How to Find Motivation to Do Homework, Part 2

Tips: • Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Many classes are full of note memorization, which is best handled by starting small study sessions early and repeating often. Flash cards (written, or on your PDA, or online-there are several good online flash card sites, with many flash card sets already written for you), or flash sheets can be helpful. • Use your spare time at school, and while riding the bus to begin your homework. Do the rest of your homework right after arriving at home. You are still in the school learning mode, and it will be easier to remember all you have learned. Then, you will have the rest of the day and evening free, without having to even think of school, until the next day. • Don't get really stressed about not being able to do homework. There's plenty of help around - the internet, parents, friends etc. If all else fails you can go into school early and ask your teacher to explain the work to you. • If you really don't want to do your homework, then just get everything ready to do your homework: paper, pencil, textbook, and maybe a cup of tea. Then sit down and open the book to the page you need to read. Then read the first paragraph. Usually by then you will feel that you can write the first sentence. Break it down into little bites. • Studies show that during sleep, the brain tends to hold the memories you have right before you go to sleep. Therefore, if you have to memorize something, try to learn it just before you go to sleep. That does not mean you can cram 100 vocabulary words right before you go to sleep; memorize some during the day so that right before sleep you can review most or all of them. • If the homework is going to take a long time (2+ hours) take a 15-minute break every hour. On the break, do not start your reward or anything else that you might be tempted to use as an excuse to not go back to your homework. • Do the hardest work first. This means the more you do it, the easier it gets. • If you have a really hard homework, do easier homework first so that you are not stuck and standing still • Do your homework on a table or desk, but never try to work on the couch or in your bed. You will get bored, and the bed is so soft, and you'll fall asleep. • Music may often help you concentrate; though try to avoid music with lyrics or very complex melodic progressions, as they may cause you to think more about the music than your homework. Certain classical music and some jazz are good for listening to while doing homework. Trance is the best style of music for studying; many people find studying to trance music very easily because most trance music is pure instrumental and lacks detail. • If there is something you don't understand, write down what the specific question, or mark the page in your book. Then you can ask your teacher for help. If you just go to your teacher and say, "I didn't understand the homework so I couldn't finish it," it will be difficult for her/him to help you if you can't be specific about what was actually hindering you. • It's easier to recall something if you remembered it under a similar environment, known as state-dependent learning. That's why it is important to study at a table and with proper lighting instead of reading on your bed, for example. • If you are an extreme procrastinator, you might try some "structured procrastination". As the suggestion above says, do the easy homework before doing the hard homework, however not just to give yourself a sense of accomplishment, but also to avoid doing the big stuff. When it comes to the big stuff, find another larger task, like annoying chores, to put off in order to do the big homework. While in the long run this method is not productive, eventually you will have some really big things that you keep putting off for smaller ones, it can be more satisfying/effective for a hardened procrastinator. • Some people use 'study drugs' in order to stay awake, and stay focused. While this is an effective way to avoid sleep, be aware that using drugs in this manner may cause unwanted side effects, such as mild depression, anxiety, insomnia, etc., and is illegal. Since psychotropic drugs work differently for different people, this is not an effective way to study. • Also, think about the better grades you might get if you do your homework consistently. • While doing your homework try not to use a pen in case you need to erase, a pencil would always be recommended for homework. • Make sure you get a good nights sleep the night before. you will be able to work better if you are not tired. • Make time for breakfast and lunch. It does play a role in your ability to think. • Just to be sure you really won't procrastinate, plan the rest of your day. Say you start thinking "Oh I'll do it at night" then look at your plans and you should have something there "Nope, my favorite show is on." • Lock yourself in a mental block where only school comes through. • Although it is a good idea to finish all of your homework before you go to bed, you also need to be realistic. If you have spent the night procrastinating and you still have homework to do at 12:00 AM, you need to think about whether you are actually going to do more homework or if you are just going to continue surfing the web about something that is completely irrelevant to school. If you know that you probably won't get any more work done, you just need to go to bed rather than lying to yourself and saying "I need to stay up 'to do homework.'" Get in tune with your conscience, because your conscience is always right, and go to bed when you know that you won't actually be doing any more homework. You don't want to be super tired the next day because you stayed up until 3 AM on Facebook the night before. Warnings: • Don't get distracted! It's not always easy, but try to stay focused. • If you do homework with a friend, it's easy to get off subject and not do work in time. Of course, it's perfectly fine to be part of a study group if you know you can all focus. • Don't get really worried! It's only homework. Next week you'll be wondering 'why ever did I get so worked up about it?' Think about a few years into the future, after all your exams when you won't ever have to do homework again. • Don't get frustrated. If you are having trouble getting through a certain assignment and it takes a long time, temporarily switch to another assignment. • If you can help it, don't go to bed before you finish your homework. What will happen is that you'll say, "Oh I'll get up early the next morning to finish it." Then, you either don't get up early enough, or you do, and you're totally worn out for the rest of the day. • If you choose to listen to music, be aware that studies show you perform best on a test when the conditions, light, noise, etc. are the closest to the conditions you studied with, known as state-dependent learning. So if you can't listen to music during a test, it may actually be better to study in quiet. • Don't procrastinate. Get to it as soon as you can while the information is still fresh in your mind. Things You'll Need: • Calculator • Pen/Pencil • Notebook Paper • Composition Notebooks • Book • Homework assignments • Quiet Workplace/Desk • Timer originated by: Anonymous, Flickety, Luke, Dman0875 Source: www.wikihow.com