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11 Ways to Deal With Homework Overload

Last Updated: March 2, 2024 Fact Checked

Making a Plan

Staying motivated, starting good homework habits, expert q&a.

This article was co-authored by Jennifer Kaifesh . Jennifer Kaifesh is the Founder of Great Expectations College Prep, a tutoring and counseling service based in Southern California. Jennifer has over 15 years of experience managing and facilitating academic tutoring and standardized test prep as it relates to the college application process. She takes a personal approach to her tutoring, and focuses on working with students to find their specific mix of pursuits that they both enjoy and excel at. She is a graduate of Northwestern University. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 252,719 times.

A pile of homework can seem daunting, but it’s doable if you make a plan. Make a list of everything you need to do, and work your way through, starting with the most difficult assignments. Focus on your homework and tune out distractions, and you’ll get through things more efficiently. Giving yourself breaks and other rewards will help you stay motivated along the way. Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you get stuck! Hang in there, and you’ll knock the homework out before you know it.

Things You Should Know

  • Create a checklist of everything you have to do, making sure to include deadlines and which assignments are a top priority.
  • Take a 15-minute break for every 2 hours of studying. This can give your mind a break and help you feel more focused.
  • Make a schedule of when you plan on doing your homework and try to stick to it. This way, you won’t feel too overwhelmed as the assignments roll in.

Step 1 Create a checklist of the tasks you have.

  • Make a plan to go through your work bit by bit, saving the easiest tasks for last.

Step 3 Work in a comfortable but distraction-free place.

  • Put phones and any other distractions away. If you have to do your homework on a computer, avoid checking your email or social media while you are trying to work.
  • Consider letting your family (or at least your parents) know where and when you plan to do homework, so they'll know to be considerate and only interrupt if necessary.

Step 4 Ask for help if you get stuck.

  • If you have the option to do your homework in a study hall, library, or other place where there might be tutors, go for it. That way, there will be help around if you need it. You'll also likely wind up with more free time if you can get work done in school.

Step 1 Take a break now and then.

  • To take a break, get up and move away from your workspace. Walk around a bit, and get a drink or snack.
  • Moving around will recharge you mentally, physically, and spiritually, so you’re ready to tackle the next part of your homework.

Step 2 Remind yourself of the big picture.

  • For instance, you might write “I need to do this chemistry homework because I want a good average in the class. That will raise my GPA and help me stay eligible for the basketball team and get my diploma.”
  • Your goals might also look something like “I’m going to write this history paper because I want to get better as a writer. Knowing how to write well and make a good argument will help me when I’m trying to enter law school, and then down the road when I hope to become a successful attorney.”

Step 3 Bribe yourself.

  • Try doing your homework as soon as possible after it is assigned. Say you have one set of classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and another on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Do the Monday homework on Monday, instead of putting it off until Tuesday.
  • That way, the class will still be fresh in your mind, making the homework easier.
  • This also gives you time to ask for help if there’s something you don’t understand.

Step 3 Try a study group.

  • If you want to keep everyone accountable, write a pact for everyone in your study group to sign, like “I agree to spend 2 hours on Monday and Wednesday afternoons with my study group. I will use that time just for working, and won’t give in to distractions or playing around.”
  • Once everyone’s gotten through the homework, there’s no problem with hanging out.

Step 4 Let your teacher know if you’re having trouble keeping up.

  • Most teachers are willing to listen if you’re trying and legitimately have trouble keeping up. They might even adjust the homework assignments to make them more manageable.

Jennifer Kaifesh

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  • ↑ https://www.understood.org/en/articles/homework-strategies
  • ↑ https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/homework.html
  • ↑ https://kidshelpline.com.au/kids/tips/dealing-with-homework
  • ↑ https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/focused.html
  • ↑ http://www.aiuniv.edu/blog/august-2014/tips-for-fighting-homework-fatigue
  • ↑ http://kidshealth.org/en/parents/homework.html
  • ↑ https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/study-partners/

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August 16, 2021

Is it time to get rid of homework? Mental health experts weigh in

by Sara M Moniuszko

homework

It's no secret that kids hate homework. And as students grapple with an ongoing pandemic that has had a wide-range of mental health impacts, is it time schools start listening to their pleas over workloads?

Some teachers are turning to social media to take a stand against homework .

Tiktok user @misguided.teacher says he doesn't assign it because the "whole premise of homework is flawed."

For starters, he says he can't grade work on "even playing fields" when students' home environments can be vastly different.

"Even students who go home to a peaceful house, do they really want to spend their time on busy work? Because typically that's what a lot of homework is, it's busy work," he says in the video that has garnered 1.6 million likes. "You only get one year to be 7, you only got one year to be 10, you only get one year to be 16, 18."

Mental health experts agree heavy work loads have the potential do more harm than good for students, especially when taking into account the impacts of the pandemic. But they also say the answer may not be to eliminate homework altogether.

Emmy Kang, mental health counselor at Humantold, says studies have shown heavy workloads can be "detrimental" for students and cause a "big impact on their mental, physical and emotional health."

"More than half of students say that homework is their primary source of stress, and we know what stress can do on our bodies," she says, adding that staying up late to finish assignments also leads to disrupted sleep and exhaustion.

Cynthia Catchings, a licensed clinical social worker and therapist at Talkspace, says heavy workloads can also cause serious mental health problems in the long run, like anxiety and depression.

And for all the distress homework causes, it's not as useful as many may think, says Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, a psychologist and CEO of Omega Recovery treatment center.

"The research shows that there's really limited benefit of homework for elementary age students, that really the school work should be contained in the classroom," he says.

For older students, Kang says homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night.

"Most students, especially at these high-achieving schools, they're doing a minimum of three hours, and it's taking away time from their friends from their families, their extracurricular activities. And these are all very important things for a person's mental and emotional health."

Catchings, who also taught third to 12th graders for 12 years, says she's seen the positive effects of a no homework policy while working with students abroad.

"Not having homework was something that I always admired from the French students (and) the French schools, because that was helping the students to really have the time off and really disconnect from school ," she says.

The answer may not be to eliminate homework completely, but to be more mindful of the type of work students go home with, suggests Kang, who was a high-school teacher for 10 years.

"I don't think (we) should scrap homework, I think we should scrap meaningless, purposeless busy work-type homework. That's something that needs to be scrapped entirely," she says, encouraging teachers to be thoughtful and consider the amount of time it would take for students to complete assignments.

The pandemic made the conversation around homework more crucial

Mindfulness surrounding homework is especially important in the context of the last two years. Many students will be struggling with mental health issues that were brought on or worsened by the pandemic, making heavy workloads even harder to balance.

"COVID was just a disaster in terms of the lack of structure. Everything just deteriorated," Kardaras says, pointing to an increase in cognitive issues and decrease in attention spans among students. "School acts as an anchor for a lot of children, as a stabilizing force, and that disappeared."

But even if students transition back to the structure of in-person classes, Kardaras suspects students may still struggle after two school years of shifted schedules and disrupted sleeping habits.

"We've seen adults struggling to go back to in-person work environments from remote work environments. That effect is amplified with children because children have less resources to be able to cope with those transitions than adults do," he explains.

'Get organized' ahead of back-to-school

In order to make the transition back to in-person school easier, Kang encourages students to "get good sleep, exercise regularly (and) eat a healthy diet."

To help manage workloads, she suggests students "get organized."

"There's so much mental clutter up there when you're disorganized... sitting down and planning out their study schedules can really help manage their time," she says.

Breaking assignments up can also make things easier to tackle.

"I know that heavy workloads can be stressful, but if you sit down and you break down that studying into smaller chunks, they're much more manageable."

If workloads are still too much, Kang encourages students to advocate for themselves.

"They should tell their teachers when a homework assignment just took too much time or if it was too difficult for them to do on their own," she says. "It's good to speak up and ask those questions. Respectfully, of course, because these are your teachers. But still, I think sometimes teachers themselves need this feedback from their students."

©2021 USA Today Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, how to do homework: 15 expert tips and tricks.

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Everyone struggles with homework sometimes, but if getting your homework done has become a chronic issue for you, then you may need a little extra help. That’s why we’ve written this article all about how to do homework. Once you’re finished reading it, you’ll know how to do homework (and have tons of new ways to motivate yourself to do homework)!

We’ve broken this article down into a few major sections. You’ll find:

  • A diagnostic test to help you figure out why you’re struggling with homework
  • A discussion of the four major homework problems students face, along with expert tips for addressing them
  • A bonus section with tips for how to do homework fast

By the end of this article, you’ll be prepared to tackle whatever homework assignments your teachers throw at you .

So let’s get started!

body-stack-of-textbooks-red

How to Do Homework: Figure Out Your Struggles 

Sometimes it feels like everything is standing between you and getting your homework done. But the truth is, most people only have one or two major roadblocks that are keeping them from getting their homework done well and on time. 

The best way to figure out how to get motivated to do homework starts with pinpointing the issues that are affecting your ability to get your assignments done. That’s why we’ve developed a short quiz to help you identify the areas where you’re struggling. 

Take the quiz below and record your answers on your phone or on a scrap piece of paper. Keep in mind there are no wrong answers! 

1. You’ve just been assigned an essay in your English class that’s due at the end of the week. What’s the first thing you do?

A. Keep it in mind, even though you won’t start it until the day before it’s due  B. Open up your planner. You’ve got to figure out when you’ll write your paper since you have band practice, a speech tournament, and your little sister’s dance recital this week, too.  C. Groan out loud. Another essay? You could barely get yourself to write the last one!  D. Start thinking about your essay topic, which makes you think about your art project that’s due the same day, which reminds you that your favorite artist might have just posted to Instagram...so you better check your feed right now. 

2. Your mom asked you to pick up your room before she gets home from work. You’ve just gotten home from school. You decide you’ll tackle your chores: 

A. Five minutes before your mom walks through the front door. As long as it gets done, who cares when you start?  B. As soon as you get home from your shift at the local grocery store.  C. After you give yourself a 15-minute pep talk about how you need to get to work.  D. You won’t get it done. Between texts from your friends, trying to watch your favorite Netflix show, and playing with your dog, you just lost track of time! 

3. You’ve signed up to wash dogs at the Humane Society to help earn money for your senior class trip. You: 

A. Show up ten minutes late. You put off leaving your house until the last minute, then got stuck in unexpected traffic on the way to the shelter.  B. Have to call and cancel at the last minute. You forgot you’d already agreed to babysit your cousin and bake cupcakes for tomorrow’s bake sale.  C. Actually arrive fifteen minutes early with extra brushes and bandanas you picked up at the store. You’re passionate about animals, so you’re excited to help out! D. Show up on time, but only get three dogs washed. You couldn’t help it: you just kept getting distracted by how cute they were!

4. You have an hour of downtime, so you decide you’re going to watch an episode of The Great British Baking Show. You: 

A. Scroll through your social media feeds for twenty minutes before hitting play, which means you’re not able to finish the whole episode. Ugh! You really wanted to see who was sent home!  B. Watch fifteen minutes until you remember you’re supposed to pick up your sister from band practice before heading to your part-time job. No GBBO for you!  C. You finish one episode, then decide to watch another even though you’ve got SAT studying to do. It’s just more fun to watch people make scones.  D. Start the episode, but only catch bits and pieces of it because you’re reading Twitter, cleaning out your backpack, and eating a snack at the same time.

5. Your teacher asks you to stay after class because you’ve missed turning in two homework assignments in a row. When she asks you what’s wrong, you say: 

A. You planned to do your assignments during lunch, but you ran out of time. You decided it would be better to turn in nothing at all than submit unfinished work.  B. You really wanted to get the assignments done, but between your extracurriculars, family commitments, and your part-time job, your homework fell through the cracks.  C. You have a hard time psyching yourself to tackle the assignments. You just can’t seem to find the motivation to work on them once you get home.  D. You tried to do them, but you had a hard time focusing. By the time you realized you hadn’t gotten anything done, it was already time to turn them in. 

Like we said earlier, there are no right or wrong answers to this quiz (though your results will be better if you answered as honestly as possible). Here’s how your answers break down: 

  • If your answers were mostly As, then your biggest struggle with doing homework is procrastination. 
  • If your answers were mostly Bs, then your biggest struggle with doing homework is time management. 
  • If your answers were mostly Cs, then your biggest struggle with doing homework is motivation. 
  • If your answers were mostly Ds, then your biggest struggle with doing homework is getting distracted. 

Now that you’ve identified why you’re having a hard time getting your homework done, we can help you figure out how to fix it! Scroll down to find your core problem area to learn more about how you can start to address it. 

And one more thing: you’re really struggling with homework, it’s a good idea to read through every section below. You may find some additional tips that will help make homework less intimidating. 

body-procrastination-meme

How to Do Homework When You’re a Procrastinator  

Merriam Webster defines “procrastinate” as “to put off intentionally and habitually.” In other words, procrastination is when you choose to do something at the last minute on a regular basis. If you’ve ever found yourself pulling an all-nighter, trying to finish an assignment between periods, or sprinting to turn in a paper minutes before a deadline, you’ve experienced the effects of procrastination. 

If you’re a chronic procrastinator, you’re in good company. In fact, one study found that 70% to 95% of undergraduate students procrastinate when it comes to doing their homework. Unfortunately, procrastination can negatively impact your grades. Researchers have found that procrastination can lower your grade on an assignment by as much as five points ...which might not sound serious until you realize that can mean the difference between a B- and a C+. 

