Getting Through the Exam Time Blues

It’s that time of year again—and no, we’re not referring to winter or the holidays, but that time when everyone starts to camp out in the library, sleep deprived and totally immersed in textbooks and note-taking. But exam time doesn’t need to be the few weeks out of your year when you are exhausted, frazzled and stressed out. There are plenty of things that you can do to maximize your study time while still taking good care of yourself and de-stressing.

Devise a studying timetable and stick to it! Allocating slots of 40 minutes to each topic with 10 minute breaks has been scientifically proven to help students gather and assess information in a more efficient manner. Don’t read the information straight out a book or off of the internet, make sure you copy and rewrite it in your own words. Also, color-code and star certain aspects of your notes to bring the make sense of the information and help you to remember it in the long run. You should also try and study the most difficult areas first thing in the morning because you’re more likely to retain tedious information first thing, as opposed to doing it last thing at night when you’re tired and in a rush to get it done with.

Eat healthy. Make sure that you’re eating properly--3 meals a day with a healthy breakfast, your main meal at lunch, and a lighter meal in the evening. Some foods, such as fish, nuts and dried fruit, have also been known to help student memory. You could also try making some fruit and veggie smoothies to make sure that you get your 5 a day on the go!

Sleep. Students should ‘shut down’—that means no notes, study sessions or textbooks-- at least an hour before going to bed. You should also aim for at least 8 hours sleep per night so that you’ll wake up well rested the next morning. Try and steer clear of any sleep medication, including herbal remedies, and instead try running a warm bath before going to bed to help you relax.

Drink plenty. We are of course talking about water and other non-alcoholic fluids. Research has shown that keeping your body hydrated helps you ingest information and keep you more alert. Though your morning routine may call for that first cup of joe, try and resist - coffee makes you nervous and can actually dehydrate you! If you aren’t ready to give it up completely, at least cut back to one or two cups per day.

Be positive. Stress loves negative energy. Believe in yourself and don’t forget to treat yourself to something you enjoy, i.e. music, food, or shopping, every now and again to keep you motivated and willing to learn.

Signs Your Child is Academically Burnt Out

Studying, extracurricular activities, after school programs--is there a chance that your child may be academically burnt out? How can you tell? 

Causes of Academic Burnout
Many high schools put a huge workload on students and expect everyone to be an overachiever. There is often a competitive environment, and many teachers look down on students that simply do an adequate job. The combination of unending work and constant pressure eventually takes its toll on the psyches of some students. According to the Washington Post, a recent study by the Academy of Finland found that burnout seems to run in families. Students with burnout often have parents with similar feelings about their work, life, or financial situation. The reasons for this connection are unclear, but Scientists have theorized that it could be related to parenting techniques.

Signs of Burnout
Burnout is a gradual process that occurs over an extended period of time. It doesn’t happen overnight, but it can creep up on you or your child if you’re not paying attention to the warning signals. The signs and symptoms of burnout are subtle at first, but they get worse and worse as time goes on.

• Feeling tired and drained most of the time
• Lowered immunity, feeling sick a lot
• Frequent headaches, back pain, muscle aches
• Change in appetite or sleep habits
• Emotional signs and symptoms of burnout
• Sense of failure and self-doubt
• Feeling helpless, trapped, and defeated
• Detachment, feeling alone in the world
• Loss of motivation
• Increasingly cynical and negative outlook
• Decreased satisfaction and sense of accomplishment
• Withdrawing from responsibilities
• Isolating yourself from others
• Procrastinating, taking longer to get things done
• Taking out your frustrations on others
• Skipping work, school or activities or arriving late and leaving early

Avoiding Burnout
According to the experts, it's possible for students to avoid burnout by taking more breaks, spending more time on their social lives, and taking better care of their health so that they feel better. Think of the early symptoms of burnout as warning signs or red flags that something is wrong that needs to be addressed. If you pay attention to these early warning signs, you can prevent a major breakdown. If you ignore them, it may eventually lead to burn out.

Pressure Vs Support – a Guide for Parents of High School Students

For teens in the race to try to get into the colleges of their choice, the decision can be tormenting, and the process exhausting.  There’s always one more Advanced Placement course to squeeze in, one additional activity or one more sport to add to the list. As the pressure on high school students is pushed further and further, parents find themselves questioning how to provide support without causing pressure to succeed.

Every parent wants to figure out the balancing act between pushing students hard enough to succeed, but not so hard that they crack. Some students can easily handle multiple advanced classes and activities and athletics. But others cannot — and should not feel the pressure to do so at any cost, especially from their parents. While most colleges look for students who have succeeded in rigorous academic programs, they aren’t looking for a long list of them. Know what your teen is capable of and support them in doing the best they can at what they can.

