It's 5:12 PM on a Sunday afternoon, and we are on Spring Break. I was supposed to turn in three/four missing bits of AP World History homework yesterday, as it was "the last chance to do it with no exceptions," but I got lazy and said "Screw it, she will let me email it if I say I was really sick anyways." (What are the chances my teacher frequents these forums?)

All I honestly have to do is take two pages of notes (not front and back) for each of three things and I will be fine, but.. jesus christ, the way they explain history in this book is so forgettable and boring! How do the rest of my classmates stay focused on this boring crap?! I have seriously been trying to do this for about a week or two, but every time I say "Screw it, I'll do it tomorrow!"

How do you folks stay focused on meaningless work that you are bound to forget, and furthermore, retain the "education" received from it? What is the worst situation you were put in because you kept procrastinating?

If you just have to outline the chapters like I did in my AP world class then just do it. Pretty much my only advice even though I found the text to be extremely boring and dry when I was 15.

And procrastinating has caused me to do terrible this quarter in terms of my grades...just can't wait until next quarter.

I'm in a similar situation right now. I'm taking an economics course and the text is dreadfully dry and a bit hard to understand at times. I should be keeping up with taking notes but every time I start to read, I get bored and get sidetracked with something more interesting.

Best advice I can think of is to just sit down and do it. If it's something that just doesn't interest you, then nothing will probably change that and your best bet would be to just jump right in and get it over with. Knowing that I will have more interesting classes that are relevant to my career path down the line is what keeps me going. As well as the fact that I'm paying for these courses and failing them would be a huge waste of money.

i would write two pages about the history of me not possibly caring about the validity of the assignment and how i chose to not do it.

so maybe you should do the opposite as me.

Maybe it is just because History isn't your thing. I love all of my History classes, so interesting and exciting. But then there is Math...

I'm assuming you're history class is nothing like my history class.

You can't turn stuff in late in my class unless you're are sick of course.

But I can see a problem, you're able to make false excuses to turn in work late. Could try and work on that.

And what is your average grade?

I don't stay focused on anything, in class I was alway in a state of "just there", I never did homework because the teacher was and is meant to teach us during class and when that bell goes they are in my time and homework isn't what I want to do.
I never thought I learned anything from my time in school but I've encounter some of what I've learned after leaving and it turns out Iactually know more than I let on
Worst situation had to be during Psychology, we had do do an experiment and report the findings, the why's and how's yadayada but all I done was the experiment and about 3 paragraphs of report/investigation work while the rest of the class had done about 4 pages worth. My lecturer didn't approve but I believe I broke him enough that he just let me be in that class.

Hahahah, I'm a history major. All I do is read history. It's not that bad, though I do agree that textbooks are both biased and boring. If you can find something about it that interests you then it makes it easier. What's it on?

In my first year of college I had a two part final. Part one was a 5,000 word essay that you had to turn in at the beginning of the multiple choice test.

I totally forgot about the essay. I showed up for the test and the professor asked us to pass up our essays. I scrawled down a paragraph or two on a sheet of notebook paper as everyone else turned their papers in.

I got a 20% on the essay (for turning something in) and 93% on the test. Got a 70% overall b/c it was weighted and a B+ for the semester. Should have been an A. . .

Always turn something in.

Because history isn't meaningless work to me and I don't forget it.

Don't worry, unless you study it uni, it's not important to know.

Unluckily for you. This is where I spend my time searching for pupils who avoid handing in work on deadline day. You're in trouble now.

Ahahaha, Wombat oh Wombat.

C. My brain is wired in a way that tells me, "Don't struggle through High School, most of this crap won't do you good. Wait til Community College to take things seriously, because that is when they will take you seriously.", therefore I slack off intensely. I know I shouldn't, but honestly I really don't see most of this stuff helping me. I plan to either be a camera man, actor, director, commentator, or author, and none of those require any knowledge over the things we are taught. I already know a fair amount of things about media creation that the average person doesn't, none of it learned in school.

As this is typed, I still have yet to do the homework spoken of earlier...

... [censored] it, I'll do it tomorrow.


And Arathorn, you made me laugh.

You keep to that mindset now, and once community college rolls around you'll tell yourself "Ah, grades don't matter here. I'll wait until I've got my career path ironed out to take things seriously." Trust me, I know.

Any class I've taken, if you forgot to hand in a paper, you would most likely fail.

i have never studied any thing in my entire life, got through school with okay grades. the grading at my highschool was 70% and i did as much homework as i could do during lunch. i did well in all tests except math since i have a higher retention rate that most of my peers (because they are ruining their brains with cram sessions and eventually forget everything that was taught in that class while i still remember that Red Grange's nick name was the galloping ghost)

I'm speaking more of term papers/essays. If they are assigned, not doing one will most likely get you failed. I have 3 History classes right now. They all have papers due in them. Two of them requires you to turn in all the papers and failing to do so will result in an automatic fail. The other class is based off a 10 page paper that is worth 30% of my grade.
Obviously I'm speaking of my college career here. I was in the same boat as you in high school, I just flat out didn't do homework unless I absolutely had to.

Make sure you're not distracted. Go to the can, then get somewhere comfortable, with a drink and snacks nearby. Then just do it.

Can you mark your books? I find I read better when I mark things. Otherwise take a lot of notes. Reading and writing combined are powerful for retention.

Pretty much this. Any day now, things are going to get serious.