Procrastination can also negatively affect your health by increasing your stress levels , which can lead to other health conditions like insomnia, a weakened immune system, and even heart conditions. Getting a handle on procrastination can not only improve your grades, it can make you feel better, too! 

The big thing to understand about procrastination is that it’s not the result of laziness. Laziness is defined as being “disinclined to activity or exertion.” In other words, being lazy is all about doing nothing. But a s this Psychology Today article explains , procrastinators don’t put things off because they don’t want to work. Instead, procrastinators tend to postpone tasks they don’t want to do in favor of tasks that they perceive as either more important or more fun. Put another way, procrastinators want to do things...as long as it’s not their homework! 

3 Tips f or Conquering Procrastination 

Because putting off doing homework is a common problem, there are lots of good tactics for addressing procrastination. Keep reading for our three expert tips that will get your homework habits back on track in no time. 

#1: Create a Reward System

Like we mentioned earlier, procrastination happens when you prioritize other activities over getting your homework done. Many times, this happens because homework...well, just isn’t enjoyable. But you can add some fun back into the process by rewarding yourself for getting your work done. 

Here’s what we mean: let’s say you decide that every time you get your homework done before the day it’s due, you’ll give yourself a point. For every five points you earn, you’ll treat yourself to your favorite dessert: a chocolate cupcake! Now you have an extra (delicious!) incentive to motivate you to leave procrastination in the dust. 

If you’re not into cupcakes, don’t worry. Your reward can be anything that motivates you . Maybe it’s hanging out with your best friend or an extra ten minutes of video game time. As long as you’re choosing something that makes homework worth doing, you’ll be successful. 

#2: Have a Homework Accountability Partner 

If you’re having trouble getting yourself to start your homework ahead of time, it may be a good idea to call in reinforcements . Find a friend or classmate you can trust and explain to them that you’re trying to change your homework habits. Ask them if they’d be willing to text you to make sure you’re doing your homework and check in with you once a week to see if you’re meeting your anti-procrastination goals. 

Sharing your goals can make them feel more real, and an accountability partner can help hold you responsible for your decisions. For example, let’s say you’re tempted to put off your science lab write-up until the morning before it’s due. But you know that your accountability partner is going to text you about it tomorrow...and you don’t want to fess up that you haven’t started your assignment. A homework accountability partner can give you the extra support and incentive you need to keep your homework habits on track. 

#3: Create Your Own Due Dates 

If you’re a life-long procrastinator, you might find that changing the habit is harder than you expected. In that case, you might try using procrastination to your advantage! If you just can’t seem to stop doing your work at the last minute, try setting your own due dates for assignments that range from a day to a week before the assignment is actually due. 

Here’s what we mean. Let’s say you have a math worksheet that’s been assigned on Tuesday and is due on Friday. In your planner, you can write down the due date as Thursday instead. You may still put off your homework assignment until the last minute...but in this case, the “last minute” is a day before the assignment’s real due date . This little hack can trick your procrastination-addicted brain into planning ahead! 

body-busy-meme-2

If you feel like Kevin Hart in this meme, then our tips for doing homework when you're busy are for you. 

How to Do Homework When You’re too Busy

If you’re aiming to go to a top-tier college , you’re going to have a full plate. Because college admissions is getting more competitive, it’s important that you’re maintaining your grades , studying hard for your standardized tests , and participating in extracurriculars so your application stands out. A packed schedule can get even more hectic once you add family obligations or a part-time job to the mix. 

If you feel like you’re being pulled in a million directions at once, you’re not alone. Recent research has found that stress—and more severe stress-related conditions like anxiety and depression— are a major problem for high school students . In fact, one study from the American Psychological Association found that during the school year, students’ stress levels are higher than those of the adults around them. 

For students, homework is a major contributor to their overall stress levels . Many high schoolers have multiple hours of homework every night , and figuring out how to fit it into an already-packed schedule can seem impossible. 

3 Tips for Fitting Homework Into Your Busy Schedule

While it might feel like you have literally no time left in your schedule, there are still ways to make sure you’re able to get your homework done and meet your other commitments. Here are our expert homework tips for even the busiest of students. 

#1: Make a Prioritized To-Do List 

You probably already have a to-do list to keep yourself on track. The next step is to prioritize the items on your to-do list so you can see what items need your attention right away. 

Here’s how it works: at the beginning of each day, sit down and make a list of all the items you need to get done before you go to bed. This includes your homework, but it should also take into account any practices, chores, events, or job shifts you may have. Once you get everything listed out, it’s time to prioritize them using the labels A, B, and C. Here’s what those labels mean:

  • A Tasks : tasks that have to get done—like showing up at work or turning in an assignment—get an A. 
  • B Tasks : these are tasks that you would like to get done by the end of the day but aren’t as time sensitive. For example, studying for a test you have next week could be a B-level task. It’s still important, but it doesn’t have to be done right away.
  • C Tasks: these are tasks that aren’t very important and/or have no real consequences if you don’t get them done immediately. For instance, if you’re hoping to clean out your closet but it’s not an assigned chore from your parents, you could label that to-do item with a C.

Prioritizing your to-do list helps you visualize which items need your immediate attention, and which items you can leave for later. A prioritized to-do list ensures that you’re spending your time efficiently and effectively, which helps you make room in your schedule for homework. So even though you might really want to start making decorations for Homecoming (a B task), you’ll know that finishing your reading log (an A task) is more important. 

#2: Use a Planner With Time Labels

Your planner is probably packed with notes, events, and assignments already. (And if you’re not using a planner, it’s time to start!) But planners can do more for you than just remind you when an assignment is due. If you’re using a planner with time labels, it can help you visualize how you need to spend your day.

A planner with time labels breaks your day down into chunks, and you assign tasks to each chunk of time. For example, you can make a note of your class schedule with assignments, block out time to study, and make sure you know when you need to be at practice. Once you know which tasks take priority, you can add them to any empty spaces in your day. 

Planning out how you spend your time not only helps you use it wisely, it can help you feel less overwhelmed, too . We’re big fans of planners that include a task list ( like this one ) or have room for notes ( like this one ). 

#3: Set Reminders on Your Phone 

If you need a little extra nudge to make sure you’re getting your homework done on time, it’s a good idea to set some reminders on your phone. You don’t need a fancy app, either. You can use your alarm app to have it go off at specific times throughout the day to remind you to do your homework. This works especially well if you have a set homework time scheduled. So if you’ve decided you’re doing homework at 6:00 pm, you can set an alarm to remind you to bust out your books and get to work. 

If you use your phone as your planner, you may have the option to add alerts, emails, or notifications to scheduled events . Many calendar apps, including the one that comes with your phone, have built-in reminders that you can customize to meet your needs. So if you block off time to do your homework from 4:30 to 6:00 pm, you can set a reminder that will pop up on your phone when it’s time to get started. 

body-unmotivated-meme

This dog isn't judging your lack of motivation...but your teacher might. Keep reading for tips to help you motivate yourself to do your homework.

How to Do Homework When You’re Unmotivated 

At first glance, it may seem like procrastination and being unmotivated are the same thing. After all, both of these issues usually result in you putting off your homework until the very last minute. 

But there’s one key difference: many procrastinators are working, they’re just prioritizing work differently. They know they’re going to start their homework...they’re just going to do it later. 

Conversely, people who are unmotivated to do homework just can’t find the willpower to tackle their assignments. Procrastinators know they’ll at least attempt the homework at the last minute, whereas people who are unmotivated struggle with convincing themselves to do it at a ll. For procrastinators, the stress comes from the inevitable time crunch. For unmotivated people, the stress comes from trying to convince themselves to do something they don’t want to do in the first place. 

Here are some common reasons students are unmotivated in doing homework : 

  • Assignments are too easy, too hard, or seemingly pointless 
  • Students aren’t interested in (or passionate about) the subject matter
  • Students are intimidated by the work and/or feels like they don’t understand the assignment 
  • Homework isn’t fun, and students would rather spend their time on things that they enjoy 

To sum it up: people who lack motivation to do their homework are more likely to not do it at all, or to spend more time worrying about doing their homework than...well, actually doing it.

3 Tips for How to Get Motivated to Do Homework

The key to getting homework done when you’re unmotivated is to figure out what does motivate you, then apply those things to homework. It sounds tricky...but it’s pretty simple once you get the hang of it! Here are our three expert tips for motivating yourself to do your homework. 

#1: Use Incremental Incentives

When you’re not motivated, it’s important to give yourself small rewards to stay focused on finishing the task at hand. The trick is to keep the incentives small and to reward yourself often. For example, maybe you’re reading a good book in your free time. For every ten minutes you spend on your homework, you get to read five pages of your book. Like we mentioned earlier, make sure you’re choosing a reward that works for you! 

So why does this technique work? Using small rewards more often allows you to experience small wins for getting your work done. Every time you make it to one of your tiny reward points, you get to celebrate your success, which gives your brain a boost of dopamine . Dopamine helps you stay motivated and also creates a feeling of satisfaction when you complete your homework !  

#2: Form a Homework Group 

If you’re having trouble motivating yourself, it’s okay to turn to others for support. Creating a homework group can help with this. Bring together a group of your friends or classmates, and pick one time a week where you meet and work on homework together. You don’t have to be in the same class, or even taking the same subjects— the goal is to encourage one another to start (and finish!) your assignments. 

Another added benefit of a homework group is that you can help one another if you’re struggling to understand the material covered in your classes. This is especially helpful if your lack of motivation comes from being intimidated by your assignments. Asking your friends for help may feel less scary than talking to your teacher...and once you get a handle on the material, your homework may become less frightening, too. 

#3: Change Up Your Environment 

If you find that you’re totally unmotivated, it may help if you find a new place to do your homework. For example, if you’ve been struggling to get your homework done at home, try spending an extra hour in the library after school instead. The change of scenery can limit your distractions and give you the energy you need to get your work done. 

If you’re stuck doing homework at home, you can still use this tip. For instance, maybe you’ve always done your homework sitting on your bed. Try relocating somewhere else, like your kitchen table, for a few weeks. You may find that setting up a new “homework spot” in your house gives you a motivational lift and helps you get your work done. 

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Social media can be a huge problem when it comes to doing homework. We have advice for helping you unplug and regain focus.

How to Do Homework When You’re Easily Distracted

We live in an always-on world, and there are tons of things clamoring for our attention. From friends and family to pop culture and social media, it seems like there’s always something (or someone!) distracting us from the things we need to do.

The 24/7 world we live in has affected our ability to focus on tasks for prolonged periods of time. Research has shown that over the past decade, an average person’s attention span has gone from 12 seconds to eight seconds . And when we do lose focus, i t takes people a long time to get back on task . One study found that it can take as long as 23 minutes to get back to work once we’ve been distracte d. No wonder it can take hours to get your homework done! 

3 Tips to Improve Your Focus

If you have a hard time focusing when you’re doing your homework, it’s a good idea to try and eliminate as many distractions as possible. Here are three expert tips for blocking out the noise so you can focus on getting your homework done. 

#1: Create a Distraction-Free Environment

Pick a place where you’ll do your homework every day, and make it as distraction-free as possible. Try to find a location where there won’t be tons of noise, and limit your access to screens while you’re doing your homework. Put together a focus-oriented playlist (or choose one on your favorite streaming service), and put your headphones on while you work. 

You may find that other people, like your friends and family, are your biggest distraction. If that’s the case, try setting up some homework boundaries. Let them know when you’ll be working on homework every day, and ask them if they’ll help you keep a quiet environment. They’ll be happy to lend a hand! 

#2: Limit Your Access to Technology 

We know, we know...this tip isn’t fun, but it does work. For homework that doesn’t require a computer, like handouts or worksheets, it’s best to put all your technology away . Turn off your television, put your phone and laptop in your backpack, and silence notifications on any wearable tech you may be sporting. If you listen to music while you work, that’s fine...but make sure you have a playlist set up so you’re not shuffling through songs once you get started on your homework. 

If your homework requires your laptop or tablet, it can be harder to limit your access to distractions. But it’s not impossible! T here are apps you can download that will block certain websites while you’re working so that you’re not tempted to scroll through Twitter or check your Facebook feed. Silence notifications and text messages on your computer, and don’t open your email account unless you absolutely have to. And if you don’t need access to the internet to complete your assignments, turn off your WiFi. Cutting out the online chatter is a great way to make sure you’re getting your homework done. 

#3: Set a Timer (the Pomodoro Technique)

Have you ever heard of the Pomodoro technique ? It’s a productivity hack that uses a timer to help you focus!

Here’s how it works: first, set a timer for 25 minutes. This is going to be your work time. During this 25 minutes, all you can do is work on whatever homework assignment you have in front of you. No email, no text messaging, no phone calls—just homework. When that timer goes off, you get to take a 5 minute break. Every time you go through one of these cycles, it’s called a “pomodoro.” For every four pomodoros you complete, you can take a longer break of 15 to 30 minutes.

The pomodoro technique works through a combination of boundary setting and rewards. First, it gives you a finite amount of time to focus, so you know that you only have to work really hard for 25 minutes. Once you’ve done that, you’re rewarded with a short break where you can do whatever you want. Additionally, tracking how many pomodoros you complete can help you see how long you’re really working on your homework. (Once you start using our focus tips, you may find it doesn’t take as long as you thought!)

