Staying organised at school

School can be stressful. With deadlines, studying and exams all being thrown at you, it's hard to stay focused on the important things, whilst still having time to see friends, family and also time to relax.

I'm in my last year of school myself, I'm about a month in and I've already heard the word 'GCSE' more times than I can possibly count. I struggle with maths and it's one of the compulsory GCSE's I need, and if I don't, I won't be able to go to college. It's a very scary thought and there's a lot of pressure, but suprisingly, I have so far managed to hand my work in on time and still revise.

I thought it through, and here is a list of ways to help you stay organised and up to date;

1) Time-tabling
This might seem really dreary, because schools have strict time tables too. But it's not all that bad - it's as simple as writing it down when you're gonna do something, how long you're gonna do it for and how long it will take to get done. For example, I have a whiteboard where I write it all down. It's helped me split my time evenly (more on that further down) and still have time to relax and do what I enjoy.

2) Spacing out your time
Don't do everything at once. Metaphorically, go up the mountain a little bit at the time, and don't try and leap to the top. Most teachers are reasonable enough to give you homework/revision quite a lot of time in advance, and use it wisely. Don't leave all your homework to the night before, maybe do ten minutes per night every week until you're finished. This also works for revision. This will also leave you time to relax, and do whatever you enjoy (for me, it's watching Netflix.)

3) Stay neat
This is probably just vital for me because I have OCD, but keeping your school/work bag, desk and books tidy helps me stay much more focused. Folders, dividers and binders are very helpful here, and you can get them very cheap from Poundland (or the Dollar Store) and that you can stay organised and still look damn good while doing it.

4) Turn off electronics
I am an addict when it comes to the internet. Tumblr, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook - I probably spend at least twenty minutes to an hour a day on each of those. When I'm trying to stay focused on my homework or studying, I turn off my phone and tablet and only have my laptop on. There's also websites where you can temporarily block other websites so you can't access them until a certain time. This is useful when I am meant to be revising but am also itching to watch the next episode of Stranger Things. I'll try to go onto Netfix, but it'll be blocked till 7. So what should I do until then? Maybe revise? 

5) Remember the outcome
When I'm *this* close to giving in on learning the formula for the volume of a shape, I'll take a minute to remind myself of what will happen if I give in on tiny things like that, and that I NEED my maths GCSE to get into the college and have the future I want. Be careful, though, because there's been occasions where I have thought myself into a panic, where I spend more time worrying about passing the exam than I actually do revising for it. 

I really hope these can help you, and good luck!