Balancing projects, essays, and homework is tough. If students don’t stay on top of all of their tasks, grades can slip. This means that they need to have excellent time management skills to manage everything. Struggling to keep up with all of your college assignments? Try out these 4 tips and you’ll get better grades in no time.

• Create a schedule

Do you wake up and do everything on the fly? This might be holding you back from achieving higher grades. Having a schedule will keep you timely and organized. Creating one isn’t difficult either. You just have to take the time to think about what you do every day and set specific times for each activity. For example, it might look like this:

• 7:00am: Breakfast and then economics class
• 9:00am: Workout and study for literature test
• 12:00pm: Marketing class
• 2:00pm: Lunch and rowing club after
• 4:00pm: Work on logistics project
• 6:00pm: Dinner
• 6:30pm: Finish up calculus homework in library

This is rather general of course, but gives you a good idea of how you could be scheduling your days. Ensure that you make time for yourself, whether that’s exercising or spending time with friends. Dedicate time to certain classes and assignments throughout the week, and you’ll get use to your new schedule fast.

• Minimize your distractions

Having no distractions will enable you to be more productive. If your phone is buzzing and music is playing in your ears, you probably won’t be getting much work done. Even though a distraction might only last for a moment or two, over time, they can really add up.

When you are doing homework or studying, turn your phone off. Televisions and radios might also be a distraction. While working on a computer, do your best not to tab out onto Facebook or other websites either. These can easily lead you down a rabbit whole, getting offtrack of assignments.

• Be prepared with everything

About to camp out at the library all day? Make sure that you have everything prepared so you can begin working without anything slowing you down. This means having:

• Your laptop or tablet if needed
• Notebooks, paper, pens
• Assignments outlines or references
• Stapler and other useful supplies
• Snacks

The last one might seem random but thinking can really burn some calories. Keeping health snacks with you like fruit or nuts can keep you energized to continue studying.

• Don’t be afraid to get assistance

You can’t always do everything by yourself. This is why a tutor and other services are great to make you a better student. Since papers and essays are often a large struggle for college students, you may want to hire someone to writer a paper for you. You can take the finished product and turn it into your own creation by thoroughly editing it. This is a better approach since you’re not handing in someone’s work, but rather using it as an outline to write something even better.