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Two Bonus Tips for How to Do Homework Fast

Even if you’re doing everything right, there will be times when you just need to get your homework done as fast as possible. (Why do teachers always have projects due in the same week? The world may never know.)

The problem with speeding through homework is that it’s easy to make mistakes. While turning in an assignment is always better than not submitting anything at all, you want to make sure that you’re not compromising quality for speed. Simply put, the goal is to get your homework done quickly and still make a good grade on the assignment! 

Here are our two bonus tips for getting a decent grade on your homework assignments , even when you’re in a time crunch. 

#1: Do the Easy Parts First 

This is especially true if you’re working on a handout with multiple questions. Before you start working on the assignment, read through all the questions and problems. As you do, make a mark beside the questions you think are “easy” to answer . 

Once you’ve finished going through the whole assignment, you can answer these questions first. Getting the easy questions out of the way as quickly as possible lets you spend more time on the trickier portions of your homework, which will maximize your assignment grade. 

(Quick note: this is also a good strategy to use on timed assignments and tests, like the SAT and the ACT !) 

#2: Pay Attention in Class 

Homework gets a lot easier when you’re actively learning the material. Teachers aren’t giving you homework because they’re mean or trying to ruin your weekend... it’s because they want you to really understand the course material. Homework is designed to reinforce what you’re already learning in class so you’ll be ready to tackle harder concepts later.

When you pay attention in class, ask questions, and take good notes, you’re absorbing the information you’ll need to succeed on your homework assignments. (You’re stuck in class anyway, so you might as well make the most of it!) Not only will paying attention in class make your homework less confusing, it will also help it go much faster, too.

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What’s Next?

If you’re looking to improve your productivity beyond homework, a good place to begin is with time management. After all, we only have so much time in a day...so it’s important to get the most out of it! To get you started, check out this list of the 12 best time management techniques that you can start using today.

You may have read this article because homework struggles have been affecting your GPA. Now that you’re on the path to homework success, it’s time to start being proactive about raising your grades. This article teaches you everything you need to know about raising your GPA so you can

Now you know how to get motivated to do homework...but what about your study habits? Studying is just as critical to getting good grades, and ultimately getting into a good college . We can teach you how to study bette r in high school. (We’ve also got tons of resources to help you study for your ACT and SAT exams , too!)

These recommendations are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you purchase an item through one of our links, PrepScholar may receive a commission.

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Ashley Sufflé Robinson has a Ph.D. in 19th Century English Literature. As a content writer for PrepScholar, Ashley is passionate about giving college-bound students the in-depth information they need to get into the school of their dreams.

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Home › Study Tips › How To Deal With A Lot Of Homework? 8 Tips

How To Deal With A Lot Of Homework? 8 Tips

  • Published January 22, 2023

i have a lot of homework today

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Deadlines can be an incredibly stress-inducing thing. With each passing day, the homework deadlines grow ever closer.

But your work output doesn’t seem to keep pace until finally, in a fit of frantic desperation, you complete the majority of the task in the last 3 hours before it’s due. You’re not alone.

We have no firm figures but based upon our own rather hasty research directly before writing this piece. The percentage of people in the world who habitually procrastinate to some degree equals approximately 99.9999999%.

We don’t know who that .0000001 is, but we’re reasonably sure we wouldn’t enjoy their company.

1. Examples Of Procrastinators

Some famous habitual procrastinators include the likes of French poet and novelist Victor Hugo. Or, American author Herman Melville, and British author Douglas Adams.

Of course, based on their creative output, one would assume that each of these people found ways of meeting their deadlines, and you’d be right.

Victor Hugo used the popular focusing technique of being stripped naked in his study by a servant, who was given strict orders not to return with the clothing until a pre-arranged hour. Melville had his wife chain him to his desk in order to finish Moby Dick.

Douglas Adams regularly required publishers to lock him in rooms and stand guard, glowering menacingly until he produced a manuscript. Alright, then.

Let’s explore a few less extreme ways to cope with an impending deadline.

2. Take Smaller Bites If You Have Too Much Homework

Anyone who’s ever attempted to shed a few unwanted pounds has probably heard or read the advice to take smaller bites, chew your food thoroughly, etc., etc.… This is excellent advice in both weight loss and in the avoidance of procrastination (albeit for very different reasons).

One of the biggest triggers of procrastination is making the crippling mistake of thinking of whatever project you’re working on as one gigantic, hulking menace glaring at you from a distance. He’s probably also holding a large club with spikes coming out of it (although that may just be us).

Divide the overall workload into smaller, more manageable bites. Say, for example, that you’re writing an article listing and detailing the top 20 universities in the UK.

The assignment is to write a total of 10,000 words. Returning briefly to our diet analogy, that initially seems roughly equivalent to being asked to consume an entire roasted goose in one sitting (but without the irresistible allure of the roasted goose).

Following the principle of the smaller bite, however, you’re able to say to yourself, “I don’t have to spill out 10,000 brilliant words onto the page all at once. I’ve got 20 universities to write about. That’s 500 words apiece. Let’s tackle that first one and then worry about the next.”

Taken even further, you realise that each university will have sub-sections of approximately 100 words each. “100 words is nothing!” you exclaim.

And so, you’re able to jump into your project with much less trepidation and despair.

3. Break The Task Up

Of course, breaking the task into smaller pieces is fine for getting you past that stumbling block of the blank page. But you should be aware of one possible pitfall: If you break things down too far, you might decide the project is so easy that you can wait a week or two to get started.

This is bad. A necessary addendum to the “Take Smaller Bites” technique is the “Make Smaller Deadlines” technique. With each sub-step you identify, you should also set a sub-deadline to keep you on track toward completing the entire project.

This is especially important when the overall deadline is further off into the hazy future. The farther out the deadline is, the easier it is to convince yourself to wait another day. Or two. Or twelve.

Smaller bites work well, but if you don’t pair them with smaller deadlines, you’ll likely end up facing the entire project in one go just as you feared you would from the beginning.

4. Give Yourself Permission to Fail

One of the biggest reasons for procrastination is not laziness  but perfectionism . Thomas Edison is a famous American inventor and originator of the electric light bulb and other modern conveniences. He famously refused to accept that he had  failed 10,000 times , opting instead to assert that he’d  found 10,000 ways that didn’t work.

It’s a valid point. From inventors to scientists to actors in rehearsals, brilliant discoveries and stunning performances can’t just spring fully-formed out of nothingness. They’re invariably the result of working through countless failures on the way toward eventual success.

Suppose you’re putting off starting a project because it’s just not the perfect time or because it might not be good enough. Well, you’re right. There is no ideal time, and your first (and second, and third…) try probably won’t be good enough. But you have to allow yourself the freedom to make those initial failures if you ever aspire to succeed truly.

If you’re writing an essay , a poem, or a novel, get something on the page. Sit down now and scribble down an initial list of required tasks if you’re planning an event. That first page may well end up in the trash, and that initial list will no doubt be incomplete.

But that “failure” will lead you to the next try and the next until perched upon a tower of failures, you finally grasp the elusive fruit of success. It’s in the doing that you’ll find success, not in waiting for the perfect time to begin.

5. Eliminate Distractions

Easier said than done these days is the task of eliminating distractions during the time you’ve committed to working. From phone calls to emails to texts to Facebook to Twitter to Snapchat and on and on and on, it seems the world today is nothing but distractions (or that work is just a distraction from the far more interesting buzzing phone in our pocket).

When it comes to time management, procrastination can be the anti-hero that you really don’t want in a time like this. The trick is to find a way to remove yourself from those things.

The first step is to identify the worst offenders. Is it the TikTok notifications popping up simultaneously on your phone and computer screen? The email or texts making your phone chime every 30 seconds? Or, simply the outside world as viewed through the window in front of your desk? Most likely, it’s a combination of some of these and a few other things we haven’t mentioned.

Once you’ve identified the problem, the actions you take are entirely up to you. Is signing out of TikTok enough, or do you need the nuclear option of deactivating the account? Will turning off the phone suffice, or will you need to have a friend or family member keep it for you? Can you close the blind or move your desk? Or must you board up the window? Be honest with yourself. Only you know the extents to which you need to resort to finish your homework.

…To yourself. Only to yourself.

When dealing with a deadline of any sort, it’s usually an excellent idea to set a personal deadline in advance of the actual due date. In other words, lie to yourself about when it’s due. The benefits of this approach are apparent. If your project is due in 3 weeks, and you give yourself 2 weeks, that gives you an entire week to address any unexpected issues that may arise. For example, a part of the homework assignment might be more complex than you initially anticipated.

Of course, this only works if you’re particularly good at lying to yourself. Some can’t ignore the actual due date, so they end up skipping a day of work here and there because they know they’ve got an extra week to get it done. If you’re not gullible enough to believe your own lies, the only option is to add some urgency to your earlier deadline. Have a trusted friend or family member change your social media passwords and only reveal them once you’ve met the deadline.

Give your debit card to your mom and live off only a small daily allowance until the deadline is met. Be creative, but make it something that will motivate you. You’ll thank yourself when you’ve finished your project a week early, and you can relax while everyone else is still sweating it out.

7. Prioritise the most important or difficult tasks first

You may be asking yourself how you can do this – and the simple answer to that is to create an Eisenhower Matrix. It’s a time management skills tool that can help students prioritise difficult assignments by tackling them first.

The Eisenhower Matrix, or the Urgent-Important Matrix, can help prioritise tasks based on their urgency and importance. It may feel like a chore, but use these steps to give you a head start before you complete all your work:

  • Write a list of your homework tasks.
  • Divide a sheet of paper into four quadrants, labelling each one as “Urgent and Important,” “Important but Not Urgent,” “Urgent but Not Important,” and “Not Urgent or Important.”
  • Place each homework task into the appropriate quadrant based on its level of urgency and importance.
  • Start with the “Urgent and Important” tasks and work on them first. These are the homework projects that are due soon and are critical to your grades.
  • Next, move on to the “Important but Not Urgent” tasks. These are assignments that are important to your long-term success but do not have a pressing deadline.
  • Next, the “Urgent but Not Important” assignments. These are tasks that may be due soon but are not critical to your success.
  • Finally, the bottom of the pile is “Not Urgent or Important” tasks. These tasks are neither critical nor time-sensitive.

Using this matrix will help you to prioritise your homework and ensure that you are focusing on the most important tasks first.

8. Manage Your Time To Avoid Burnout

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method that involves breaking work into 25-minute intervals called “Pomodoros” followed by short breaks. During each interval, focus solely on completing a specific task , and then take a short break before starting another Pomodoro.

Repeat this cycle until you have completed all of your homework tasks. Ultimately, this technique helps to increase productivity and prevent burnout by giving your brain regular breaks even though you’re getting too much homework.

9. Seek help when needed, such as from a teacher or tutor.

Feeling overwhelmed by the amount of homework you have as a secondary school student? Fear not, my friend. One strategy to conquer this mountain of assignments is to seek help when needed. But how do you do that?

  • Identify the problem: what specifically is causing you to have too much homework? Is it a lack of understanding of the material, difficulty with time management, or something else? Knowing the problem will help you to better communicate it to your teacher or tutor.
  • Ask the teacher: your first point of contact should be your teacher. Explain your situation and ask for help. Your teacher may be able to provide you with additional resources or offer to provide extra help during class or after the school day.
  • Seek a tutor: If you are still struggling after talking to your teacher, consider seeking help from a tutor. Tutors can provide one-on-one help, can work with you at your own pace and help you with exam preparation .
  • Utilise school resources: Many schools have resources such as a homework club or study groups that can help you to manage your workload. Take advantage of these resources if they are available to you.

10. Run Away (haha!)

Sometimes all that’s needed to jumpstart your initiative and get you headed in the right direction is a simple change of venue. There are many resources on the internet to help you choose or arrange your workspace so as to maximise productivity.

One thing to keep in mind is that many productivity experts frown on combining your workspace with your sleeping space. The theory is that combining the two harms both your work and your sleep by confusing your brain as to exactly what the room is meant to be for.

Of course, as a student, your sleeping space may be the only workspace you’ve got. But if you do find your work or rest to be suffering, it might be worth it to move your work sessions to a friend’s room, the library, or another suitable space and save your room for relaxation.

It’s also good to remember that, just because your workspace of choice has been the most inspiring and focused place to get things done in the past, things can change. If your workspace no longer does the job, don’t waste too much time figuring out why. It may just be time for you to find someplace new.

What to do instead of homework?

Whether your homework is complete, or if you’re just managing your time and taking a break, then these 10 activities can keep you active without sitting in front of the TV:

  • Exercise or go for a walk: it actually helps to boost your energy levels and improve your focus on your homework.
  • Read a book: a great way to relax and unwind while also improving your vocabulary and concentration for future essay writing.
  • Meditate or practice yoga: Mindfulness practices can help to reduce stress, and improve focus and other health benefits.
  • Organise your space: Organising your workspace space can help to reduce stress and increase productivity.
  • Take a nap: A short nap can help to refresh your mind and improve your focus, and who doesn’t love a quick nap?
  • Use a study app for students to increase their productivity while keeping you on your phone
  • Spend time with friends or family
  • Learn a new skill or hobby
  • Listen to music or an audiobook
  • Write in a journal or diary about how your day is going
  • Volunteer in your community

Can Too Much Homework Be Negative To A Student?

