<p>So... I blew it: I'm already starting to mess up this semester. I failed a quiz, am behind on most of my homework, and have some major tests coming up. </p>
<p>And the real problem is that I'm sincerely TRYING to keep on top of things. I have a major procrastination/distraction issue that most likely stems from being afraid to fail, and I just don't know what to do. I've always gotten things done in the past, but all my classes are harder now and so less tangible to BS at the last minute. </p>
<p>I make my to-do lists and they never get completed. I find my list getting longer and longer as I keep pushing things back. I break it all down to doable portions but then waste hours just walking around my dorm listening to music. (yes, walking. Like compulsively "if I don't do this for a while it doesn't feel right" walking.) And I have a hard time working on something for more than an hour. I have to get up and "do" something, which then distracts me and makes it hard to get back to work. </p>
<p>What can I do?? I'm getting so desperate. I know it's soon enough to work on it, and I really want to nip this. </p>
<p>Leave your dorm. Take your backpack/materials WITH you to the dining hall and keep right on going to the library.</p>
<p>No music while studying, period. Leave it until the day’s to-do list is done.</p>
<p>Give yourself a small break when a task is completed, not after an hour (problem set done, 10 minutes on Facebook – but set your alarm on your phone and STOP when it goes off, on to the next task).</p>
<p>Don’t go back to your dorm when you have a break from classes – again, find a study space like the library and go there instead.</p>
<p>Try leaving your earbuds/headphones in your room so you can’t listen while in the library or a study space, too.</p>
<p>intparent already gave you some great tips. I would just add that one boss/mentor told me to always “work to completion”. So don’t stop working until the task is done. To follow that, you really need to break down the work into a piece that can be completed. I like the idea of one problem set or the homework for one subject. </p>
<p>Then, I would definitely do what intparent suggests and give yourself a little break/reward of some sort. </p>
<p>I think pretty quickly you will feel a lot better about not having all these incomplete tasks hanging over your head! It takes awhile for things to become a habit, but I think if you follow intparent’s advice, before you know it, you will have a new and much more constructive approach!</p>
<p>I admit i read this as a parent, not a student, but I found the tips in this book to be useful, and included some things I never thought of. It was recommended on this board sometime last year and I got it from the library, though you can buy it I thought a once-through read was useful for my kids. In particular the chapter that dealt with prioritizing readings and studying for tests went beyond, I felt, the standard “make lists and don’t procrastinate” advice.</p>
<p>Take a day planner and block out your class schedule. Now take each syllabus and enter all papers, projects, quizzes, exams etc.</p>
<p>Every week, go through the next two to three weeks of your planner, and pencil in what assignments you plan to do when. For example, plan to do your econ reading from 1-3 on Monday afternoon, and to do your calc problem set on Monday night from 7-10. On Tuesday, plan to review your Russian vocabulary from 9-10, read for the lit class from1-3:30. Etc.</p>
<p>Don’t forget to also pen in time for activites, clubs and friends.</p>
<p>Then follow your schedule. When something fun comes up, and you have something scheduled–for example, on Thursday night you planned to read for econ, and friends want to go for pizza? If you have a spot you can move your econ reading to that does not upset your apple cart–move the econ reading to that spot, and go–if you look at your schedule and realize you really need to do it tonight–then you can’t go.</p>
<p>Making and working a plan gives you more control, and lets you also have fun when you choose to have fun because you won’t have the dread feeling that you should really be working instead–you will know when and how the work is getting done.</p>
<p>This sounds like pretty classic ADHD. Sometimes people don’t find out they have this until college. </p>
<p>Alternatively, this may be some new anxiety problem (afraid to fail, you said) that is blocking your ability to do work. (Did this happen to you during high school or is it new?)</p>
<p>I would suggest that you talk to an advisor or see if you can see a therapist on campus. Honestly, this doesn’t sound like something you are going to be able to solve yourself.</p>
<p>A large number of college students, especially freshman, need a little extra help so you are in good company, and you are very smart to try to nip things in the bud. Talking to someone, or even taking some medication temporarily, may help. Don’t go it alone!</p>
<p>Next semester, schedule some breaks between classes. Those “dead times” can force you to study during those times. Grab a quiet corner somewhere and read/study.</p>
<p>Thank you all so much for your practical and encouraging advice. I really appreciate it. </p>
