Time management: How to turn your teen's study sessions into a productive study frenzy

A simple strategy to give your teen's study sessions structure and targets

If your teen struggles to keep on top of their schedule, or perhaps doesn't get as much study done as they (or you) would like, then they're in the same boat as thousands of other teens.

Managing your time efficiently while studying can be really hard. High school teens can have a lot of work to get through, even during a normal week, let alone when exams are around the corner. The good news is though, and like so many other parts of studying, the solution can be really simple...

The super simple solution

Sometimes all you need to turn four hours of staring blankly at a page into four hours of productive study — is a plan.

Not a military operation-detailed plan, just a plan of what your teen is going to study that day or evening after school. A super simple plan can do the trick.

Here’s what a plan might look like:

• Block 1 = 1 hour of math study + 15 minutes of practice questions completed under time pressure to mimic exam conditions

• Block 2 = 1 hour of chemistry study + answering 5 practice questions

• Half hour break

• Block 3 = Making an Essay Plan for a practice essay you're going to write tomorrow

And voilà — your teen's study session now has structure, targets, and a break to keep them sane and motivated.

Why having a plan is so important

A lot of teens are putting in a decent amount of time into their study, but are frustrated at their lack of progress and feeling like they're not getting the grades they should be. It may be that they're approaching their study sessions in an unplanned or lackadaisical manner. If this sounds like your teen, have a chat with them about how they structure their study sessions and how they can make a plan before launching in. Deciding on a simple plan of attack before each study session could give them a huge boost of productivity and motivation.

Thanks so much for reading.

Clare

Photo credit: School photo created by pressfoto - www.freepik.com