Yes, too much homework can be negative for students as it can lead to anxiety and stress due to them feeling overwhelmed. But it depends on the student, their level of understanding, and their individual needs. However, let’s say you’re spending more than 2 hours on homework every night, then that may be ‘too much’.

This can also contribute to sleep deprivation, problems with friends and family and a lack of motivation to learn more.

What is Homework Anxiety?

Homework anxiety is a type of anxiety that can occur in students when they are assigned homework. It is characterised by feelings of stress, worry, and pressure in relation to completing homework assignments. Symptoms of homework anxiety can include procrastination, difficulty concentrating, and physical symptoms such as headaches or stomachaches.

What Causes Homework Anxiety?

For some students, it may be due to a lack of understanding of the material or difficulty with time management. For others, it may be related to perfectionism or fear of failure. Additionally, students who experience homework anxiety may also have underlying anxiety disorders, such as generalised anxiety disorder or OCD.

Do You Feel More Confident To Do Your Homework?

Procrastination is a very common ailment. One that has afflicted most of us at one time or another, but there are ways to keep yourself on track. These six tips are just a few things to consider if you find yourself consistently clamouring to finish your work at the last minute. There are many other resources on the web if you find that these don’t work out for you.

Now, get to work (and good luck).

Related Content

Tackling homework anxiety: your guide to a calmer study life.

i have a lot of homework today

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5 Tips for Dealing with “Too Much” Homework

5 Tips for Dealing with “Too Much" Homework

In the case of unreasonable “commitments,” you’re procrastinating doing your homework, but of course, there are people who genuinely are overwhelmed by their homework. With that in mind, how do you manage your time to get it all done? The following are five tips for any student (current or prospective) who’s struggling with getting their workload completed on time.

1. Don’t be a perfectionist

There’s an old principle of Pareto’s that’s been adapted to business (specifically management) called the 80-20 rule. The idea is that 80% of your results, come from 20% of your efforts. Think about that. When you tackle an assignment for school, are you trying to make everything perfect? Remember that you’re a student, no one is expecting you to be perfect, you’re in school to get better; you’re supposed to be a work in progress.

As a result, what may feel like “too much” homework, might really be you tackling assignments “too well.” For instance, there’s a reason “speed reading” is a skill that’s encouraged. A textbook is not a work of literature where every sentence means something, it’s okay to skim or, in some cases, skip whole paragraphs – the last paragraph just recaps what you read anyway.

Moreover, many schools or classes curve their grades. So an 80% could be a 100% in your class.

2. Do your homework as soon as it’s assigned to you

Due to the nature of college schedules, students often have classes MWF and different classes on Tuesday and Thursday. As a result, they do their MWF homework on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday in preparation for the following day. Rather than do that. Do your Monday homework, Monday; Tuesday homework, Tuesday; Wednesday homework, Wednesday and so on.

The reason for this is manifold. First of all, the class and the assignment are fresh in your mind – this is especially critical for anything math related to those who are less math-minded. So do the assignment after the class. Chances are, it’ll be much easier to complete.

The second reason is because if you have a question about Monday’s homework and you’re working on it on Monday night, then guess what? You can contact your professor (or a friend) Tuesday for help or clarification. Whereas if you’re completing Monday’s homework on a Tuesday night, you’re out of luck. This can assuage a lot of the stress that comes from too much homework.

This flows into the third reason which is that, rather than having a chunk of homework to do the day before its due, you’re doing a little at a time frequently. This is a basic time management tactic where, if you finish tasks as they’re assigned instead of letting them pile up, you avoid that mental blockade of feeling like there’s “too much” for you to do in the finite amount of time given.

3. Eliminate distractions

All too often, students sit down to do homework and then receive a text, and then another, and then hop on Facebook, and then comment on something, and then take a break. Before they’re aware of it, hours have passed.

The best way to overcome this is to create a workspace. Traditionally, many students go to the library, but there’s no reason you cannot create your own workspace elsewhere. Maybe head to a coffee shop, fold up the backseats of your car, or develop a space in your room for you to specifically to focus on your homework.

If you give your homework 100% of your attention, it’ll pass by more quickly. Regardless of whether you’re writing a paper or working on a math equation, it’s harder to complete any portion of it with interruptions. If you stop writing mid-sentence to answer a text, then you may wonder where you were taking that trail of thought; if you stop a math problem midway through, then you’ll end up going back over the equation, redoing your work, to figure it out.

Eliminating distractions can save you a great deal of time, so find your space.

4. Track your time

Really track it. There are plenty of free sites and apps that will monitor your time. If you can’t (or don’t) eliminate all your distractions, then start clocking where your time is going. Chances are, you’ll be able to cut something that’s draining your hours, out of your schedule.

This is the nature of the internet, social media sites, and games on your phone, usually you use them in micromoments; moments that too small or too insignificant to really be eating up your time, but they do. All too often, students find themselves wondering “where did the time go?” and have difficulty actually placing how much time was spent where or doing what. Time yourself and, more importantly, reserve time to do your homework or reading.

The other benefit of this is that once you start tracking your time, you’ll be able to quantify the problem and manage your time more appropriately. For instance, if a particular class averages 45 minutes of homework, then you know how much time is required to budget into your schedule. Meanwhile, if another class is regularly exceeding three hours, then you may want to consider a tutor or discussing the issue with your professor directly.

5. Accept homework

Homework is a responsibility; it’s a chore. And in the same way that many people don’t take out the trash until it needs to be taken out; many people don’t start homework until it needs to be finished. This is a problem of attitude towards homework more than anything else.

It’s what makes many students feel like there’s “too much” homework, when in actuality, they feel that way because they put off doing it until they absolutely need to do it. As a result, try to change your mode of thinking. Instead of thinking about the volume of reading and writing, accept that it needs to get done. This way, you’re less concerned with the consequences of not doing homework, and more willing to actually get it done.

Hopefully, these five tips will help you in your academic career. Time management is not an easy skill to learn, but once you’ve established it in your life, it will help immensely.

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Homework Hacks: 8 Tips to Get It Done Faster

i have a lot of homework today

Homework is no fun, especially if you’ve got a full schedule. You only have a little bit of time and a little bit of energy. And it takes so long to get through it.

Not anymore. We’ve got some helpful homework hacks for you that will make doing your homework faster and less painful.

1. Plan Your Homework and Make a List

When you start your homework, you’ll probably jump right into the first thing on your mind or the first thing you pull out of your backpack, then work your way through the rest of your assignments. There’s a better way.

Figure out how much time you have to do homework, then list out all the different tasks that you have to do. Estimate how long it will take to complete each assignment to see if you need to allow yourself more time. Be realistic. Once your list is complete you can work straight through instead of stopping frequently to figure out what to do next. It will also be extremely gratifying to cross things off after each assignment you finish!

2. Get Out All the Books and Supplies You Need

While you’re working, you discover you need a calculator, you need a certain book, you need a new pencil, you ran out of paper… the list can go on.

Since you’ve now identified all your assignments, figure out everything you need to get each item done and bring it to your workspace so it’s there when you need it.

3. Find a Quiet Place to Work Without Distractions

Speaking of workspace, you probably prefer doing your homework in front of the TV, but that can actually be the biggest distraction of all. Sitting in front of the TV is probably slowing you down, making homework time seem much longer that it actually is.

Find a place that’s quiet, with as few distractions and clutter possible. Remember, the faster you get it done, the faster you can get back to fully enjoying Netflix.

4. Turn Off Your Phone

We know this is probably the last thing you want to hear. How can you live without your phone? But for a couple hours, its totally worth it. Every time you get a notification and check your phone, it breaks your focus. It then takes more brain power to get back on track to what you were working on.

5. Listen to Classical Music While Working

We know what you’re thinking… Classical music? Seriously?

However, classical music is great for background audio. There aren’t any lyrics or beats to distract your focus. And research has shown that students who listen to classical music score higher on tests than students who listen to other genres of music. So find some good classical playlist on Spotify, then celebrate with Queen Bey when you’re done.

6. Eat Snacks and Drink Water

At the end of a long day, you may be mentally and physically tired. If you go straight into homework it may take you a long time to finish and it won’t be your best work.

Having some light healthy snacks and drinking plenty of water helps revitalize your brain and body. Avoid soda, energy drinks, or sugary snacks that will only make you crash before you’re done.

7. Take Short Breaks in Between Homework Tasks

If you have a lot to do, you may feel the pressure to just work straight through hours and hours of homework. But this will likely end up slowing you down, prolonging the entire session.

Do your work in short sprints. Go hard at a task, then take a quick break to stretch and walk around. It’ll re-energize your mind and body to keep going. For starters, try working for 25 minutes, then taking a 5-minute break.

8. Reward Yourself After You’re Finished

Homework isn’t always fun. But negativity can slow you down.

Our brains work off of reward systems. If you give yourself a reward when finishing your homework, it makes it a lot easier to start your homework the next time and you’ll get through it faster. Rewards could be being able to watch a show, eat ice cream, play a game, or going out and doing something fun.

Now that you’ve got all these tips, go get your homework done faster than ever before. It may be hard at first, but keep using these tips and it’ll get easier as you go.

Featured Image: Piotr Marcinski/Shutterstock

i have a lot of homework today

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By submitting my email address. i certify that i am 13 years of age or older, agree to recieve marketing email messages from the princeton review, and agree to terms of use., 8 easy ways to finish your homework faster.

Spend less time on homework

How many times have you found yourself still staring at your textbook around midnight (or later!) even when you started your homework hours earlier? Those lost hours could be explained by Parkinson’s Law, which states, “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.” In other words, if you give yourself all night to memorize those geometry formulas for your quiz tomorrow, you’ll inevitably find that a 30 minute task has somehow filled your entire evening.

We know that you have more homework than ever. But even with lots and lots to do, a few tweaks to your study routine could help you spend less time getting more accomplished. Here are 8 steps to make Parkinson’s Law work to your advantage:

1. Make a list

This should be a list of everything that has to be done that evening. And we mean, everything—from re-reading notes from this morning’s history class to quizzing yourself on Spanish vocabulary.

2. Estimate the time needed for each item on your list

You can be a little ruthless here. However long you think a task will take, try shaving off 5 or 10 minutes. But, be realistic. You won’t magically become a speed reader.

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3. Gather all your gear

Collect EVERYTHING you will need for the homework you are working on (like your laptop for writing assignments and pencils for problem sets). Getting up for supplies takes you off course and makes it that much harder to get back to your homework.

The constant blings and beeps from your devices can make it impossible to focus on what you are working on. Switch off or silence your phones and tablets, or leave them in another room until it’s time to take a tech break.

Read More: How to Calculate Your GPA

5. Time yourself

Noting how much time something actually takes will help you estimate better and plan your next study session.

6. Stay on task

If you’re fact checking online, it can be so easy to surf on over to a completely unrelated site. A better strategy is to note what information you need to find online, and do it all at once at the end of the study session.

7. Take plenty of breaks

Most of us need a break between subjects or to break up long stretches of studying. Active breaks are a great way to keep your energy up. Tech breaks can be an awesome way to combat the fear of missing out that might strike while you are buried in your work, but they also tend to stretch much longer than originally intended. Stick to a break schedule of 10 minutes or so.

8. Reward yourself! 

Finish early? If you had allocated 30 minutes for reading a biology chapter and it only took 20, you can apply those extra 10 minutes to a short break—or just move on to your next task. If you stay on track, you might breeze through your work quickly enough to catch up on some Netflix.

Our best piece of advice? Keep at it. The more you use this system, the easier it will become. You’ll be surprised by how much time you can shave off homework just by focusing and committing to a distraction-free study plan.

Stuck on homework?

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Too Much Homework from a Student/Teacher Perspective

Teens express concerns over too much homework and a veteran teacher responds..

Posted September 26, 2015

Flickr Creative Commons/Alberto G.

With the school in full swing for so many youth, I wanted to share some comments that students across the nation have shared in response to my blogs on homework. In a given school year, many students spend hours upon hours each night working on assignments. Add to that work, sports, and extracurricular activities and it’s no wonder we have a lot of stressed out teens. Please take time to read the voices of young people across the nation who responded to homework blogs. Following the students’ comments is a response from a veteran teacher.

Dear Teacher,

I'm 17 and I'm in my last year of high school. I can honestly tell you that from 7 p.m. to 12 a.m. (sometimes 1 or 2 a.m.) I am doing homework. I've been trying to balance my homework with my work schedule, work around my house, and my social life with no success. So if someone were to ask me if I think kids have too much homework, I would say yes they do. My comment is based solely on my personal experience in high school. ~Morgan

I know that homework can be extremely stressful and time-consuming… especially if you are taking AP, IB, or other rigorous courses of study. The key to balance and sanity in your life is going to be organization – make a calendar with due dates and priorities. Try not to procrastinate – that will REALLY make you feel overwhelmed. I wish you the best this year. ~LMM

Many people say that our generation spends more time on the computer and watching television than reading books and doing homework, but in reality we do not have time for that anymore. Yes, there are still those stragglers that make you think otherwise, but please do not think that is the majority. Reading books is a treat for us if we get our homework, studying, group projects, etc., finished. Teens mostly receive about 4, or 5 hours of sleep a night. If we're lucky we get 6 or 7. Most of us get up at 5:00 in the morning. Each one of my teachers says that the homework for my class should take 45 minutes to an hour to complete.