<p>Right after I posted this thread, I got bogged down by a lot of things with work and a poor sense of what I actually had to complete for today, and I suffered the consequences this morning. I was up until 2 am working on homework because I had worked all day Thursday and didn’t realize my homework of problem sets was so involved and time consuming, and then I remembered that I had a French composition due that I had completely put off. I finally crashed at 2 but then had my alarm go off at 5 so I could finish the composition and then do the reading and grammar that we were going over in class at 8am. </p>
<p>This was honestly one of the most painful, stressful mornings of my academic life, and I NEVER want to repeat this. I can deal with literally not having enough time and so plugging on until the bitter end, but I can’t deal with me staying up late just because I didn’t realize how hard my homework was. That’s just… Childish, really. </p>
<p>I’m going to buy the planner after I eat lunch and get my emergency-next-couple-of-hours plan together, and then I will have all of tonight, Saturday night and Sunday to get caught up with homework, study for a quiz and a test, do reading and start studying for other midterms. </p>
<p>This honestly seems really impossible, but I’m hoping I can get through this since I discovered how ill I feel when I’m completely and utterly unprepared for something.</p>
<p>The only way I can think of describing it is when the good kid gets yelled at by their teacher for the first time. It’s shocking, horrifying, uncomfortable and, most importantly, game-changing.</p>
<p>I’m ready for change I may have had a rough start to the semester, but that only makes for an even sweeter finish.</p>
<p>Lots of people have this problem when they get to college - the suggestion to find your school’s study center/tutoring center is a good one. That is NOT a remedial center but a place that you have already paid for with your tuition dollars; it’s filled with the kinds of experts in study skills that you would pay big bucks for if they were private consultants. I’m glad you’ve identified the problem early enough that you can do something positive about it!</p>
<p>Go to an empty- or nearly empty room to study. Put in ear plugs. Set your cell phone alarm. Study for 45 minutes -no getting side-tracked with ANYTHING. After 45 minutes, get up, leave the room and take a 15 minute break. You can probably do this for 3 years and that will probably be all you can expect from yourself. Just do it.</p>
<p>Check out your campus student study skills center- whatever they call it. Do NOT waste your time chatting with us. Work to completion as above. We do not expect you to spend any more of your time procrastinating with hall walks, music, on computer time. My mother flunked out of college despite brains because she wasted time like you are doing.</p>
<p>If you’re today’s typical plugged-in student you may find an electronic planner more valuable than a paper one. D swears by something called iStudiez Pro. She has all the stuff boysx3 suggested entered electronically in that program, and it integrates with her calendar on phone and computer, reminds her of what she has planned to do when, and so forth.</p>
<p>I’ve gotten a lot better with the day-to-day assignments (it’s good to see them in my planner, though I admit I do still push things back sometimes), but now I’m worrying about the non-concise things, like studying for exams and writing papers. </p>
<p>I have 2 midterms on Friday and a paper due the 28th. I’m paralyzed as to how to proceed with studying for the exams. Both have review guides, and I’m trying to study it in chunks as organized on the guides. I have 1/6 sections studied/answered for my science class, and I haven’t even downloaded the review for my logic class. </p>
<p>I’ve gotten 100% on every science quiz with a 70% on a lab because I didn’t know how to do it, and I have a 98% in logic although I just failed a quiz yesterday (but my prof drops the lowest score). Each midterm is 20% of my grade. </p>
<p>How can I effectively study the next 3 days?? I’m busy with class/activities literally all day tomorrow except from 4-6, but we’re reviewing logic in-class tomorrow and I feel more comfortable with my science class. </p>
<p>I feel like I’m already lost and that it’s too late, but I know it isn’t! </p>
<p>Glad to see you’ve made some progress. It’s not too late. In fact, you’ve shown maturity by recognizing that you have an issue and are trying to address it early. You don’t have to go it alone. Your school very likely has a study skills center (they may call it something different), and a counseling center. Head for both. I believe another poster stated this earlier, but your “symptoms” are very ADD, or, as my daughter’s school counselor termed it, “problems with executive functioning”. Don’t worry, medication is not automatic or necessary. There are many modalities that work for different people. That’s why seeing a counselor is important.</p>
<p>Good luck, and remember that your school wants you to succeed. Don’t be shy about asking for their help.</p>
I may have had a rough start to the semester, but that only makes for an even sweeter finish.</p>