Five Ways to Prep for Back To School Season

Hello fellow writers and students,

Many have secretly been dreading it all summer, but alas that rueful time of year has come: Back to School. *Insert Doomsday Music*. While I’m sure we all cherished our summer sleeping-in and extensive free-time, going back to the books doesn’t have to be so bad. After all, this is a chance for us writers to develop writing/ analysis skills in English class— or a chance to develop as overall students in all subjects. Even if we did dread back to school, we’re all gonna have to go back anyway; might as well go in strong. So, here are some tips I thought of for making an easy transition from couch potato to school-start-champ.

◊ Setting your alarm clock from a week before and adjusting to that wake time. Of course, most students turn off that annoying little buzzer to get some much needed zzzzz in the summer but you’ve got to gear it back on for September! You do NOT want to be like some people…*cough, cough* me last year*cough* and wake up late on the first day because you forgot to set your alarm. Even if it doesn’t go off, your body will likely wake on it’s own because it’s gotten accustomed to 7 am wake time. Foolproof plan.

◊ Getting ready from the night before. Whether that means that prior to the big day, you’re picking out your outfit, packing your lunch/ bag, laying out any essential textbooks or items where you’ll see them etc.

◊ Studying any important topics in advance. I know that math takes me A LONG time for me to fully comprehend— especially after a long summer of lounging and hardly practicing any. Solution: look up the math curriculum, a week or so before school, and start skimming the topics to be learned. Also, go back and touch up on last year’s concepts. This always helped me to ace the quiz and test that come in the first two weeks. You don’t have to pull all-nighters becoming a pro during the summer. It’s just good to know that you won’t be left behind when your teacher blasts full speed into a whirlwind of polynomials.

◊ Breakfast and water the morning of. Maybe you could get away with just a granola bar in the summer, when you had free time to grab food on the road. Maybe you could get away with low water consumption because you didn’t really exercise much (see: lounged on your couch all day.) School’s different though; you don’t if your new teachers let you eat in class or if you’ll be empty bellied from 6 am to midday! You’ll also be doing much more walking around, trying to find your classes on the first day. After relaxing all summer, your body is going to need more water to adjust to this sudden physical activity.

◊Deleting unnecessary games off your phone when September comes. This chore always seemed so impossible to me, but I realized that if you really want to focus on improving your academic skills, Angry Birds has got to go. Distractions detract from your success. I go through the apps on my phone and ask: “Does this app increase my grade in any way?” The answer’s no? Goodbye app.

Those are all my tips! Any good tips that you have are welcome in the comments below.