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
Parents need not freak out all of the time about every little thing, and should save the freak-outs for the big stuff. One of the biggest stresses for students is the constant attention that parents pay to grades. For example, don’t freak out over one bad grade on a single test or project in a course, but instead give your teen the chance and encouragement to work their way back to a better overall grade in the course. The backdrops to the academic pressures are the social pressures students feel to fit in and to be considered “cool” and accepted. Sometimes social pressure can even be more intense than the academic pressure, and it sometimes comes more from parents than peers. Social pressure is one of the main causes for students to drink or try drugs to fit into a popular crowd and socially popular groups. It is also common for teens to abuse drugs and alcohol to withstand the pressure of their schedules and the expectations they face from parents. The best thing for parents to do is to not pressure teens to “be like” or “fit in with” certain groups or kids--let your kids choose their own friends and as long as they are not reckless or dangerous youth, trust their decisions.

Take time, step back
Teaching teens to live a balanced lifestyle will better prepare them for college and life than a hectic lifestyle packed beyond their capabilities. Both parents and students need to take time to evaluate their schedules and to choose coursework and activities that are meaningful and challenging — but not burdensome. Parents need to be in tune with their kids and they need to learn how to push, but not too much. And, more importantly, parents need to learn to let their children fail. There is no need to nag your teen about things they know that they need to do, like college applications and school projects. If it means that they have to stay up most of the night to meet a deadline, let them learn from it for themselves that the next morning isn’t going to be too much fun!

School is a Full-Time Job

When you ask parents what their memories are of high school, they are often quick to remember high school dances, awards they won for outstanding achievements, or simply the fun of being a ‘care-free’ teenager in a whirl of extra curricular activities.

Rarely do parents remember the sinking feeling of walking into class on a test day, or the late night frenzy that came before a big assignment that had been postponed too long.

It’s important for both parents and high school students who are bound for college to recognize that school is a full time job.

Imagine that you’ve just been hired for the following job – you’ll spend long periods of time sitting in a stationary position, absorbing information, and then demonstrating knowledge by performing a series of writing exercises and projects. You’ll be critiqued and judged continuously by a whole team of bosses, and have little-to-no say in due dates and project timelines for your work. You’ll be randomly assigned extra work to take home, and often expected to work with partners that can’t or won’t carry their weight.

Most people would look at this description and think “What a terrible job!”

Parents and students both need to shift their thinking from “school is just a fact of life” to “school is a full-time job.” That job is learning, and the work is demonstrating knowledge. Students are paid for their work with grades. The better the work, the better the grades.

If you or your high school student is struggling with viewing work as a full time job, download our FREE article on Time Management for College Bound Students, available here.

Stress Management for Students

Getting into college will be one of the most rewarding and exciting parts of your life.  It'll also be the hardest. The process is generally long, complex, and can be difficult. Anything difficult will cause stress – and unless you learn to manage stress, it will manage you.  Don't allow stress to build up and negatively affect your scholastic endeavors or your health.

 To fight stress, do these things:

1. Stay healthy.  Poor eating, exercise and health habits will do more to you than just make you gain weight; they sap energy, worsen your mood, and add to stress.  Stress is not just a mental state; it's a physical state, and if your body is not well equipped to handle it, you'll be less able to deal with stress.  Eat healthy food, get a good night's sleep, and exercise. 

2. Budget study time.  Ignoring an exam and then cramming the night before will add to your stress (and it doesn't work anyway.)  Having a study plan will not only pace your brain, but just knowing that you have a plan will relax you. For more tips and tricks, read our blog post “Managing Your Study Time”. 

3. Stay social.  You don't want to party your scholarship away, but it's important to stay social. Make friends.  Find clubs.  Play games and sports. Keep in mind that the students you meet today are the co-workers of tomorrow, so it pays to get out and meet new people. Take the time to get to know your colleagues and the time to relax. The mind is well rested by new activities, and socializing will cut down on your stress. 

4. Engage support.  It’s very common for both high school students and college students to feel overwhelmed by it all. If concerns are eating away at you, tell someone - confide in a friend, call your parents, or talk to a professor. Find groups that provide support. Hard though it is to believe when you’re awash in a sea of stress, someone's always ready to help if you just ask. 

Stress management is critically important to any long term effort that requires a lot of time and effort, and your college-bound journey is exactly that. The skills you learn today to manage stress can carry through the rest of your life!