Speaker 1: How should you go about balancing your extracurriculars with your IGCSE, A-Level or O-Level studies? Balancing academics with activities like clubs, sports and more can be incredibly difficult, but it's also very possible assuming that you have the right approach. Not sure what this approach is? Don't worry, you're in the right place to find out. I'm Aryan and this is how you can effectively balance your academics and your extracurricular First things first, let's talk about time management. The biggest mistake that students make is not effectively planning out all of their time in advance. A detailed schedule is the way to go if you want to balance a lot of things in a short amount of time. Start by listing out all of your commitments, including extracurricular activities, study sessions, classes, meetings and more. Then try to allocate specific time slots to each of these commitments and activities. Try to be as realistic as possible about how much time each of these activities will take and leave some buffer time around each of them in order to account for any unforeseen circumstances. For example, if you have football practice from 5 to 6 pm, it might be worth blocking off 15 minutes before and 15 minutes after, or more depending on how long your travel time is, in order to prevent your study schedule and the other activities that you have planned out from being disrupted by anything that might come up. And hey, there's a lot of other things that you can do if you want to make a good schedule. And if you want a lot of more in-depth detailed advice on how to make the perfect study schedule for your IGCSE, A-level or O-level exams, I'll link a video down in the description that I made on this very topic. Another tip is to prioritize your tasks. Not all tasks are created equal and some might be more urgent and require your attention more urgently than others. For example, if you have a test tomorrow and a club meeting tonight, it might be worth skipping the club meeting in order to focus on your academics and that test that you're giving. This way, you can make sure that you don't end up compromising on anything, whether it be your extracurriculars, your academics, or other activities. It's important to ensure that the things that are important and need to be addressed right now, are addressed right now. Also, effective communication with your teachers, mentors, professors, and anyone else that's involved in your learning process and your extracurriculars is extremely important. Speak to them about your time commitments and get their advice on how best to manage your study schedule. They can often provide you with extra flexibility and also really helpful advice on how to manage your time. It's crucial to take care of yourself. Remember to take regular breaks and try to ensure that you stay refreshed, active, and alert throughout the day as you go about your busy schedule of academics and extracurricular activities. Ensure that you're getting enough sleep, eating well, and this one's really important, a lot of people seem to forget it, staying hydrated. Regular breaks can help you recharge your mental and physical battery throughout the day and can help you stay active. A good rule of thumb is to take a 5 to 10, or maybe even a 15 minute break every 45 to 50 minutes. This is the schedule which personally works for me, but for you it might be something different, but try not to make your breaks too long or too short. There's a sweet spot and you need to find what it is for you. During these breaks, try to do things that help you relax or unwind. This could be anything from taking a walk, to talking to your friends, to doing meditation. Look, a busy schedule can be exhausting, but don't let yourself get carried away by your tasks and make sure to prioritize yourself at the end of the day. A good way to stay on track and ensure that you're making consistent progress across your extracurriculars and your academics is to constantly review, update, and revise your study schedule. At the end of the week, go back, look at your schedule, see which things you were able to do, which things you weren't able to do, and where unforeseen circumstances and other things came up, and try to avoid those pitfalls in your next week. Learning and adapting from what you've done over the course of the last week is a great way to build up healthy study habits and also healthy productivity habits. Finally, remember to reward yourself for your hard work. Balancing both extracurriculars and academics at the same time is no small task and it's important to recognize your own efforts. Treat yourself, whether it be to an evening out with your friends, watching a movie, or baking a cake. Do anything that you enjoy, but make sure to take down time and spend time on activities that you enjoy every once in a while. So there you have it, a guide on how to manage both your IGCSE, A-level, and O-level studies and your extracurricular activities. Remember, with effective planning and time management, prioritization, and self-care, it's possible to excel in both of these areas at the same time. Hey, if you found any of the advice that I gave you in this video helpful at all, make sure to like the video and subscribe to the channel so that you never miss an upload. Also, if you have any advice yourself, have any questions, and want to discuss your extracurriculars or activities or your academics with me, leave a comment down in the comment section below. I'll try to answer as many of yours questions as possible. Anyways, that's all for today. I'm out and thank you very much for watching.