By: Shalom Montero

Fall brings in beautiful colors as the season sets in, as well as new TV series and the end of the first quarter and beginning of the second. This causes some problems for students who try hard to stay on top of series like NCIS, How I Met Your Mother, Arrow, and more, as well as try and do all of the homework their teachers give them. Each individual student knows how hard their classes are; this is why understanding how to do your homework is such a big deal. Understanding which method of studying works for you is crucial for the completion and understanding of homework. Understand this: the second that a show airs, there are countless places where you can find it. Watching the show is not going to be a once in a lifetime thing.
When asked which class students study for the most, almost every student answered differently. Some gave a language like Spanish 3, while others gave classes like AP Economics and AP Bio. However, when asked how long students actually take to do their homework as compared to the time that they spend watching TV, the results for taking time and doing homework weren’t nearly as high as one would think. The numbers ranged from 30 minutes on AP Bio to 4 hours on math.Of course, every student is different. Some choose to study and others do not. Some take AP classes, and others choose to take Academic classes. However, all of the students recognized that they should be studying more.
To make retaining information and doing homework easier, students can form study groups that help get homework done without all of the setbacks and distractions caused by simultaneously watching television. In an AP Psychology class, Mr. McNutt said that a person retains about 30% of the information they learn through seeing it on the board and hearing the teacher talk; however, when someone is teaching it themselves, they will retain about 80% of the same information. The second someone understands the way this works and puts it into action, they will be able to see the long term advantages. For example, making A’s in classes that before you thought were impossible.
Try forming a study group and see just how much it helps you without the thoughts of “what’s on TV.” Get together with a group of 4 or more students, and do your homework without having to go back to all the homeworks given and “finish them later.” It’s also not necessary to make up an excuse for why the homework was not done on time when the the student knows they could have gotten it done. With all of the things that are going on in our lives as students: from sports, to clubs, to jobs after school, we do not need something like TV to make our lives, and especially our grades, more complicated. Making a schedule might seem like too much but it’s a lot easier than making up excuses and having to do all of the work at the last minute.