Homestead Careers and Pathways Newsletter

Study Tips

Balancing academic and extracurricular activities: A guide for high school students

7 smart study tips for high school students

6 alternative study tips

Balancing academic and extracurricular activities: A guide for high school students

Are you feeling overwhelmed trying to juggle your studies with sports practice, music lessons, or other activities? You're not alone. While extracurricular activities are great for making friends and developing new skills, it can be tricky to find the right balance between these activities and your academic ones. Let's explore some practical ways you can manage your time and energy effectively.

Why are extracurricular activities important? 

While keeping up with your studies is important of course, activities outside the classroom can add so much value to your high school experience too. Being involved in extracurricular activities can:

  • Help you discover new interests and talents
  • Build valuable skills for your future
  • Look great on job and university applications
  • Provide a fun break from studying
  • Help you make new friends

But it's important to find the right balance so that neither your grades nor your activities suffer.

Tips for balancing academic and extracurricular activities 

The key to balancing academic and extracurricular activities is smart time management, so here are our top tips for making it work.

Start with your studies 

This might not come as a surprise, but your school work should be your foundation. Make sure things like assignments and exams have top priority - then, you can plan your other activities around them.

Choose activities you truly enjoy 

Try and avoid joining clubs or doing certain activities just because they'll look good on your resume. Pick things that actually interest you - you'll be more motivated to make time for them, get more out of the experience, and just enjoy yourself more too.

Be realistic about your commitments 

Like it or not, there are only so many hours in each day. So if you want to add more activities to your calendar, consider:

  • How many hours per week each activity requires
  • Travel time to and from activities
  • Whether activities clash with other commitments
  • Busy periods at school (like exam time)
  • Time off to rest and recharge

Learn to prioritise 

You don't have to do everything! It's better to fully commit to a few activities than to spread yourself too thin across many. And if you're feeling overwhelmed, it's totally okay to step back from some commitments - your health and wellbeing always comes first.

Creating a schedule that works 

Having a clear schedule is one of the best ways to make sure you can fit everything in without getting stressed. Here's a simple way to put together a calendar to keep track of your commitments:

Use a planner 

Writing everything down is a great way to help you stay on track each day. There are some great planning apps out there to help you put your schedule together, but good old-fashioned pen and paper does the trick just as well.

List all your commitments 

Whatever method you use, your first step is to work out what all your commitments are and how long they take. Include things like:

  • Class times
  • Assignment and exam dates
  • Activity schedules
  • Study periods
  • Free time

Block out your time 

Once you know what you're doing, you just need to work out when to do it! In your planner, allocate specific times each day or week for each activity and commitment.

If you find some of them overlap or you don't have enough time in your week for all of them, go back and work out what should take top priority, and schedule it first.

And don't forget to leave some gaps in your schedule for unexpected events or tasks that take longer than planned - plus that all-important time for socialising, hobbies, and rest.

Look after yourself 

While balancing everything is important, your health and wellbeing should always come first. Remember that you can't pour from an empty cup. Make sure you:

If you're feeling overwhelmed, don't be afraid to talk to your teachers, family, or school counsellor. They can help you work out a better balance.

7 smart study tips for high school students

Navigating the demands of high school can be tricky, particularly when it comes to study. It can seem like a daunting task, especially if you don't have any study techniques to rely on yet, but don't fret - we're here with some smart study tips for high school students. Whether you're gearing up for exams, tackling a challenging subject, or simply looking to improve your study habits, you've come to the right place.

 

Be organised 

You still need to study in the lead-up to an exam or test, but don’t leave all of your studying until the last minute. Studies have proven that the best way to understand what you’re learning and remember that information long-term is by spacing out your studies and revision.

So instead of leaving everything to the last minute and cramming, create a study schedule. Keep track of important dates and deadlines using a planner or calendar (physical or digital) so you know what you need to study and when. It's also a good idea to set some goals for yourself at the start of the year, term, or semester - having a clear objective in mind will help you stay focused and motivated, particularly for days when you don't really feel like studying.

 

Practise makes perfect 

Okay, not necessarily perfect, but definitely better.

Say you wanted to learn how play the guitar. You might go onto YouTube and watch hundreds of tutorials or read a whole book about music theory. No matter how much preparation you do, the first time you pick up a guitar and play, it's probably not going to sound great. Realistically, you need to practise what you’ve learned lots of times before you’re expected to get it right.

Why not treat your studies the same way? You could:

  • Incorporate past practise tests into your study schedule
  • Write your own flash cards with questions on one side and answers on the other
  • Test yourself often, or have other people test you on the information
  • Ask your teachers to write you some example or revision questions

Make it visual 

Textbooks, notes, Word documents, hundreds of facts and figures to read... Sometimes they just make your eyes swim, and you lose concentration as well as understanding.

If you're finding it hard to read for long periods of time, you could try using diagrams, graphs, and other visual material as a basis for your revision instead. Then, if you need to, add notes or explanations to help you expand your learning. Make it as intricate or simple as you like; the important thing is finding a way to represent information that you can recognise at a glance.

You could even have a go at sketchnoting (and if you're not artistically-inclined, don't worry - you don’t have to be great at drawing for it to be effective).

 

Mix it up 

When you’re planning your study schedule, it's tempting to revise each subject in a block, move on to the next, and never look back.

But imagine you’re learning to play tennis, and for the first four months all you do is learn forehand. Next you learn backhand. Then finally you’re onto learning volleys. This style of learning is called "blocking". Sure, you’ll eventually learn all the skills...but it can get kind of boring, and it’s not reflective of what an actual tennis game involves.

