Catching Up
This post was inspired by people asking me if they had any tips on catching up in a lesson when they were behind. I decided to put all my tips together in one post! Here are some of my tips.
My number 1 tip is making sure you know exactly what you need to catch up on. No point revising something if you already know it. You are just wasting more time! Put together a list/to-do list on what you need to catch up on. An example being:
Finish last week’s geography notes
Start revising for Spanish vocab test
Catch up on Maths formulas (Go on YouTube)
Practice math papers
Hand in English work on Macbeth
This is a general list of what you need to do. So break down your list into smaller lists for each part of the list. An example being:
Catch on Maths Formulas (Go on YouTube)
– Understand area of a circle
– How to find the normal of a tangent
– How to differentiate
The above example is just been broken down into manageable chunks.
Having a planner/calendar
Now, in order to not fall behind again, or keep on top of extra work. Have a planner or a calendar to write down deadlines. Put all your deadlines, small tests and quizzes on there. You won’t forget them if you are constantly looking at them. Also write down your homework on the calendar as well.
Stay organised
Now that you know what is coming up and your list is in front of you, make sure everything is organised. You can’t start working if you don’t know where your notes are. On the previous post, I explained how to keep notes and binders organised. Go have a look at that for some help! Try and keep all your notes in a folder/notebook so you know where it is.
Prioritise
Every day you go to school and come back with more homework, therefore making your list bigger. Learn to prioritise. If you have a maths exam tomorrow, but the homework you got today is for Wednesday. Do the maths revision first, the homework can wait till you come back from your exam.
Schedule
Make sure you have some sort of daily schedule going for you. This is a simple schedule I follow:
2:00PM – Come in from school
3:00PM – Start homework
4:00PM – Eat dinner
5:00PM – Catch up work
6:00PM – Revise for upcoming Tests (if there is, if not continue with catch up work)
7:00PM – Shower
8:00PM – Read till 9 then
9:00PM – Sleep
(Please don’t be under the impression, I don’t have free time. I do spend some time to myself between all this. Sometimes I don’t do anything after dinner if I don’t need too.)
Please be aware that your daily schedule is going to change every day. You will have all the time in the world to do work one day. Then the next day, you will be busy with other things, so you won’t have time to work. However, please set one day for catching up. If I need to catch up, I set the last day of the school week as catch up day. This is a Thursday for me. This is because you are at the end of the week and you have the weekend to help with the work as well. DON’T FORGET TO RELAX THOUGH!
Asking teachers
If you weren’t in school because you were sick, then ask teachers for your missed work. Ask them what you missed and if they could send you the information they used. I would also suggest trying to get the work before you are sick. If you know you are going to be off on that day, let the teacher know so they can send you the information beforehand. So, schedule a time to meet with them and ask them questions about the missed work and if there was homework.
Asking friends
If it is just notes you need, then you can ask your friends if you can borrow their notes. However, don’t assume they have everything down. Look at your specification and see if they missed anything when you are using their notes. Also, if you are absent one day, you can ask one of your friends to get a copy of the homework and ask them to send it to you. That way you get it the same day as the homework was released and they can help you with it.
