If your high school life is stagnating under the weight of tardiness, missed deadlines, and a distracted and disinterested approach to learning, we are here to add some much-needed pep to your step!
Our top 16 life hacks for high school students will help you to navigate the jungle that high school has become.
If you are surviving lesson to lesson by being saved by the bell, implementing these hacks can transform your productivity and outlook on school life.
Enjoy!
Sleep experts and physiologists have found out that not all sleep is the same. In fact, you can use clearly defined 90-minute cycles of lighter and deeper sleep to ensure you get a better start to your days.
A sleep tracking app on your phone or smartwatch can be used to monitor your sleep cycle, so your alarm wakes you when you are sleeping most lightly, rather than an unwelcome jolt when you are deeply asleep.
Take a look with Mattress Clarity at some of the best sleep tracking apps:
If you are just going to hit the snooze on the smartphone you slept next to, analog alarm clocks placed far from your bed are harder to ignore. You will have to get out of bed to turn them off before you wake the neighborhood.
In some countries and cultures, young people are trained by their parents to rise early and complete their studies at dawn. Check out Harshita in India who starts her study day at 4 am:
Becoming an early riser can make you super organized and prepared for anything your day will bring. However, it will take time to establish this routine and you will need to get to bed early.
If you want a successful start to the day, lining your stomach with some healthy food is key to keeping your levels of energy and concentration high.
If you want to keep yourself motivated and engaged through the school day, stale track pants and that whiffy t-shirt aren't going to cut it.
Smartening up your appearance can help smarten up your mind and help you to be more productive. Switch the streetwear for a great shirt and slacks to look like the VP or CEO you're gonna become!
Keep your school uniform fresh and save on scrubbing by applying this wonder cleaner to collars, cuffs, and, dare we say armpits, of your shirts. Then throw them in a regular wash and watch them come out gleaming!
Rolling with Mentos throughout the day could really help you stay fresh in class!
Sucking on mints throughout the day will not only keep your breath fresh but has also been shown to boost concentration.
A 2014 study published by Iranian scientists found appreciable effects of peppermint ingestion on physiological parameters and exercise performance shortly after consumption.
In particular, auditory and visual reaction times were markedly reduced.
If Coach expects you to hit the track early for training, you can use this ancient Native American technique to ensure that you are never late.
The method involves drinking a large volume of water right before bed and letting your distended bladder do the work of getting you up to go to the bathroom.
Yeah, you may get some weird looks but you can keep your sneakers fresh and odor-free by putting some coarse baking soda in the cut-off toe portions of a pair of old pantyhose.
Baking soda is a fantastic deodorizer and will absorb sweat and funky smells as well as inhibiting the growth of bacteria in your shoes. Leaven them in your shoes after your gym class.
If you are not so organized with your phones and chargers you may find that the micro USB chargers for your smartphones, watches, or speakers get worn out pretty quickly.
This is because we really take our chargers for granted, not releasing that they are pieces of finely engineered electronic equipment.
With rough handling, the wire within the cable that carries the charge becomes damaged which means your devices will charge more slowly and you will need to replace your chargers more often.
A great solution is to invest in a right-angled charger that has a connector that sits against your device and is less vulnerable to strain or inadvertent yanking.
Grifting a low-grade education via poorly referenced Wiki articles is no way to intellectually challenge yourself. If you are looking for reliable academic research papers to use as sources for your essays and projects, use Google Scholar, the search engine for scholarly literature.
Hitting deadlines is easy when you have relevant, well-referenced research to hand.
This is probably the first time in history where you can reach out directly to thousands of eminent scientists, historians, mathematicians, and other thinkers to get their take on the things you learn at school.
Including quotes and comments from the authors of books or research that you have successfully contacted is perfectly legitimate and will definitely make your paper stand out come marking time.
You may have heard about this great study hack from some of your more studious classmates. This method for time management and productivity has proven popular with students of all ages.
Developed in the 1980s by Francesco Cirillo, the technique involves breaking up tasks or work into 15 to 25 minute periods of activity, interspersed with short breaks of a few minutes.
This method helps to keep your motivation and productivity high as there is always a break in sight. The name comes from the tomato-shaped timer that Cirillo used for studying.
If you have had enough of being the class clown, why not give your peers and your teachers a shock and get yourself down to the front row in class.
There is a reason why the straight-A students are all at the front. The benefits of being in the front row include:
Rummaging around your schoolbag for crumpled pieces of paper that are meant to last the whole year is so passe. Even if your school is providing hardcopies, digitize timetables and any other important bits of paper by taking a quick snap and swiping them on your phone when you need them.
Voice-to-text technology has come on leaps and bounds in recent years and is surprisingly accurate. Your smartphone will carry this functionality as part of its in-built keyboard meaning you can give your hands a rest and dictate your papers into your phone.
Take a walk with your hands free and get all your thoughts recorded. You can then email yourself your dictation and tidy it up on your laptop, so it is ready for submission.
We hope you have found these high-school hacks helpful for taking some of the hassles out of the school day. There is always an easier and more productive way of going about tasks and were sure that once you start injecting some productivity into your days even the most mundane tasks and activities of school life can be taken head-on with enthusiasm!