I go to six hours of school, sports after school, youth group once a week, tutoring if they have it that day, community service on the weekends, chores at home, and after all this we have 6 more hours of homework to do. The reason why we do all this is to get into college. One of my teachers said to us the other day, "none of you are ready for college and I think we need to push you a little harder." That made me sad to realize that people still do not understand the struggle we go through. In fact, I never have time to chat with my friends in the morning, before school, at lunch, after school, and rarely on the weekends, the reason why is because I do my homework in all that time. High School used to be fun and people were not worried about college as much because they knew that they would make it, plus tuition was lower. Now the bar is too high and soon it will be literally impossible. ~Anonymous

Dear Anonymous,

While high school should be fun, it is a lot of work. On the other hand, a teenager should not be running on five hours of sleep and feeling completely overwhelmed with school work. Here are some suggestions:

1. Talk to your school counselor – perhaps he or she can help you organize your homework schedule to be more effective.

2. Talk to your teachers about your situation and see what specific advice they can offer you to be successful in their class.

3. Talk to your parents about your workload at home – perhaps they can compromise on a few things or give you a weekend without chores. ~LMM

Flickr Creative Commons/Kristine Lewis

I am 15 years old and currently taking two college courses. On top of that I am in Advanced Placement Biology, Advanced Algebra 2, and Advanced Language Arts. I have a butt ton of homework every night. I have to stay up way late at night to finish it. I am in other activities too! I play volleyball, run cross country, and play basketball. I'm also in youth group, Trio(ets), blue crew, speech, and student council. I have a lot on my plate. I happily say I do have and maintain over a 4.0 GPA, but I am always tired and have headaches that won't go away. I always want to pull my hair out when I think of the amount of homework I have to do! Teachers expect too much of us on one subject. ~Anonymous

You seem to be a very ambitious young person – I’m impressed with your drive! I know that this is going to seem quite obvious, but when you take college level courses, you are given the work load of a college student. It seems to me that if you want to keep the higher level courses, something has to give – you have so much on your plate! You don’t want to sacrifice your health (or the rest of your childhood ) so you can have the schedule of a college student when you are fifteen. Take a close look at your schedule and try to keep the things for which you are the most passionate and eliminate a few that are burdensome. As for the headaches – you may need to go to a doctor, but I’ve found that many students experience them when they do not drink enough water, eat a poor diet , and/or do not get enough sleep. Take care of yourself and try to have a great year! ~LMM

I live in a high performing, upper middle class community like the one you described, and watching people you've grown up with deteriorate at the hands of stress before your very eyes is awful. It's easy to watch from the land of collegiate academia and conduct studies on high schoolers, but sometimes the best proof of a problem is an entire generation silently screaming under the oppression of pressure and ultra high standards of achievement, THERE'S A PROBLEM. No matter what classes you are enrolled in, whether you have 2-3 hours of homework a night or upwards of 5-6, you find yourself inundated with societal, peer, and parental pressure to strive for excellence. You have no idea how many times I've heard someone say homework or studying for a looming test made them cry. How much dread I feel waking up and realizing it's the day in my schedule rotation that doesn't have a study hall. I definitely think that homework has value...only in moderation. I could rattle off for days about how I feel like my generation is being crushed under the weight of our own education , but I think I've made my point. Sigh, time to go back to "studying" for my psychology midterm by writing an essay about a topic we never learned in class (literally that is the prompt) wish me luck. ~Anonymous

i have a lot of homework today

I hate to hear about the tremendous amounts of stress students undergo in response to the pressure to perform. Unfortunately, much of the pressure that you are feeling comes from teachers who are receiving just as much pressure to perform… It is a vicious cycle that needs to be broken and it starts with politicians and policymakers. Make your voice be heard – go to the movers and shakers and present your case. I wish you the best. ~ LMM

Flickr Creative Commons/ChrisMetcalfTV

I am a 16 year old high school student I have one AP class and the rest regular classes. I think that there should be more separation between the more advanced students and the students that don't even try. I have had many classes were the majority of the students don't pay attention and are always messing around and don't do anything. These students make it difficult for the teacher to finish the lesson. As a result what we don’t cover becomes homework. I spend almost the whole weekend doing homework and 2-3 hours every day. When I do have the chance to go out I can't help but have the fact in the back of my head that I still have homework that has to be done. Or I am thinking, “Did I finish all of my homework?” I also participate in extracurricular activities for my school, like sports. Sometimes I don't get home until 8 and then I have homework. The next day I will wake up at 5:30 and repeat the same thing. Even during the breaks I am assigned homework. Which leaves me to say some of the homework I get assigned is too much for me and some of it is caused by my classmates acting up in class. ~Juan

You have a great opportunity to make a positive influence on the students who are being disruptive and disrespectful. As a teacher, I know that peer pressure can also work for the good – try to encourage your peers to take their learning seriously. Also – express your frustration to your teachers in a respectful manner… let them know that you have a difficult time learning in an environment that is disruptive. Perhaps your homework situation will be resolved when the disruptions are addressed. Try to have a great year. ~LMM

The most powerful voices are those who are directly impacted by the educational system. If you are an educator, hopefully you'll spend time communicating with your students about what is on their plates. Not assigning homework isn't the answer, but there is something to say about finding the right balance and allowing homework to be a supplement to what is being taught in the classroom. To the teens, communicate openly with your teachers. They want you to succeed. There may be periods of time you feel overwhelmed by all of the assignments and other times your work load may feel doable. Oftentimes teachers can help make the stressful times more manageable. You just have to talk to them...

Wishing both educators and students a successful school year!

Raychelle Cassada Lohmann Ph.D.

Raychelle Cassada Lohman n , M.S., LPC, is the author of The Anger Workbook for Teens .

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Do You Have Lots of Homework? Here’s What To Do

Lots of homework

School is fun but one of the many things students dread the most is having too much homework to do. Many students often complain that they have lots of homework but little time to do it. So, the question is, is there a way around this?

Frankly, homework is part of your coursework, so you won’t stop getting them as a student. What is most important now is seeking help on how to complete your homework.

By making a plan and establishing new habits you may finally be able to complete your assignments within the deadlines. Explained in this article are some strategies that can help.

Effective strategies for completing your homework

1. know the purpose of your homework.

i have a lot of homework today

When the purpose of a thing isn’t known, abuse is inevitable. The first step towards completing your assignment starts with identifying the reasons for them.

Assignments aren’t punishment like some students see them. Rather they help you understand lessons better. By doing your assignment you can know how much you grasp a topic and areas you need more clarification.

Teachers also assess your understanding of a topic and identify where to help, if need be, through homework. And many times, homework is built up for tests and exams.

So, when you do your homework, you’re not doing your teacher or parents a favor, rather you’re helping yourself, setting yourself up for success in your exams.

There’s a sense of fulfillment that comes from excelling in what you do. It builds your self-worth and motivates you to do more. If homework can help you perform excellently in your academics, don’t you think it’s worth doing?

2. Build a positive mindset

The mind is the strongest element to achieving anything in life. It is said that once your mindset changes, everything on the outside changes with it.

Students do not only need to build a positive mindset for completing homework but for pulling through life’s hurdles.

You must choose a mindset that would help you achieve more from an early stage. Complaining about all the work you need to get done restricts your emotions and makes you see more reasons not to do anything at all.

When it comes to homework, it begins with telling yourself that you can get it done. Look at the big picture of getting your assignment done.

For instance, it strengthens your understanding of a topic and helps you discover where you’re lagging behind. It could also aid exam preparation and help you pass more easily.

3. Set up a study space

Instead of doing assignments in just any room with beds and many distractions, creating a separate space for school work helps you focus on your assignment.

This could be your home library or a room free of any distractions like televisions or phones. The room should contain comfortable reading chairs, tables, and maybe a computer with Internet access.

By consistently studying in a specific room, it’s easy to get into a study mood whenever you’re in that room. Moreso, it is easier to finish your assignments faster in a distraction-free environment.

4. Make a plan

Although you’ve made a study space, failing to plan before diving into your study area may allow you to waste time. It’s important that you create a schedule or checklist of the assignments you need to do.

For instance, if you have homework in four subjects, list them out on a sheet of paper in order of priority or whichever you want to do first and apportion time to each. Checking off each task you complete from the list can also motivate you while working.

Although some people believe that tackling the toughest homework first is best, I believe that it is better to follow what works for you. What’s most important is to have a plan to direct and keep you on track while doing your homework.

5. Prepare all materials before starting

Before starting your assignment, make sure all the materials you need are available in your study area. From books to pens, pencils, erasers, calculators, or whatever.

This is to avoid distraction from leaving your study area from time to time. Parents should help little kids with a container for keeping all their stationery so they don’t have to waste time looking for their writing materials.

6. Choose a time frame

Try to schedule a time or period of the day to do your assignment daily. This could be once you’re back from school or after a short siesta or immediately after taking dinner.

Whatever time you choose, make sure it is feasible for you to commit to it. Setting up a time frame builds consistency and inculcates the habit of doing your assignments.

You should also plan break times in between studies. This may be a 5 to 10 minutes break after 40 minutes. Be careful to stick to the scheduled time and avoid doing things that may take your mind off work completely.

If you realize that taking breaks doesn’t always work for you, focus on completing your assignments without breaks. Learning about time management skills would also be helpful.

7. Join a study group

Alone we can do so little, but together we can achieve so much. Joining a study group is a surefire way to find the motivation to complete your assignment. Being in an environment where everyone is busy with their books puts you in a study position also.

If you encounter any challenges or difficult assignments, it’s easy to put heads together with your colleagues to solve them. Apart from that, you can take occasional breaks to talk before getting back to work.

It’s not compulsory that you study with a lot of people, one or two serious-minded individuals are enough to help you find the zeal to finish your assignment no matter how much. Check out the benefits of collaborative learning in this article.

8. Reward yourself

Thinking of a reward for completing your assignment is a great way to motivate yourself. For instance, you may decide to reward yourself with your favorite game after completing your homework.

You can also consider hanging out with friends in your free time once you’ve cleared all your assignments. Extrinsic rewards are great boosters and there’s no shame about it.

However, don’t be tempted to run off to whatever you have in mind without completing your assignment. Train yourself to be disciplined enough to only get a reward for completed work.

If you’re unable to finish your homework, then delay the reward till you’re able to complete it. Don’t just break your rules simply because you made them.

9. Ask for help

If you’re stuck at a point while doing your homework, reach out to your parents or siblings for help. That way, you won’t get frustrated or lose the drive to continue with your work.

Perhaps there’s no one to help you, make sure you go to your teacher and explain your difficulties before class starts. That way your teacher knows that you’ve attempted the assignment and are not nonchalant about it.

10. Do your homework on time

Instead of waiting till the day before a class, it’s best that you tackle the homework on the day it is given. When we learn something new, we tend to forget a larger percentage of it with time.

So, if you have homework on Monday try to do it that same day instead of putting it up till Tuesday. That way, it is easier to do your assignment since the class is still fresh in your mind.

How do you finish your homework fast?

Set up a time frame for each subject and try to see if you can meet up and avoid distractions when working .

What do you do if you’re too stressed to do homework?

Take a nap for some time to cool off. You can then tackle your assignment when you’re more relaxed .

Why do you get so much homework?

Homework help teachers achieve their lesson objectives. It is to ascertain whether students understand a topic .

Final thoughts

There’s no silver bullet or holy grail for always completing your assignment. Keep trying out different strategies until you find something that works for you.

However, the change must begin in your mind. As mentioned earlier, homework is a must-have for students, so developing a positive attitude toward it is the first step towards doing it.

Else you may get easily overwhelmed by the feeling of too much homework and refrain from doing anything at all which is worse.

To top it all, check out practices that can help you increase your IQ.

I hope this article helped. Thanks for reading.

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Do our kids have too much homework?

by: Marian Wilde | Updated: January 31, 2024

Print article

Are kids getting too much homework?

Many students and their parents are frazzled by the amount of homework being piled on in the schools. Yet many researchers say that American students have just the right amount of homework.

“Kids today are overwhelmed!” a parent recently wrote in an email to GreatSchools.org “My first-grade son was required to research a significant person from history and write a paper of at least two pages about the person, with a bibliography. How can he be expected to do that by himself? He just started to learn to read and write a couple of months ago. Schools are pushing too hard and expecting too much from kids.”

Diane Garfield, a fifth grade teacher in San Francisco, concurs. “I believe that we’re stressing children out,” she says.

But hold on, it’s not just the kids who are stressed out . “Teachers nowadays assign these almost college-level projects with requirements that make my mouth fall open with disbelief,” says another frustrated parent. “It’s not just the kids who suffer!”

“How many people take home an average of two hours or more of work that must be completed for the next day?” asks Tonya Noonan Herring, a New Mexico mother of three, an attorney and a former high school English teacher. “Most of us, even attorneys, do not do this. Bottom line: students have too much homework and most of it is not productive or necessary.”

Research about homework

How do educational researchers weigh in on the issue? According to Brian Gill, a senior social scientist at the Rand Corporation, there is no evidence that kids are doing more homework than they did before.

