by Andrew Youngker

Created on: January 27, 2009

Homework is a dreaded thing that is bestowed upon students world-wide. Nothing can prepare a student for an overload in work that has little worth. There are few practical techinques that I myself employ as being a student for life. Here are a few of my secrets to success.

First come, first serve is a model in which the first assigned piece gets done before the other ones do. This is good for a lot of regular homework like math or english exercises that need to be done a daily basis. This can keep you on track to not thing to much about the other things going on in your life. However, a word of caution. This model can lead to disaster if the student is not on track of things. Pretty soon, homework will be piling up and assignments may be late. Keeping up is the key to this type of system for homework.

Another strategy for handling lots of homework is to do the homework that you do not enjoy first, then move on to the exciting material afterwards. This sounds a bit weird, but works out and here's why. The harder more boring learning can be done first and use up valuable energy to do so. The learning that is more enjoyable is easier to get and takes less energy to do. This way is good if there is something to work towards. From personal experience, I used to do my music last as it was fun for me and easier to do.

The best way to manage lots of homework, in my opinion, is find out which assignment is worth the most. This is usually done towards the end of the semester when grades are beginning to become more concrete. I do this all the time and here is how it works. Find out how much an assignment is worth. Take all the assignments that are due around the same time and rank them. Start at the top, the one that is going to affect your grade the most and work from there. This is best used in college and some high school courses. A twist on the same thing is to find out which class needs the most attention and start with that one first.

Which ever strategy is being used, be sure to use it wisely. All systems will work if the student is willing to commit and give it a try. The best thing about finding how to manage lots of homework, is that it can be changed and customized until it is perfected. Don't let emotion get in the way from managing homework, do the math and make sure that a good decision is being made. In college it is very common for some students to not get every single assignment in that they need to get, a buffer zone is made into each class that makes it able to get a good grade and let a few homework assignments slide past so that another class can take priority.

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