Have you ever found yourself overloaded with work? No time to complete projects or papers? Or just falling behind in your AP or Honors classes? Continue reading and this will no longer be a problem! Everybody is on a different level of intelligence and all students have different work ethics. Some students may have no problem doing homework for hours upon hours. Most students, however, have to work extra hard to stay focused and on task. Some students have a very strong and intelligent mind but have a horrible work ethic. This may explain why certain students maintain principals’ list grades and if you read these five tips, maybe you could improve your AP skills!

1. Don’t Compare Yourself to Others

The first and most important tip is to not compare yourself to other students. This could add unnecessary pressure on yourself, thus causing stress that shouldn’t have been there in the first place. This leads to students feeling overwhelmed and discouraged. Find a small group of people from your classes and create a study group. This way, people of all different levels of intelligence can work together and help each other. Study groups prove to be very efficient during preparation for the AP exams.

2. Do Not Procrastinate

The second tip is something teachers are constantly preaching to their students. This very crucial tip is to not procrastinate. This may be easier said than done but as long as you set a daily goal and do a little bit of work each day, the workload decreases. Doing a small amount of work each day eliminates the stress of trying to complete an assignment in one night. When students rush to do their homework, they never do the work to the best of their abilities.

3. Plan Ahead of Time

The third tip is to plan ahead. If you have an essay due soon, it would be beneficial to plan ahead. Planning ahead is actually super simple, all you really have to do is devise a plan as to what points you plan to make in your writing. This is helpful because you can make sure to include everything you originally wanted to include. Additionally, another way to plan ahead for essays is to choose the evidence you want to quote before writing the essay. This helps to create a very detailed analysis of your quotes. 

4. Study!

The fourth tip is simple: Study! Most students don’t study and for a variety of reasons. Normally, students don’t study since they overestimate their abilities, don’t have time due to a busy schedule or just because they are lazy. Overall, being lazy is a huge reason as to why students don’t study. Another reason is because they don’t quite know how to study. Studying is proven beneficial if done in an efficient way. The room should be quiet and free from distractions; yes this includes cell phones. Flashcards work very well along with group studying and to-do lists (to stay organized). Finally, studying a little bit for multiple days serves a much greater purpose as opposed to studying just the night before.

5. Do That Homework!

The fifth and final tip is to do your homework. Once again, laziness or business can be credited as to why some students don’t do their homework. Another reason is because they don’t understand how to complete their homework and give up or copy instead of figuring it out. By doing homework, students solidify the lessons they had learned in class. Additionally, by doing homework students are able to identify their strengths and weaknesses with each topic.