective. Some students stress out and overkill on homework assignments, and then burn out. You may be able to achieve a lot in one day, and then be incapable of completing a single assignment for the next week. That will do you no good at all.
It’s not possible to complete all of your homework at any given point, if only because there’ll always be more assignments. The trick is to blend homework into your life, and to have periods of production mixed with times of relaxation and diversion. You have to keep your mind fresh and sharp for the long push that university is. Think long-distance running as opposed to sprinting.
Do you have trouble getting your homework completed consistently and on time?
The right time management helps a lot to successfully cope with homework. I just hate it, but as you rightly said, it’s a priority for all students, so it’s important to have enough time to complete the tasks.