Procrastination and Test Prep: How to Support Even Your Most Sluggish Clients
Procrastination, stalling, dilly-dallying, kicking the can down the road: whatever you like to call it, it kills your full potential for success. So, why do we do it (because, yeah, we all do it!)? The main culprits are lack of time management skills, a need for greater accountability, and - you probably guessed it - we don’t feeeel like it! That’s right, mood plays a major role in why we procrastinate.
Let’s start with unpacking how mood plays such an integral role in procrastination. From there we can dive into ways in which time management skills and accountability can be taught and utilized to remedy procrastination for even your most sluggish students.
The Moody Blues
No, I’m not referring to the English rock band from the 60s and 70s (Nights in White Satin, anyone?), but rather the feelings that either start or perpetuate procrastination. Often, the delay starts as anxiety or stress about beginning or completing a task (very typical for students who are feeling insecure or overwhelmed by an assignment or upcoming test). Then comes the justification in putting it off because we’re not in the right mood to be productive anyway, so what’s the point? Eventually, that anxiety turns over to guilt or even shame. And then we further defend ourselves and our bad mood as unproductive; so, again, what’s the point? Getting stuck in this cycle is what is referred to as the Procrastination Doom Loop.
The Procrastination Doom Loop
I’m sure that many of you have either heard of the Procrastination Doom Loop or have, at the very least, found yourself stuck in it yourself. The Procrastination Doom Loop is exactly as we previously described: we feel anxious about a task, so we justify putting it off. Then, we feel bad about being unproductive, which makes us feel guilty. And around and around the Procrastination Doom Loop goes, making it less and less likely that the task will ever be completed—unless you break the cycle!
What are the best ways to break the loop and safeguard against the next cycle? Time management and accountability.
Time Management
A vital soft skill, time management is the key to combating procrastination. Prioritizing tasks, blocking out set times to study, completing homework assignments and projects on time—these are just a few of the major to-dos that students must give precedence to in order to be successful. What’s more, they can only do so through effective time management.
For students, signs of good time management look a lot like this:
Reduced anxiety and guilt
Higher quality performance in school
Improved decision making
Responsibility and independence (less nagging from parents, teachers, and tutors)
More time to relax and have fun (and not at the expense of their grades!)
Odds are, the majority of your students are in need of help in some (or all) of these areas.
Teaching Time Management Skills
Imparting wisdom and strategies to improve your clients’ time management skills can go a long way in improving test scores and churning out happy, satisfied customers. In most cases, there are two concrete habits that can help set students on the right path while not detracting from your precious tutoring time.
Get Organized! Organization is the backbone of time management. Students must develop a routine of keeping track of their time: schedules, assignments, tasks, tests, projects, exams—in an efficient and organized manner. Analog or digital agendas, planners, calendars, reminders - whatever works the best for them and their lifestyle, but they must have one, easy-to-get-to place to keep details and oversee their daily, weekly, monthly obligations. As early as the first tutoring session, be sure students have a plan to keep their long-, medium-, and short-term priorities organized. If they don’t help them create one!
Create Daily To-Do Lists. Every day, students should have an idea of what needs to get done by the end of that day as well as what needs to be chipped away at for a future deadline. For example, a simple daily planner sheet like the one pictured would do the trick—a bulleted list of weekly objectives, a section for general reminders, and a more regimented, blocked-off hourly schedule specific to that day’s assignments and tasks. This allows students to keep an eye on their big-picture goals while staying focused on daily minutiae.
Being able to see weekly goals and daily obligations will help students decide on what to prioritize and how to spend their time. A student may look at the hourly breakdown of their day and see that they’ve overbooked or are overextending their time in ways they won’t benefit from. It’s a great way to stay deliberate in how they spend their time outside of school. Making time management a daily habit will undoubtedly reap positive and effective benefits now and in their future.
Accountability
We touched on how successful time management skills can lend a hand in students gaining responsibility and some independence—the two things teenagers long for (I may be old, but I remember those days!) But, with responsibility and independence comes the need for accountability. And, lack of accountability sustains procrastination.
In a previous post, we discussed that accountability - without a doubt - is the #1 predictor of student score improvement. It’s spot-on true! Accountability is ultimately the deciding factor in whether a student succeeds or fails - in all aspects: in school and out. While accountability measures are typically set at the start of a course or a test-prep plan, it’s immensely important for students prone to procrastination to have:
Defined expectations - In order for students to hold themselves accountable, they must first be provided with clear expectations (i.e., clearly defined assignments). Encourage your clients to get into the habit of speaking up, asking questions, requesting an assignment to be scaffolded for them - they need to become advocates for themselves so that they gain a better understanding of what is being asked of them.
Swift feedback and support - A student who is susceptible to the Procrastination Doom Loop needs feedback and support and in a timely manner. Feedback should be targeted for each assignment so that students can see where improvement is needed and, just as important, where they have found success. Nothing breaks a procrastination cycle quicker than a taste of victory!
When students are given ownership of their learning process, they start to understand the ramifications of giving in to procrastination and what it means to be accountable for your actions and, fundamentally, their own successes and failures.
Test-Prep Tips for Procrastinators
Part of being a stellar test-prep professional is having a finger on the pulse of your clients’ weaknesses. Strengths are often easy to find, but figuring out where your client is struggling and the best way in which to help them excel can sometimes be tricky - particularly if these weaknesses transcend content and practice test score reports. For our students who are prone to procrastination, it can be a difficult task for tutors to find ways to motivate them.
In all subject areas, you’ll want to target the low-hanging fruit. Find ways for them to get a taste of instant success so that they can start to see what a difference their efforts can make. The best way to do this is to keep the goals manageable and on the smaller side, at first—just bite-sized tasks and assignments. Then, gradually build up to larger goals that offer challenges and the real potential for academic growth. Every step of the way, keep the line of communication open and pay close attention to how your client is responding. You’re noticing that last week they seemed driven, but this week they’re slowing down—take a step back and reassess.
We, as educators, know that in order to attain success, you must put in the work. For our test-prep clients, the higher the score they want, the more time and energy is required of them. That said, while we can see the potential in our students, they don’t always see it in themselves. And the road to success can look almost impossible to travel with obstacles around every corner - especially for our procrastinators. Be sure to keep the tasks and goals attainable and remind your students that you’re in their corner every step of the way!
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