This is where another learning technique called "interleaving" comes in. Studies have suggested interleaving can produce much better and longer-lasting benefits. It involves switching between related topics, training your brain to not only learn the information, but making connections between it all too.

Not convinced? In one study, students were given homework sheets using either the blocking or interleaving methods. When they were tested one day later, the students trained with interleaving scored 25% better. When they were tested one month later, the interleaving advantage grew to a massive 76%.

Go over material you've learned at different times throughout the term, instead of revising once and leaving it behind until exam time. For example, each time you learn a new topic, put a reminder in your calendar or phone to go over the material again in 2, 4, and 6 weeks down the track.

 

Mistakes can help you learn 

Everyone makes mistakes, especially when you’re learning new things. But instead of letting it get you down, you can turn your mistakes into a learning tool. Understanding where you went wrong and how to make your answers right is a great way of focusing in on your problem areas.

Keep time in your study plan to go over material and check for mistakes. When you do homework or practice tests, ask your teacher for feedback - they can help you better understand exactly how to complete a specific task or give you ways to improve your responses.

 

Ask questions 

Simply reciting long lists of facts and figures off by heart doesn't necessarily show deeper understanding of a topic, which is often what teachers want to see in your exams. But if you give those facts and figures some more context, it could make things easier to remember and improve your answers.

The simplest way of doing this is to just ask questions. Ask your friends what they know about the topic, quiz your parents, or even do some searching online (just don't get too distracted). Doing this will expand your knowledge of a topic beyond simple recall, and might even expose you to concepts or interpretations you hadn't thought of before.

 

Seek help when needed 

Don't hesitate to reach out for help if you're struggling with a concept or subject. We get it, asking for help isn't always easy, especially if there are high expectations of you or you're too embarrassed to admit you don't understand something. But even though school is important, your health and wellbeing always comes first, and it's not worth the stress and anxiety.

If you're feeling unsure, don't leave it to the last minute to ask for help. Whether it's letting your teacher know you're struggling, joining a study group, or seeking tutoring assistance, there are heaps of people out there who are more than happy to help you - all you need to do is ask.

 

6 alternative study tips

Even though you know it's something you have to do, study can sometimes feel like a never-ending slog. So we’ve come up with 6 alternative study tips that might help refresh your revision and prepare you effectively for your next important exam.

 

Have a post-it note frenzy 

Write facts, figures, equations, or anything useful at all on a stack of post-it notes and stick them everywhere. You could have them in your room, on your desk, on mirrors, on doors, on windows, in the kitchen, on the stairs, in the shower, on the back of the toilet door - anywhere you’ll see them. They'll act as constant little reminders for you throughout the day (just try not to annoy the other members of your household with your flurry of notes).

 

Record yourself 

Why not have a bit of fun with your revision and sing your notes to the tune of your favourite song? It really doesn’t matter how good or bad you are - in fact, if your singing is particularly off-key, it might be even more memorable (and funny too).

If you’re not quite up for that, you could just record yourself reading your revision notes out loud. It can help cement some of the facts, and you can listen back to them over and over, even when you don’t feel like studying. Even if you have them just playing in the background, you might find that information is subconsciously cementing itself in your brain.

 

Make a mind map 

If note taking isn’t your thing, you might like to try using more visual methods - that's where mind maps come in. Using a blank sheet of paper, put the main topic in the centre, then “branch” out to subtopics. You can then add more detail to each subtopic by adding more branches.

You can use colours to group similar topics or differentiate between ideas, add pictures to help you recall details at a glance, make them as fancy or as simple as you like - your options are nearly endless, so there's bound to be something that will work for you.

 

Watch YouTube tutorials 

Search on YouTube for videos and tutorials about your subjects and topics. Although it’s probably not the best idea to use this method as a complete revision model, it can add a bit of interest to your study schedule - and if you stumble across some really good ones, you might like to share them with your friends and compare notes.

 

Smell of success 

Studies show that smells can affect our emotions and moods and even help us remember things. So get a noseful of your favourite aroma before you hit the books, and then hopefully next time you come across the scent, it evokes memories from your study session.

You could use candles, diffusers, essential oils, flowers, or even fresh fruit (if you have pets, just keep in mind that some scents and oils can be dangerous for your furry friends). And hey, even if doesn’t work, at least your study area will smell nice.

 

Make up mnemonics 

Mnemonics are memory strategies to help you recall large chunks of information. Do you remember singing a tune to help you remember the order of the colours in the rainbow? Or using the phrase 'My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nachos' to remember the order of the planets? These are both mnemonics. There are nine main types of mnemonic:

  • Music - using tunes and jingles to remember things, like the alphabet song.
  • Name/acronym - using the first letter of each word in a list of items to make a new word. This new word then helps you remember the full list. For example, the 7 coordinating conjunctions are For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So = FANBOYS.
  • Acrostic - a sentence or phrase where the first letter of each word represents a thing that you’re trying to memorise. For example, to remember the classifications of life, you could use Dear King Philip Came Over For Good Soup = Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species.
  • Model - a visual representation to help with understanding and recalling important information, e.g. a pyramid model, circular sequence model, or pie chart.
  • Ode/rhyme - reciting information in the form of a poem, e.g. "i before e except after c, or when sounding like a in neighbour and weigh".
  • Note organisation - includes the use of things like flash cards and lists.
  • Image - these work by associating an image with characters or objects whose name sounds or looks like the item that has to be memorised. For example, you can remember the two different camel species by remembering that a Bactrian camel's back is shaped like the letter B, while a Dromedary camel's back is shaped like the letter D.
  • Connection - the method of remembering facts by connecting something new with something you already know well.
  • Visualisation - using techniques like the method of loci to remember things.