How to Boost Homework Productivity

Avoid distractions while doing your homework.

Boosting your homework productivity will improve your scores while lowering the amount of time spent on homework so that you have more time to do other activities. Students start having homework at an early age and continue to do so until their late teens and even beyond in college. Among the most important tips are to create a daily routine for your studies and minimize the distractions around you, such as cell phones.

Instructions

1. Prioritize your homework. Organize your assignments by their due date and start on the assignments that have the closest due date. This avoids a scenario where you spend excessive time on a project due weeks from now and end up not finishing homework due tomorrow.

2. Experiment with different times of the day to see at which time you're the most productive. Some people are more productive earlier in the day, while others are more productive later at night.

3. Get plenty of sleep. Being tired will make it more difficult to concentrate on your homework.

4. Eliminate as many distractions as possible. Do your homework in a dedicated study room with a minimal amount of distracting electronic equipment around. Avoid other people, phones, televisions and computers which can all distract you. If you have to use a computer for your homework then close any instant messenger programs and stay away from any websites that aren't homework related.

5. Create a routine where you work on your homework at the same time and the same place each day. Having a set time will help you prevent forgetting to do it. It will also prevent you from putting your homework off until it's too late at night to do it anymore.

6. Set a timer for each task or assignment. This will alert you if you're wasting time or spending too much time on a single task. Don't spend hours on a single problem and end up not completing the rest of your homework.

7. Take a one-to-two minute breaks every 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the intensity of your homework. Short breaks allow you to refocus and reduce the stress from extended periods of intense concentration.

8. Focus on a single task at a time. Multitasking will divert your attention.

9. Play soothing music at a low volume in the background. This can calm you and act as white noise to eliminate nearby audio distractions, such as cars driving by or people talking in another room.

10. Improve your typing speed if your homework involves typing on the computer. There are free typing programs online and many schools offer a typing class.

References

• Child Development Institute: Tips for Helping Kids and Teens With Homework and Study Habits
• Scholastic: Tips From an Ex-Procrastinator
• Illinois University: Brief and Rare Mental "Breaks" Keep you Focused
• Work Awesome: The Path to Productivity: Short Hours, More Breaks