I have skipped the last week of January in publishing my last post relating to HTML and CSS programming language because of my insufficient time to write it. Being bombarded with school work has been a struggle for many students especially to those who have extra curricular activities after school. With exam pressures and anxiety received daily, academic stress can become a struggle to students as early as middle school (Huffpost, 2013).

Academic stress can get the best of you if you do not know how to deal with them. Time and scheduling, being organize plays a vital role in your overall performance. Below are my three tips to help you cope with stress.

1. Manage Your Time

Remember that there is only 24 hours in a day and it may seem like it's long but in reality once you get started with your school works or extra curricular activities, you'll notice that 24 hours is not enough to finish all your work especially if you're one of those students who likes to cram the day before their homework is due.

Cramming essentially makes you stressed out because of the pressure of knowing that you'll need to pass whatever homework it is or that there is an exam the next day. The result of cramming varies from person to person but the overall bottom line of this is that it adds up to your stress or it is the cause of you stress. 

To avoid cramming and make the most out of your day, you should learn how to manage your time. Below are just some of my tips in managing mine.

• Plan ahead
• Prioritize wisely
• Be organized 

Planning ahead serves as a guide to me so that I will not get overwhelmed with the things needed to be done in the next few hours or the next days and months. I have noticed that it improved my overall performance at school, it helped me get less stress over thinking about what's going to be my next post, and it helped me become more productive. 

Planning ahead, of course, made me realize what to prioritize on my to-do list so I believe that prioritizing wisely is important as well. The truly urgent work will get more of the attention and ultimately get done faster (Hubpages, 2014). If you know that a certain homework is almost due then you have to prioritize that first before this other homework that has been given to you that is due the next week. 

If you do the two things mentioned above then certainly you'll be organized. And to help you further in planning ahead, I suggest getting a planner or make a bullet journal to meet your needs.

2. Be Prepared 

Prepare the things you need for the next day the night before. This is a simple but helpful tip for students or even workers out there. Preparing your things the night before makes the next day go smoothly because you don't have to worry about forgetting anything. It saves time, you don't have to worry, you just have to go about your morning routine and once you're done you just have to grab that bag and off you go. 

This doesn't only apply to your things but it applies to others as well like prepping your breakfast and making your lunch. The good thing about being prepared the night before is that you're going to get a good night sleep. 

This is similar and quite frankly related to managing your time but this is one of the best tip that you can take to improve your academic performance. A college friend of mine that has a GPA of 4.0 which is equivalent to 93-96 percent, studies 4-7 hours a day. That's a lot of dedication in studying compared to mine. I have a GPA of 3.7 and if you're still interested on how I maintain that grade then read on!

You should have at least 1-3 hours of your time dedicated to studying on one or two subject. I personally think focusing and dedicating your time on a subject that you know you're not good at helps you improve on that particular subject. A little tip in understanding difficult concepts is to use simple analogies to make it memorable for you. 

To have an effective study timetable make sure to include time for homework and revision of materials already covered as well. Revising already covered materials will help you master it and it will remain inside your head.

There are other small ways in which can help you destress a little that can be easily implemented into your daily routine as well.

1. Sleep well
2. Keep a joy journal (this one is inspired by pinterest)
3. Meditate 
4. Draw or paint
5. Workout
6. Play with your dog
7. Read a book
8. Take a nap 
9. Relax
10. Smile and Laugh often

Share your thoughts and your own personal tips on how you deal with academic pressure or stress in general on the comment section below or share it with me on twitter at @danidotyes. Have a nice day!