“If you look at high school kids in the late ’90s, they’re not doing substantially more homework than kids did in the ’80s, ’70s, ’60s or the ’40s,” he says. “In fact, the trends through most of this time period are pretty flat. And most high school students in this country don’t do a lot of homework. The median appears to be about four hours a week.”

Education researchers like Gill base their conclusions, in part, on data gathered by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests.

“It doesn’t suggest that most kids are doing a tremendous amount,” says Gill. “That’s not to say there aren’t any kids with too much homework. There surely are some. There’s enormous variation across communities. But it’s not a crisis in that it’s a very small proportion of kids who are spending an enormous amount of time on homework.”

Etta Kralovec, author of The End of Homework: How Homework Disrupts Families, Overburdens Children, and Limits Learning , disagrees, saying NAEP data is not a reliable source of information. “Students take the NAEP test and one of the questions they have to fill out is, ‘How much homework did you do last night’ Anybody who knows schools knows that teachers by and large do not give homework the night before a national assessment. It just doesn’t happen. Teachers are very clear with kids that they need to get a good night’s sleep and they need to eat well to prepare for a test.

“So asking a kid how much homework they did the night before a national test and claiming that that data tells us anything about the general run of the mill experience of kids and homework over the school year is, I think, really dishonest.”

Further muddying the waters is an AP/AOL poll that suggests that most Americans feel that their children are getting the right amount of homework. It found that 57% of parents felt that their child was assigned about the right amount of homework, 23% thought there was too little and 19% thought there was too much.

One indisputable fact

One homework fact that educators do agree upon is that the young child today is doing more homework than ever before.

“Parents are correct in saying that they didn’t get homework in the early grades and that their kids do,” says Harris Cooper, professor of psychology and director of the education program at Duke University.

Gill quantifies the change this way: “There has been some increase in homework for the kids in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. But it’s been an increase from zero to 20 minutes a day. So that is something that’s fairly new in the last quarter century.”

The history of homework

In his research, Gill found that homework has always been controversial. “Around the turn of the 20th century, the Ladies’ Home Journal carried on a crusade against homework. They thought that kids were better off spending their time outside playing and looking at clouds. The most spectacular success this movement had was in the state of California, where in 1901 the legislature passed a law abolishing homework in grades K-8. That lasted about 15 years and then was quietly repealed. Then there was a lot of activism against homework again in the 1930s.”

The proponents of homework have remained consistent in their reasons for why homework is a beneficial practice, says Gill. “One, it extends the work in the classroom with additional time on task. Second, it develops habits of independent study. Third, it’s a form of communication between the school and the parents. It gives parents an idea of what their kids are doing in school.”

The anti-homework crowd has also been consistent in their reasons for wanting to abolish or reduce homework.

“The first one is children’s health,” says Gill. “A hundred years ago, you had medical doctors testifying that heavy loads of books were causing children’s spines to be bent.”

The more things change, the more they stay the same, it seems. There were also concerns about excessive amounts of stress .

“Although they didn’t use the term ‘stress,'” says Gill. “They worried about ‘nervous breakdowns.'”

“In the 1930s, there were lots of graduate students in education schools around the country who were doing experiments that claimed to show that homework had no academic value — that kids who got homework didn’t learn any more than kids who didn’t,” Gill continues. Also, a lot of the opposition to homework, in the first half of the 20th century, was motivated by a notion that it was a leftover from a 19th-century model of schooling, which was based on recitation, memorization and drill. Progressive educators were trying to replace that with something more creative, something more interesting to kids.”

The more-is-better movement

Garfield, the San Francisco fifth-grade teacher, says that when she started teaching 30 years ago, she didn’t give any homework. “Then parents started asking for it,” she says. “I got In junior high and high school there’s so much homework, they need to get prepared.” So I bought that one. I said, ‘OK, they need to be prepared.’ But they don’t need two hours.”

Cooper sees the trend toward more homework as symptomatic of high-achieving parents who want the best for their children. “Part of it, I think, is pressure from the parents with regard to their desire to have their kids be competitive for the best universities in the country. The communities in which homework is being piled on are generally affluent communities.”

The less-is-better campaign

Alfie Kohn, a widely-admired progressive writer on education and parenting, published a sharp rebuttal to the more-homework-is-better argument in his 2006 book The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing . Kohn criticized the pro-homework studies that Cooper referenced as “inconclusive… they only show an association, not a causal relationship” and he titled his first chapter “Missing Out on Their Childhoods.”

Vera Goodman’s 2020 book, Simply Too Much Homework: What Can We Do? , repeats Kohn’s scrutiny and urges parents to appeal to school and government leaders to revise homework policies. Goodman believes today’s homework load stresses out teachers, parents, and students, deprives children of unstructured time for play, hobbies, and individual pursuits, and inhibits the joy of learning.

Homework guidelines

What’s a parent to do, you ask? Fortunately, there are some sanity-saving homework guidelines.

Cooper points to “The 10-Minute Rule” formulated by the National PTA and the National Education Association, which suggests that kids should be doing about 10 minutes of homework per night per grade level. In other words, 10 minutes for first-graders, 20 for second-graders and so on.

Too much homework vs. the optimal amount

Cooper has found that the correlation between homework and achievement is generally supportive of these guidelines. “We found that for kids in elementary school there was hardly any relationship between how much homework young children did and how well they were doing in school, but in middle school the relationship is positive and increases until the kids were doing between an hour to two hours a night, which is right where the 10-minute rule says it’s going to be optimal.

“After that it didn’t go up anymore. Kids that reported doing more than two hours of homework a night in middle school weren’t doing any better in school than kids who were doing between an hour to two hours.”

Garfield has a very clear homework policy that she distributes to her parents at the beginning of each school year. “I give one subject a night. It’s what we were studying in class or preparation for the next day. It should be done within half an hour at most. I believe that children have many outside activities now and they also need to live fully as children. To have them work for six hours a day at school and then go home and work for hours at night does not seem right. It doesn’t allow them to have a childhood.”

International comparisons

How do American kids fare when compared to students in other countries? Professors Gerald LeTendre and David Baker of Pennsylvania State University conclude in their 2005 book, National Differences, Global Similarities: World Culture and the Future of Schooling, that American middle schoolers do more homework than their peers in Japan, Korea, or Taiwan, but less than their peers in Singapore and Hong Kong.

One of the surprising findings of their research was that more homework does not correlate with higher test scores. LeTendre notes: “That really flummoxes people because they say, ‘Doesn’t doing more homework mean getting better scores?’ The answer quite simply is no.”

Homework is a complicated thing

To be effective, homework must be used in a certain way, he says. “Let me give you an example. Most homework in the fourth grade in the U.S. is worksheets. Fill them out, turn them in, maybe the teacher will check them, maybe not. That is a very ineffective use of homework. An effective use of homework would be the teacher sitting down and thinking ‘Elizabeth has trouble with number placement, so I’m going to give her seven problems on number placement.’ Then the next day the teacher sits down with Elizabeth and she says, ‘Was this hard for you? Where did you have difficulty?’ Then she gives Elizabeth either more or less material. As you can imagine, that kind of homework rarely happens.”

Shotgun homework

“What typically happens is people give what we call ‘shotgun homework’: blanket drills, questions and problems from the book. On a national level that’s associated with less well-functioning school systems,” he says. “In a sense, you could sort of think of it as a sign of weaker teachers or less well-prepared teachers. Over time, we see that in elementary and middle schools more and more homework is being given, and that countries around the world are doing this in an attempt to increase their test scores, and that is basically a failing strategy.”

Quality not quantity?

“ The Case for (Quality) Homework: Why It Improves Learning, and How Parents Can Help ,” a 2019 paper written by Boston University psychologist Janine Bempechat, asks for homework that specifically helps children “confront ever-more-complex tasks” that enable them to gain resilience and embrace challenges.

Similar research from University of Ovideo in Spain titled “ Homework: Facts and Fiction 2021 ” says evidence shows that how homework is applied is more important than how much is required, and it asserts that a moderate amount of homework yields the most academic achievement. The most important aspect of quality homework assignment? The effort required and the emotions prompted by the task.

Robyn Jackson, author of How to Plan Rigorous Instruction and other media about rigor says the key to quality homework is not the time spent, but the rigor — or mental challenge — involved. ( Read more about how to evaluate your child’s homework for rigor here .)

Nightly reading as a homework replacement

Across the country, many elementary schools have replaced homework with a nightly reading requirement. There are many benefits to children reading every night , either out loud with a parent or independently: it increases their vocabulary, imagination, concentration, memory, empathy, academic ability, knowledge of different cultures and perspectives. Plus, it reduces stress, helps kids sleep, and bonds children to their cuddling parents or guardians. Twenty to 30 minutes of reading each day is generally recommended.

But, is this always possible, or even ideal?

No, it’s not.

Alfie Kohn criticizes this added assignment in his blog post, “ How To Create Nonreaders .” He cites an example from a parent (Julie King) who reports, “Our children are now expected to read 20 minutes a night, and record such on their homework sheet. What parents are discovering (surprise) is that those kids who used to sit down and read for pleasure — the kids who would get lost in a book and have to be told to put it down to eat/play/whatever — are now setting the timer… and stopping when the timer dings. … Reading has become a chore, like brushing your teeth.”

The take-away from Kohn? Don’t undermine reading for pleasure by turning it into another task burdening your child’s tired brain.

Additional resources

Books Simply Too Much Homework: What Can We do? by Vera Goodman, Trafford Publishing, 2020

The Case Against Homework: How Homework is Hurting Children and What Parents Can Do About It by Sara Bennett and Nancy Kalish, Crown Publishers, 2007

The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing by Alfie Kohn, Hatchett Books, 2006 The End of Homework: How Homework Disrupts Families, Overburdens Children, and Limits Learning by Etta Kralovec and John Buell, Beacon Press, 2001.

The Battle Over Homework: Common Ground for Administrators, Teachers, and Parents by Harris M. Cooper, Corwin Press, 2001.

Seven Steps to Homework Success: A Family Guide to Solving Common Homework Problems by Sydney Zentall and Sam Goldstein, Specialty Press, 1998.

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I have a lot of homework vs I have much homework

A complete search of the internet has found these results:

I have a lot of homework  is the most popular phrase on the web.

I have a lot of homework

995,000 results on the web

Some examples from the web:

  • I have a lot of homework to do but am not feeling motivated to do it and I am knowingly wasting my time on other stuff. How can I get my motivation back?
  • Jul 9, 2018 ... Learn how to use the Spanish sentence "Usualmente yo tengo mucha tarea." ("Usually I have a lot of homework .") by discussing it with the ...
  • Translate I have a lot of homework . See 2 authoritative translations of I have a lot of homework in Spanish with example sentences and audio pronunciations.
  • If you like something very much, you might say, "I like it a lot, or if you have a large amount of homework, you can say, " I have a lot of homework .
  • Apr 12, 2017 ... Correct grammar is ' I have a lot of homework to do'. The word 'got' is extra and unnecessary here. We say it a lot but, when I was at school ...
  • Dec 3, 2021 ... “Whenever I have a lot of homework and sports on the same day, I will either be up until one or two in the morning doing my work or I won't ...
  • Nov 10, 2010 ... "Have had" is using the verb have in the present perfect tense. Consider the present tense sentence: I have a lot of homework .

I have much homework

37,100 results on the web

  • 'Do I have much homework today?' This is a question. The speaker seems to be asking a teacher whether they (the speaker) have much homework.
  • Aug 12, 2018 ... RULE: “Much” and “many” are used mainly in negatives and questions. In affirmative sentences, use “a lot of.” INCORRECT: I have much homework .
  • 4) I have much homework , assessments and projects this week. 5) I have a lot of homework, assessments and projects this week.
  • Jul 6, 2018 ... My "usually, I have much homework " was counted as incorrect. Have posted. July 6, 2018 · https:// ...
  • Aug 18, 2021 ... Arini : I have much homework to do Asri : May i help you? I don't have anything to do Arini : .......................​ - 42978885.
  • Nov 15, 2013 ... https://www.duolingo.com/profile/LiamNoir. LiamNoir. 1537. " I have much homework to do." - was marked wrong. I'm reporting it!
  • I have much homework . :confused: :cross: (Grammatically OK but very awkward and outdated - best avoided) I have many questions.
  • Aug 20, 2020 ... Mark the letter A. B. C. or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions.Question. I have much homework that I ought ...

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i have a lot of homework today

  • English (US)

"I don't have a lot of homework today." "I don't have much homework today." which one is better to say? thank you. See a translation

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I always have <much><a lot of> homework

  • Thread starter n.d
  • Start date Jul 16, 2019
  • Jul 16, 2019

Hi, '' much homework or a lot of homework '' ? which one is correct grammatically?  

lingobingo

Senior Member

It’s impossible to answer that unless you give us a full sentence. Much is used only in very specific ways.  

Aardvark01

What is the context? Is the sentence meant to be question or answer?  

i have a lot of homework today

Which bit are you asking about? We can’t do a whole exercise for you! Doesn’t the book explain the difference between the two? For example, doesn’t it tell you that much is used mainly in negatives and questions?  

lingobingo said: Which bit are you asking about? We can’t do a whole exercise for you! Doesn’t the book explain the difference between the two? For example, doesn’t it tell you that much is used mainly in negatives and questions? Click to expand...

velisarius

  • Jul 17, 2019

I don't have much/a lot of free time because I always have a lot of homework. Either is possible. Here, "not much free time" is a better (stylistic) choice, as it avoids awkward repetition.  

