How to Finish Your Summer Homework Efficiently

It’s 10 PM, the night before your first day of school. Maybe you’re getting ready for bed or deciding to scroll through social media more. Ding! It’s a message from your friend. Hey! Have you finished your summer homework? Wait, wait, wait… WHAT? The worst situation that can happen literally the night before school starts is finding out that you had summer homework. To help you prevent this, here’s a step-by-step guide!

Unless you would like a situation similar to the one above, you'd want to make sure whether you do have summer homework or not.

Talk with your fellow classmates and teachers about any possible assignments over the summer break via text or e-mail, especially with the increasing overlap between technology usage and education. Your school website can also be a good source for finding out such information.

Now, you’ve checked everywhere and found that you do have summer homework. (Or maybe you don’t. In that case, go straight to #4.)

If you’re not looking forward to cramming all the work in one day (or night), you will want a plan. Find a way to divide up the assignment and set up deadlines that are comfortable for you. Fill any details for each part as well.

Make sure you have made an efficient plan. This is very important because if you don’t, you might find yourself struggling in the long run.

Now all of us will probably end up procrastinating (well, most of us, with the rare exception of the people who somehow manage not to). Here are some of my suggestions that you can do to help you stick to your plan!

I often find that it's really the starting point that is the hardest. Once I do start, I can usually keep on working productively for a few hours.

If you can't find yourself working on the assignment, feel free to start on the easier parts first. You can move towards the more difficult parts as you feel more comfortable.

By implementing a reward system, you can motivate yourself to finish before the deadline!

You can also try out a point system. Whenever you complete a part, you receive points. Once you've reached a certain amount of points, you can get a reward that you've decided before.

Rewards can vary: it can be that piece of sweet you've been eyeing for a while now or even the privilege to binge-watch the latest season of that one show on Netflix.

If you happen to be a competitive person, it might be a good idea to start a friendly competition with your friends. You can also use the previous suggestion of a reward or point system within this competition.

Maybe every time a person is the last person to complete a certain part, they have to put $1 or so into a jar. Once the summer assignment is complete, what you and your friends do with the jar of money is up to you! Go hang out, go on a shopping spree, or just have a mini food feast.

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method that is composed of periods of work time with short breaks between.

The work time is usually 25 minutes long, though it is flexible and can be altered. Breaks should mainly stay between five to fifteen minutes, but for every hour or so of working, you can opt to take a longer break. This technique can be adjusted however you see it to fit, so it can be a helpful tool in managing your time.

It is vacation after all. Go hang out with your friends or sleep in until it’s afternoon. Have lots and lots of fun before school starts again. I hope this guide helped, and good luck with your summer homework!