5 tips to help you manage peak-assessment time.

Hey,
It's just past the middle of term 3 for me and that means that all the assessment is piling up, there are so many dates to remember, things to write and bibliographies to write. Sometimes it all feels a bit too much and like you will never be able to get over the workload but using the tips and websites below will hopefully help make things a bit easier for you, and help you achieve your best. (I know they all help me a lot).

1.Make an assessment calendar! This is a super simple and easy way to know what is coming up. Assessment planners are pretty much a calendar of the term or semester in which you write all your due dates, tests, exams and distribution dates. To make one simply create a table with a row for each week of school you have (plus one extra) and 6 columns. The way I organise mine is to have the weeks down the right hand side, and the days of the week across the top. (That wasn't a very clear explanation so I've added an image below). You then add the dates (like a calendar) and fill in the assessment.

2.Use a diary/planner. A diary or planner gives you a chance to record all the things you have to do for each day, the classes you have and assessment that could be given out or due.

3.Start as soon as you get the task and work on it steadily. You've probably heard this a million times before but starting the assessment as soon as you get it makes a world of difference the night before it is due (you get that amount of time to do it for a reason). But make sure you do a little bit most days (or starting early will be pointless)

4.Break the task into mini-tasks. I find this a great way to make the task a bit more approachable. The day I get the task I usually spend about half an hour working out 'mini-tasks' and creating ',mini-due-dates' for the tasks. This helps me see how far along I am and how much I have left. It also helps you to not panic about how much you have left to do.

5.Use some of these websites. I use all these websites for pretty much all my assignments and they make things so much easier. Hopefully they will help you too.

Wunderlist- wunderlist is super useful for point four, it lets you create folders for different assignments and break the assignment into chunks. You can create due dates for each chunk and even break your afternoon up into sections (more about wunderlist coming up next week)

Cite this for me- I'm sure you've all heard of cite this for me but it is soooooo useful I couldn't leave it out of this list. Basically it creates a bibliography for you, all you have to do is copy and paste the website url.

Instagrok- Instagrok is like a search engine mind map. You type in a key word and it brings up heaps of relevant information in a mind map format.

Grammarly- grammarly isn't quite as helpful as I'd hoped but it still works pretty well and can really help push your grades up.

Hopefully these websites and tips will help you as much as they help me. Don't forget to let me know in the comments if you have any other tips or websites that might be useful.