  • Jul 21, 2019
velisarius said: I don't have much/a lot of free time because I always have a lot of homework. Either is possible. Here, "not much free time" is a better (stylistic) choice, as it avoids awkward repetition. Click to expand...

I have a lot of homework

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Watch CBS News

What's open and closed for Easter? See which stores and restaurants are operating today.

By Khristopher J. Brooks

Edited By Anne Marie Lee

Updated on: March 31, 2024 / 12:49 PM EDT / CBS News

Millions of Americans celebrate Easter with family and friends this Sunday, which could require a last-minute run for treats before the egg hunt begins. Luckily, many retailers and restaurants will be open on March 31.

Here's a list of what is and isn't open on Easter . 

What places are open on Easter Sunday 2024?

  • Barnes & Noble
  • Bass Pro Shops
  • Bath & Body Works
  • Capital Grille
  • Dollar General
  • Dollar Tree
  • Family Dollar
  • Half Price Books
  • Kirkland's Home
  • Marshall Grain
  • Rally House
  • Tractor Supply Company
  • Trader Joe's
  • Whole Foods

Restaurants and fast-food chains open on Easter

  • Boston Market
  • Buffalo Wild Wings
  • Cheesecake Factory
  • Cracker Barrel
  • Golden Corral
  • Longhorn Steakhouse
  • McDonald's 
  • Olive Garden
  • Outback Steakhouse
  • Red Lobster
  • Ruth's Chris
  • Texas Roadhouse
  • Waffle House
  • Whataburger
  • White Castle

Places with special hours of operation on Easter Sunday 2024

Some stores or restaurants may special hours of operation, depending on their location — including Burger King, Domino's, Firehouse Subs, Jersey Mike's, Jack in the Box, Panda Express, Panera, Popeyes, Shake Shack and Subway. 

  • Stop & Shop's grocery section will be open but the pharmacy will be closed.
  • Staples will be open from noon to 5 p.m., local time.

What places are closed on Easter Sunday 2024?

  • Bloomingdale's
  • Brookshires
  • Calloway's Nursery
  • Container Store
  • Dick's Sporting Goods
  • H-E-B Grocery
  • Hobby Lobby
  • Hollywood Feed
  • Honey Baked Ham Company
  •  Macy's
  • Market Basket
  • Nordstrom & Nordstrom Rack
  • Office Depot

Restaurants and fast-food chains closed on Easter

  • Raising Cane's

Correction: This story has been updated to note that Chik-fil-A is closed on Easter.

70820838-10107939517480338-3901705551913943040-n.jpg

Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch. He previously worked as a reporter for the Omaha World-Herald, Newsday and the Florida Times-Union. His reporting primarily focuses on the U.S. housing market, the business of sports and bankruptcy.

More from CBS News

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​Why School Absences Have ‘Exploded’ Almost Everywhere

The pandemic changed families’ lives and the culture of education: “Our relationship with school became optional.”

By Sarah Mervosh and Francesca Paris

Sarah Mervosh reports on K-12 education, and Francesca Paris is a data reporter.

In Anchorage, affluent families set off on ski trips and other lengthy vacations, with the assumption that their children can keep up with schoolwork online.

In a working-class pocket of Michigan, school administrators have tried almost everything, including pajama day, to boost student attendance.

And across the country, students with heightened anxiety are opting to stay home rather than face the classroom.

In the four years since the pandemic closed schools, U.S. education has struggled to recover on a number of fronts, from learning loss , to enrollment , to student behavior .

But perhaps no issue has been as stubborn and pervasive as a sharp increase in student absenteeism, a problem that cuts across demographics and has continued long after schools reopened.

Nationally, an estimated 26 percent of public school students were considered chronically absent last school year, up from 15 percent before the pandemic, according to the most recent data, from 40 states and Washington, D.C., compiled by the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute . Chronic absence is typically defined as missing at least 10 percent of the school year, or about 18 days, for any reason.

Source: Upshot analysis of data from Nat Malkus, American Enterprise Institute. Districts are grouped into highest, middle and lowest third.

The increases have occurred in districts big and small, and across income and race. For districts in wealthier areas, chronic absenteeism rates have about doubled, to 19 percent in the 2022-23 school year from 10 percent before the pandemic, a New York Times analysis of the data found.

Poor communities, which started with elevated rates of student absenteeism, are facing an even bigger crisis: Around 32 percent of students in the poorest districts were chronically absent in the 2022-23 school year, up from 19 percent before the pandemic.

Even districts that reopened quickly during the pandemic, in fall 2020, have seen vast increases.

“The problem got worse for everybody in the same proportional way,” said Nat Malkus, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, who collected and studied the data.

i have a lot of homework today

Victoria, Texas reopened schools in August 2020, earlier than many other districts. Even so, student absenteeism in the district has doubled.

Kaylee Greenlee for The New York Times

The trends suggest that something fundamental has shifted in American childhood and the culture of school, in ways that may be long lasting. What was once a deeply ingrained habit — wake up, catch the bus, report to class — is now something far more tenuous.

“Our relationship with school became optional,” said Katie Rosanbalm, a psychologist and associate research professor with the Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke University.

The habit of daily attendance — and many families’ trust — was severed when schools shuttered in spring 2020. Even after schools reopened, things hardly snapped back to normal. Districts offered remote options, required Covid-19 quarantines and relaxed policies around attendance and grading .

Source: Nat Malkus, American Enterprise Institute . Includes districts with at least 1,500 students in 2019. Numbers are rounded. U.S. average is estimated.

Today, student absenteeism is a leading factor hindering the nation’s recovery from pandemic learning losses , educational experts say. Students can’t learn if they aren’t in school. And a rotating cast of absent classmates can negatively affect the achievement of even students who do show up, because teachers must slow down and adjust their approach to keep everyone on track.

“If we don’t address the absenteeism, then all is naught,” said Adam Clark, the superintendent of Mt. Diablo Unified, a socioeconomically and racially diverse district of 29,000 students in Northern California, where he said absenteeism has “exploded” to about 25 percent of students. That’s up from 12 percent before the pandemic.

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U.S. students, overall, are not caught up from their pandemic losses. Absenteeism is one key reason.

Why Students Are Missing School

Schools everywhere are scrambling to improve attendance, but the new calculus among families is complex and multifaceted.

At South Anchorage High School in Anchorage, where students are largely white and middle-to-upper income, some families now go on ski trips during the school year, or take advantage of off-peak travel deals to vacation for two weeks in Hawaii, said Sara Miller, a counselor at the school.

For a smaller number of students at the school who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, the reasons are different, and more intractable. They often have to stay home to care for younger siblings, Ms. Miller said. On days they miss the bus, their parents are busy working or do not have a car to take them to school.

And because teachers are still expected to post class work online, often nothing more than a skeleton version of an assignment, families incorrectly think students are keeping up, Ms. Miller said.

Sara Miller sits at a desk, with trophies on the shelves and a computer in front of her.

Sara Miller, a counselor at South Anchorage High School for 20 years, now sees more absences from students across the socioeconomic spectrum.

Ash Adams for The New York Times

Across the country, students are staying home when sick , not only with Covid-19, but also with more routine colds and viruses.

And more students are struggling with their mental health, one reason for increased absenteeism in Mason, Ohio, an affluent suburb of Cincinnati, said Tracey Carson, a district spokeswoman. Because many parents can work remotely, their children can also stay home.

For Ashley Cooper, 31, of San Marcos, Texas, the pandemic fractured her trust in an education system that she said left her daughter to learn online, with little support, and then expected her to perform on grade level upon her return. Her daughter, who fell behind in math, has struggled with anxiety ever since, she said.

“There have been days where she’s been absolutely in tears — ‘Can’t do it. Mom, I don’t want to go,’” said Ms. Cooper, who has worked with the nonprofit Communities in Schools to improve her children’s school attendance. But she added, “as a mom, I feel like it’s OK to have a mental health day, to say, ‘I hear you and I listen. You are important.’”

Experts say missing school is both a symptom of pandemic-related challenges, and also a cause. Students who are behind academically may not want to attend, but being absent sets them further back. Anxious students may avoid school, but hiding out can fuel their anxiety.

And schools have also seen a rise in discipline problems since the pandemic, an issue intertwined with absenteeism.

Dr. Rosanbalm, the Duke psychologist, said both absenteeism and behavioral outbursts are examples of the human stress response, now playing out en masse in schools: fight (verbal or physical aggression) or flight (absenteeism).

Quintin Shepherd stands for a portrait, dressed in a gray blazer and white shirt. Behind him are large bookcases, filled with photos, awards and books.

“If kids are not here, they are not forming relationships,” said Quintin Shepherd, the superintendent in Victoria, Texas.

Quintin Shepherd, the superintendent in Victoria, Texas, first put his focus on student behavior, which he described as a “fire in the kitchen” after schools reopened in August 2020.

The district, which serves a mostly low-income and Hispanic student body of around 13,000, found success with a one-on-one coaching program that teaches coping strategies to the most disruptive students. In some cases, students went from having 20 classroom outbursts per year to fewer than five, Dr. Shepherd said.

But chronic absenteeism is yet to be conquered. About 30 percent of students are chronically absent this year, roughly double the rate before the pandemic.

Dr. Shepherd, who originally hoped student absenteeism would improve naturally with time, has begun to think that it is, in fact, at the root of many issues.

“If kids are not here, they are not forming relationships,” he said. “If they are not forming relationships, we should expect there will be behavior and discipline issues. If they are not here, they will not be academically learning and they will struggle. If they struggle with their coursework, you can expect violent behaviors.”

Teacher absences have also increased since the pandemic, and student absences mean less certainty about which friends and classmates will be there. That can lead to more absenteeism, said Michael A. Gottfried, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. His research has found that when 10 percent of a student’s classmates are absent on a given day, that student is more likely to be absent the following day.

A large atrium like hallway, with students and teachers milling about.

Absent classmates can have a negative impact on the achievement and attendance of even the students who do show up.

Is This the New Normal?

In many ways, the challenge facing schools is one felt more broadly in American society: Have the cultural shifts from the pandemic become permanent?

In the work force, U.S. employees are still working from home at a rate that has remained largely unchanged since late 2022 . Companies have managed to “put the genie back in the bottle” to some extent by requiring a return to office a few days a week, said Nicholas Bloom, an economist at Stanford University who studies remote work. But hybrid office culture, he said, appears here to stay.

Some wonder whether it is time for schools to be more pragmatic.

Lakisha Young, the chief executive of the Oakland REACH, a parent advocacy group that works with low-income families in California, suggested a rigorous online option that students could use in emergencies, such as when a student misses the bus or has to care for a family member. “The goal should be, how do I ensure this kid is educated?” she said.

Students, looking tired, sit at their desks, back to the camera.

Relationships with adults at school and other classmates are crucial for attendance.

In the corporate world, companies have found some success appealing to a sense of social responsibility, where colleagues rely on each other to show up on the agreed-upon days.

A similar dynamic may be at play in schools, where experts say strong relationships are critical for attendance.

There is a sense of: “If I don’t show up, would people even miss the fact that I’m not there?” said Charlene M. Russell-Tucker, the commissioner of education in Connecticut.

In her state, a home visit program has yielded positive results , in part by working with families to address the specific reasons a student is missing school, but also by establishing a relationship with a caring adult. Other efforts — such as sending text messages or postcards to parents informing them of the number of accumulated absences — can also be effective.

Regina Murff, in a tan blazer, stands by the doorway of her home.

Regina Murff has worked to re-establish the daily habit of school attendance for her sons, who are 6 and 12.

Sylvia Jarrus for The New York Times

In Ypsilanti, Mich., outside of Ann Arbor, a home visit helped Regina Murff, 44, feel less alone when she was struggling to get her children to school each morning.

After working at a nursing home during the pandemic, and later losing her sister to Covid-19, she said, there were days she found it difficult to get out of bed. Ms. Murff was also more willing to keep her children home when they were sick, for fear of accidentally spreading the virus.

But after a visit from her school district, and starting therapy herself, she has settled into a new routine. She helps her sons, 6 and 12, set out their outfits at night and she wakes up at 6 a.m. to ensure they get on the bus. If they are sick, she said, she knows to call the absence into school. “I’ve done a huge turnaround in my life,” she said.

But bringing about meaningful change for large numbers of students remains slow, difficult work .

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Nationally, about 26 percent of students were considered chronically absent last school year, up from 15 percent before the pandemic.

The Ypsilanti school district has tried a bit of everything, said the superintendent, Alena Zachery-Ross. In addition to door knocks, officials are looking for ways to make school more appealing for the district’s 3,800 students, including more than 80 percent who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. They held themed dress-up days — ’70s day, pajama day — and gave away warm clothes after noticing a dip in attendance during winter months.

“We wondered, is it because you don’t have a coat, you don’t have boots?” said Dr. Zachery-Ross.

Still, absenteeism overall remains higher than it was before the pandemic. “We haven’t seen an answer,” she said.

Data provided by Nat Malkus, with the American Enterprise Institute. The data was originally published on the Return to Learn tracker and used for the report “ Long COVID for Public Schools: Chronic Absenteeism Before and After the Pandemic .”

The analysis for each year includes all districts with available data for that year, weighted by district size. Data are sourced from states, where available, and the U.S. Department of Education and NCES Common Core of Data.

