Staples students are notorious for being stressed out and overloaded with work, especially around midterm and final exams. However, this normality is preventable. With second semester now in full swing, students have a clear slate to start fresh and take a new approach to time management if needed.

Throughout my time at Staples, I have found that the most important aspect of diminishing academic stress entails strong time management skills.

During my freshman and sophomore years, I was met with an unexpected reality. I found myself staying up long past midnight doing homework and studying for exams. I assumed this was simply the brutal reality of a Staples student.

Once junior year came around, I realized the issue wasn’t the amount of work; rather, it was my procrastination habits that caused most of my problems. My daily routine after school was to get in bed, nap for an hour or two, watch some Netflix, eat dinner and then finally start my homework around 8:00 p.m. This habitual cycle left me exhausted during the school week and constantly stressed about my limited time.

After realizing that my stress and exhaustion was avoidable, I took the initiative to change my daily routine.Once I did, I found it easier to juggle a job, sports, clubs and my school work.  

The most effective solution I found when managing my time was planning ahead. Whether that required me to determine what days I would study or decide how many afternoons to dedicate to a project, I ensured I made time to get my work done. In doing so, I organized my extracurricular commitments and used time outside of school productively  instead of procrastinating.

The most important piece of advice I have to offer would be to take advantage of your free period if you have one. Use your free period to get work done and divise a productive plan for yourself.

In all honesty, I did not use my free period productively until this year, my senior year. I would sit with friends, eat in the cafeteria or lazily look at all my assignments on Schoology, but didn’t complete a single one. Now, I have found that using these 50 minutes to get even just one assignment done saves a lot of stress later that night.

Budgeting your time is different for everyone and often depends on one’s schedule. To avoid rushing an essay at 2:00 in the morning, I’d suggest using your spare time earlier in the day to get your work and studying done, which then leaves time at night to relax, wind down and do whatever you want.