You come home one afternoon after a particularly exhausting day of school, planning on a good night’s rest, only to discover you have a total of five and a half hours of homework. So what do you do? Well, there are several scientifically proven ways to complete work faster that can help you achieve both of those things and maybe even a few extra hours of free time.

This first thing you should do is take all of your electronics (phone, laptop, etc.) and hand them to a family member to hide (keep your school Chromebook if you need it), even though this may very painful for some to do, it ensures that you stop procrastinating. Then, make a plan; take a good 10 to 15 minutes to carefully plan all of your assignments and estimate how long you should take to complete each assignment. Doing this will also help you stay on track when you realize you’re taking too long to complete something. No one can perfectly predict how long something is going to take to complete, so if you happen to finish something too early or too late, don’t hesitate in adjusting your schedule.

The next tip is to take breaks. You’re already tired enough when you get home, so working for long periods of time without breaks will make you twice as weary, causing you to take twice as long to complete your work. For those who still feel just as exhausted after a five-minute break, take a walk outside. Nature is proven to reset your attention span and relax your mind.

If you feel that you are too drained to the point where no sort of 5-minute break can get you back on track, set an alarm for 25 minutes and take a nap.Once you get up, splash your face with some cold water several times and get right back into your schedule.

Overall, if your studies are taking up your life and preventing you from having a full night’s rest, try out a few of these tips and see how they work! The most important thing to remember is not to lose motivation. These four years are essential and getting your homework finished quickly will give you lots of time to do activities of your interest.

Graphic courtesy of VECTOR.COM