For the 2018-19 school year, data was available for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. For 2022-23, it was available for 40 states and D.C., due to delays in state reporting.

Closure length status is based on the most in-person learning option available. Poverty is measured using the Census Bureau’s Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates. School size and minority population estimates are from NCES CCD.

How absenteeism is measured can vary state by state, which means comparisons across state lines may not be reliable.

An earlier version of this article misnamed a research center at Duke University. It is the Center for Child and Family Policy, not the Center of Child and Family Policy.

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Get the facts: what's on the milwaukee ballot.

Milwaukee voters have a lot of decisions to make Tuesday, and election officials encourage people to do their homework before going to the polls

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GET OUR POLITICS NEWSLETTER

Stay up to speed on all the latest local and national political news.

Polls open at 7 a.m. Tuesday for Wisconsin's spring election and 2024 presidential primary. WISN 12 News is Getting the Facts for Milwaukee voters about what's on the ballot.

Perhaps the biggest issue on the ballot is a $252 million ask for Milwaukee Public Schools.

"Voting yes for MPS absolutely is very important to me. That is my main reason for voting tomorrow," said Rhiannon, a Milwaukee voter who did not want to reveal her last name.

Milwaukee Public Schools

Election officials encourage people to do their homework before going to the polls. The executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission explains what's up for grabs.

"All 15 Common Council seats, city attorney, city treasurer, city comptroller, and of course, the mayor is on the ballot," Claire Woodall said.

"County executive, county comptroller, county supervisor," she added, about the Milwaukee County races.

City of Milwaukee reside Alexandra Ellis talked about what she's most concerned about on the ballot.

"I would probably say my aldermanic district," she said.

Geoffrey Pearson of West Allis has a plan.

"I'm going to personally be voting more for Democrats, and that's straight down the ticket," he said.

Voters will also have to say yes or no to two questions regarding how state elections are conducted.

Election funding ballot question

"The two statewide referendums are binding. They will be amending the state constitution," Woodall said.

Don't forget to bring a photo ID. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and you can register to vote at your polling place.

"Voting is the foundation of being civically engaged. It's the simplest way we can get engaged in our local community," Woodall said.

A reminder, poll workers are prohibited from answering questions about referenda. For more information about what's on the ballot, visit the 1 2 News Voter Guide .

Here’s what’s open (and closed) on Good Friday 2024

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Good Friday is a conundrum for many people. Easter is such a major holiday in the Christian faith that it seems like it would also be a government holiday. It’s not, though. But that doesn’t mean everything will be open.

Markets, governments and businesses usually agree on days off, but they have differing policies when it comes to Good Friday. Confused? Don’t worry. Here’s what you can expect.

Are banks open on Good Friday?

Yes—and no. Good Friday is not a federal holiday, so banks in most states will be open. Twelve states, however, recognize Good Friday as a state holiday, so branches in Connecticut, Texas, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Tennessee, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, North Carolina and North Dakota could be closed.

Will there be any mail delivery on Good Friday?

Yes. Since this isn’t a federal holiday, the U.S. Postal Service will operate as it does on any other day. UPS and FedEx will conduct business as usual, also—and their drop off locations will have normal hours.

Is the stock market open on Good Friday?

Here’s where things get a little confusing. The stock market observes Good Friday as a holiday, so the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq will both be closed.

Are government offices open on Good Friday?

As with banks, it really comes down to where you live. Since 12 states recognize the day as an official holiday, you won’t be able to access DMV offices, courts or city halls in Connecticut, Texas, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Tennessee, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, North Carolina and North Dakota.

Which retail and grocery stores are closed on Good Friday?

Almost none. No major retailer shuts down for Good Friday—and several hold Easter or Spring sales hoping to lure in last-minute shoppers who are assisting the Easter Bunny this Sunday.

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Biden reacts to pro-Palestinian protesters: 'They have a point'

President Joe Biden responded to pro-Palestinian protesters who interrupted his health care speech Tuesday, saying, "They have a point."

Two protesters were escorted out of the venue in Raleigh, North Carolina, after they cut Biden off mid-remarks, shouting, "What about the health care in Gaza?"

"Everybody deserves health care," Biden said as the protesters yelled that hospitals in Gaza were being bombed and alleged that he was "complicit in genocide." He asked the audience to "be patient with them."

"They have a point," Biden said after the protesters were escorted out. "We need to get a lot more care into Gaza."

Members of the audience cheered and gave him a standing ovation.

Pro-Palestinian protesters were also gathered outside the event space, a relatively common occurrence for Biden in recent months.

Biden has faced numerous anti-war protests at his events since the Israel-Hamas war began Oct. 7, and especially as calls have grown for his administration to take stronger action on the civilian death toll in Gaza. After Biden was interrupted about a dozen times during a January abortion rights speech, his team worked to minimize disruptions by making his events smaller and withholding their precise locations longer than usual.

A protester yells support for Gaza

Biden, who has been pressed by many in his party to address humanitarian needs more forcefully, has increased political pressure on Israel's government to allow more aid in Gaza, though he has not called for cutting off U.S. weapon sales to Israel.

In his State of the Union address this month, Biden announced that he was directing the U.S. military to establish a "temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the Gaza coast" for aid delivery. Also this month, the U.S. began airdropping humanitarian aid into Gaza.

At the same time, Biden and top allies have ramped up criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government's approach to the war. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who is also the highest-ranking Jewish official in the U.S., recently called for new elections to replace Netanyahu. Biden later praised Schumer's speech, adding that he "expressed a serious concern shared not only by him but by many Americans."

Biden's speech in North Carolina centered on his administration's work to preserve and expand health care, hinging on the 14th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act's being signed into law. Biden, who was vice president when Congress passed the ACA, has made preserving access to health care a central part of his re-election bid.

During his remarks, Biden pointed to former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the ACA, as well as Trump's bragging about being "able to kill Roe v. Wade."

Earlier Tuesday, Trump posted on Truth Social that he was "not running to terminate the ACA," adding that he wanted to make the ACA "much better, stronger, and far less expensive." However, Trump said just last year that he wanted to replace the ACA and that he was "seriously looking at alternatives."

i have a lot of homework today

Megan Lebowitz is a politics reporter for NBC News.

If you win the $935 million Powerball, just how much would you have to pay in taxes? A lot.

Saturday's powerball jackpot rose to an estimated $935 million. here's how much you would have to pay in taxes if you win and why it's different depending on what state you live in.

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In the end, it's one for you and 19 for the taxman.

If there is a winner for Saturday's Powerball jackpot , they won't take home the entire estimated $935 million prize, even if they are the only ticket with the right six numbers.

The prize is taxed if a person takes the annuity option − which is what the advertised jackpot figure represents − or the lump sum.  A 2018 USA TODAY analysis recommended  taking the lump sum .

If a winner joins the ranks of the luckiest people alive, like the New Jersey person that won Tuesday's Mega Millions jackpot , there will be a hefty tax bill to pay. (Though, let's be honest they can cry about it in their piles of new money.)

Here's what to know about taxes on lottery winnings.

Federal taxes on Powerball wins

Federal lottery taxes are determined by the income bracket the winnings fall into.

Currently the two highest income brackets are taxed at 37% for incomes over $578,125 and 35% for incomes over $231,250. 

The governing lottery body withholds 24% of the prize automatically, leaving the balance to be paid by the winner, according to Lottery USA.

If a sole winner of Saturday's prize is taxed up to 37% and lives in a state where the only taxes required are federal, they will take home an estimated $283,346,573 from the cash option, according to Lottery USA's tax calculator.

State taxes on Powerball wins

Most states impose a tax on lottery wins.

New York levies the highest tax on wins at 10.9%, followed by Maryland (8.9%) and the District of Columbia (8.5%), according to Lottery USA.

If the Powerball winner lives in New York − assuming there are no deductions − they will have to pay $49,017,300 on the cash option, according to Lottery USA's tax calculator.

There are ten states and territories that do not tax lottery winners. They are:

  • New Hampshire
  • Puerto Rico
  • South Dakota

Where to purchase lottery tickets

Tickets can be purchased in person at gas stations, convenience stores and grocery stores. Some airport terminals may also sell lottery tickets.

You can also order tickets online through  Jackpocket, the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network , in these U.S. states and territories: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Texas, Washington D.C. and West Virginia. The Jackpocket app allows you to pick your lottery game and numbers, place your order, see your ticket and collect your winnings all using your phone or home computer.

Jackpocket is the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network. Gannett may earn revenue for audience referrals to Jackpocket services. Must be 18+, 21+ in AZ and 19+ in NE. Not affiliated with any State Lottery. Gambling Problem? Call 1-877-8-HOPE-NY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY);  1-800-327-5050 (MA); 1-877-MYLIMIT (OR);  1-800-981-0023  (PR);  1-800-GAMBLER  (all others). Visit jackpocket.com/tos for full terms.

IMAGES

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    Because typically that's what a lot of homework is, it's busy work," he says in the video that has garnered 1.6 million likes. "You only get one year to be 7, you only got one year to be 10, you ...

  3. Is it time to get rid of homework? Mental health experts ...

    Because typically that's what a lot of homework is, it's busy work," he says in the video that has garnered 1.6 million likes. "You only get one year to be 7, you only got one year to be 10, you ...

  4. How to Do Homework: 15 Expert Tips and Tricks

    You finish one episode, then decide to watch another even though you've got SAT studying to do. It's just more fun to watch people make scones. D. Start the episode, but only catch bits and pieces of it because you're reading Twitter, cleaning out your backpack, and eating a snack at the same time. 5.

  5. How To Deal With A Lot Of Homework? 8 Tips

    Repeat this cycle until you have completed all of your homework tasks. Ultimately, this technique helps to increase productivity and prevent burnout by giving your brain regular breaks even though you're getting too much homework. 9. Seek help when needed, such as from a teacher or tutor.

  6. Should We Get Rid of Homework?

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    5. Accept homework. Homework is a responsibility; it's a chore. And in the same way that many people don't take out the trash until it needs to be taken out; many people don't start homework until it needs to be finished. This is a problem of attitude towards homework more than anything else.

  8. Homework Hacks: 8 Tips to Get It Done Faster

    6. Eat Snacks and Drink Water. At the end of a long day, you may be mentally and physically tired. If you go straight into homework it may take you a long time to finish and it won't be your best work. Having some light healthy snacks and drinking plenty of water helps revitalize your brain and body.

  9. 8 Easy Ways to Finish Homework Faster

    Evaluate and improve your SAT score. 3. Gather all your gear. Collect EVERYTHING you will need for the homework you are working on (like your laptop for writing assignments and pencils for problem sets). Getting up for supplies takes you off course and makes it that much harder to get back to your homework. 4.

  10. How To Deal With Homework Overload

    Sticking to a set schedule helps build consistency, and gets the work done on time. Create a plan with your child for how long he or she will work on homework each night. Depending on your child's age, this can range from 30 minutes to 3 hours. Be sure to incorporate study breaks while your child works on his or her homework.

  11. Homework: An Hour a Day Is All the Experts Say

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  13. I have a lot of homework or I have a lot of homeworks?

    This phrase is correct. 'Homework' is an uncountable noun and does not have a plural form. Use this phrase when referring to the schoolwork or assignments that you need to complete. Remember that 'homework' is always singular. I have a lot of homework to do tonight. She spends hours doing her homework every day.

  14. Do You Have Lots of Homework? Here's What To Do

    Effective strategies for completing your homework. 1. Know the purpose of your homework. When the purpose of a thing isn't known, abuse is inevitable. The first step towards completing your assignment starts with identifying the reasons for them. Assignments aren't punishment like some students see them.

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    That lasted about 15 years and then was quietly repealed. Then there was a lot of activism against homework again in the 1930s." The proponents of homework have remained consistent in their reasons for why homework is a beneficial practice, says Gill. "One, it extends the work in the classroom with additional time on task.

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  24. Why School Absences Have 'Exploded' Almost Everywhere

    An earlier version of this article misnamed a research center at Duke University. It is the Center for Child and Family Policy, not the Center of Child and Family Policy. The pandemic changed ...

  25. Get The Facts: What's on the Milwaukee ballot?

    WISN 12 News is Getting the Facts for Milwaukee voters about what's on the ballot. Perhaps the biggest issue on the ballot is a $252 million ask for Milwaukee Public Schools. "Voting yes for MPS ...

  26. What's open and what's closed on Good Friday 2024?

    Here's what's open (and closed) on Good Friday 2024. BY Chris Morris. March 29, 2024, 3:00 AM PDT. Good Friday closings vary depending on where you live. Getty Images. Good Friday is a ...

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    1 minute read. Published 8:21 PM EDT, Tue April 2, 2024. Link Copied! CNN. CNN —. A 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck off Taiwan's eastern coast Wednesday, according to Taiwan's Central ...

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  29. Biden reacts to pro-Palestinian protesters: 'They have a point'

    Biden has faced numerous anti-war protests at his events since the Israel-Hamas war began Oct. 7, and especially as calls have grown for his administration to take stronger action on the civilian ...

  30. Powerball and taxes: What you have to pay if you win the ...

    Federal lottery taxes are determined by the income bracket the winnings fall into. Currently the two highest income brackets are taxed at 37% for incomes over $578,125 and 35% for incomes over ...