How to Catch Up On College Work if You Fall Behind

There are few things worse when you are a student than that feeling of being completely out of control with your workload. Here are some ways to help you get caught up with everyone in your class.

Talk to your teacher or tutor. Explain to teachers what may have leaded you to fall behind and ask what you can do to get caught up. Also, ask which assignments is priority and which you should aim to complete first. Your teacher may also be able to connect you to additional resources, like tutoring, check-ins or counseling. Try to get additional help and support from tutors--they were students too once upon a time and will probably be happy to give you some advice.

Write a list of everything you need to get done. It can be scary, but you need to be able to determine exactly how much you have to do–look about a month ahead and factor everything in to get on top of it all. If you don’t write everything down, you could easily forget it all together and fall even further behind. As you finish each task be sure to cross it off of the list; that way you will see yourself making progress and will know how much further you have to go.

Take an hour. Even if you feel totally swamped with little to no free time, chances are you can find time to sit down and get started on one piece of work. Try to find an hour somewhere--between lectures, before or after dinner or in between TV shows. Even if you don’t finish what you started to work on, it will certainly help you to make progress.

Hand in all upcoming work on time. Make sure not to fall behind while you work on catching up—the last thing you want to do is get further behind. Set aside time every day to gather all upcoming assignments and make a detailed plan for how you will complete them.

Get a study partner. Having the support of a real person can be helpful, so finding someone to work with is a great idea. Organize study sessions in the library, set deadlines together, compare notes and ideas or even just meet for coffee and take time to talk about things. You may find that the added support and development of good study habits helps you to stay well ahead, rather than lagging behind.

Don't be ashamed about falling behind. It happens to everyone, and the important thing is that you are dealing with it now and taking care of it before it gets out of hand.