COLLEGE PAPERBUDDY IS NOW AVAILABLE!

Are you feeling down? Did it take an hour to type your name on your paper? Are you asking yourself, “How the heck am I going to survive the next four weeks of classes?” If you answered “yes” to any of these questions then you might have a case of the Spring Break Blues.

The Spring Break Blues (SBB) are those gloomy feelings you get when you return to school after a vacation from academia. Whether you partied your butt off in Mexico and drank gallons of tequila each night or simply stayed in to catch up on your favorite TV shows, you probably didn’t do much studying over your Spring Break. This is awesome . . . until you start classes again. Just like the kinetics lesson you learned in high school physics, it’s easy to study and write papers when you’re already in the academic zone. When you mentally pull over to take a break from studying, it becomes much more difficult to get going again. Starting a paper might take you twice as long as it normally does (cue picture of a three-toed sloth sitting in front of a computer).

So, is there a way to overcome the SBB, or should we just continue to party and hope we have better luck next year? While the latter seems more fun, there are definitely ways to overcome SBB and get back on track for writing A+ papers. The following sections offer tips to help you prepare for the final weeks of the term. The main idea for all of them, though, is organization. Getting your academic life organized, as well as your personal life organized, will help you adapt quickly to your regular academic routine.

Make a To-Do List: Before you begin any homework assignments, it’s important to make a to-do list. Gather all of your class calendars and syllabi and type out everything you need to accomplish by the end of the year, including the specific dates of when assignments are due and when exams will be taken. You can arrange your tasks by their importance or in chronological order. You can then turn this into a checklist in which you cross off items as you finish them.

Create a Schedule: Once you know all of the tasks you need to finish by the end of the school term, you can create a schedule. Whether you prefer to use a planner or the calendar on your phone, you can mark all of your deadlines and important dates and then schedule time for work. You should also mark down any personal or social commitments so you can plan around these times and make sure you leave yourself room for studying.

Gather All Class Materials: Before returning to school, or soon after classes resume, it’s usually helpful to gather all of the materials for each of your classes and place them into groups. This is important for two reasons. The first is that by simply seeing all of your classes organized into neat piles, you might feel less stress and a sense of control and organization. And the second reason is that if you have everything you need to finish the term, then you won’t waste valuable time searching for something later on—especially if it’s at the eleventh hour!

Create a Reward System: Just because classes have started again it doesn’t mean you have to go cold turkey on having fun. You can still spend time with friends, watch TV, and even drink those gallons of tequila if your heart so desires. We all need a break once in a while. Therefore, you can use those fun times as an incentive for getting work done; you can think of them as rewards. For example, you can make a pact with yourself that if you finish writing a paper then you can go out to dinner or hang out with your friends.

With a little organization, it’s easy to successfully finish the remaining few weeks of the school term. From to-do lists to rewards, there are easy ways to stay on track and avoid unnecessary stress. Cheers to being organized!