When students talk about school being difficult, homework usually gets blamed first. But after working with students across different year levels, I’ve noticed that homework itself is rarely the biggest challenge, instead the real challenge is consistency.
Most students can sit down and complete a worksheet when it’s due tomorrow. The problem is that learning doesn’t really work in one-off bursts. Maths and science especially are subjects where topics build on each other. If you don’t fully understand something this week, there’s a good chance next week’s work becomes harder too. And this is why students often feel like they’ve suddenly fallen behind. But in reality, it usually happens gradually with a few missed questions here, and there and before long an assessment comes around and everything feels overwhelming.

What separates stronger students from everyone else isn’t necessarily natural ability. More often than not, it’s the habit of checking their understanding of certain topics. They ask questions when something doesn’t make sense, revisit difficult topics, and spend a little bit of time reviewing content before they’ve completely forgotten it.

I’ve found that parents are surprised when they hear this. Many assume students who are struggling simply need to spend more hours studying. While that can sometimes help, the quality of study is usually far more important than the quantity.
A student who spends twenty focused minutes reviewing mistakes from class will often get more out of it than someone spending two distracted hours staring at notes.

Lily Powell