behind on everything — how to catch up

triage, in order

what to do first

list it before you work

everything outstanding, with what it is worth and when it is due. twenty minutes of writing it down beats four hours of working on whatever is nearest.

sort by what is recoverable

a thing worth 30% that is due friday outranks a thing worth 2% that was due last month. some of the list is already gone, and knowing which part is a relief rather than a loss.

do not start from the beginning

the instinct is to go back to where you first got lost. usually the better move is to start from what is graded next and reach backwards only for what that needs.

partial credit is real

a late, incomplete submission is worth more than a missing one, and far more than a perfect one you never finish. handing in something is a strategy, not a defeat.

tell them before, not after

instructors have discretion and most of them use it — but almost always before a deadline rather than after one. the email is short and it is the highest-value thing on this list.

one thing, then the next

the backlog is one object in your head and many small objects on paper. only the small ones can actually be finished.

where a tutor helps

the part you cannot triage your way out of is the material you genuinely did not understand. that is the thing worth posting: the concept the next three assignments are built on, rather than the assignments themselves.

there are also flashcards, quizzes and a focus timer in the app, and live classes for the topics that go faster out loud.

and when it is not
about the work

worth saying plainly. if what is going on is bigger than the coursework — if you have stopped sleeping, or nothing feels worth starting, or this has been going on for months — that is not a study problem and a tutor is not the right kind of help.

your school has a counsellor, and that is what they are for. a doctor is also a reasonable place to start. iykno is tutoring, and that is all it is.