By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed.
We all know that tests can be hard. Obviously. But for many students, the real reason school feels hard isnât the work itself: itâs everything around the work thatâs the real challenge. The things no one talks about. The invisible stuff. Things like how you manage your time, plan your tasks, control your focus, or even understand what works for you.
When these structures arenât in place, school can become frustrating, overwhelming, and harder than it needs to be.
In this blog post, Iâm uncovering the seven invisible reasons why school feels so hard and what you can do about them.
Why School Is Hard: 7 Invisible Traps That Make School Feel Impossible
Inside SchoolHabits University, I teach every one of these invisible skills I address below. Not only are these skills critical, theyâre learnable. My online, self-paced study skills program teaches you full systems for managing your time, organizing your tasks, studying effectively, and actually understanding how to do school, even if no one ever taught you before.
1. Poor Time Management
Even easy things become hard when you donât have time to do them. Is that 3-page essay really the hardest thing in the world, or is it just because youâre trying to do the whole thing at two in the morning because you procrastinated on it?
When we donât have a good time management system, school feels way harder than it needs to. We rush to complete our work. We procrastinate because we falsely assume we have time âlater.â (âLaterâ isnât a time.) We miscalculate how long tasks truly take to complete. And we chronically feel like thereâs âno timeâ to do everything.
I know that the term âtime managementâ can seem abstract. In this blog post, I break down exactly what time management means, and I strongly suggest you read that when youâre done here. But in the meantime, letâs talk about how we can fix your time management problem.
The Solution:
Start using a calendar to make time visible. When we try to keep everything in our brains, we fail. This isnât a YOU problem â itâs a HUMAN BRAIN problem.
All students in high school and beyond should be using their own calendar system to keep track of classes, games, practices, jobs, meetings, appointments, and other commitments. When you put all your commitments on a calendar (hereâs where I show you exactly how to do that in Google Calendar), you get an accurate picture of how much time you do or donât have.
For example, if you were planning to write your history essay on Thursday, but you forgot you have a soccer game on Thursday, youâre going to be in a bad situation. Itâs only by using calendars that we make time visible. And remember, we can only manage what we can see.
Another solution can be to start a weekly planning habit. This is a time you set aside once a week to look at the week ahead, update your calendar, and confirm your schedule. I teach you exactly how to weekly plan in this podcast episode.
2. Bad Task Management
Another invisible reason why school is hard is that you donât have a functional and consistent way of managing your tasks.
When you donât have a good task management system, you end up with missed assignments, low-quality work, and poorly planned study sessions that do more harm than good.
Many of the students I work with initially fight me on creating a task management system, arguing that they just use their student portal.
Hereâs the thing: Your student portal (Google Classroom, Canvas, etc) is NOT a task management system. Itâs an assignment submission system. And while your teachers may post your assignments to the portal, there is no way to add your own tasks.
Let me be clear: A student task management system must include a way for you to add your own tasks to it. Thatâs why your portal is not a sufficient task management system.
Example 1: You have an essay due on Friday. You need a place to write all your essay-related micro assignments leading up to that due date. Maybe you do your research on Saturday, write your intro on Monday, do a full outline on Tuesday, and then finalize the essay on Wednesday and Thursday. These are all individual tasks that you need to think about, manage, and track yourself.
Example 2: Your teacher posts in the portal that you have a test on Tuesday. But you need to study for that test on multiple days leading up to the test. You need a place to plan out and track those study sessions so you know when and where theyâre happening. You would add each of these study sessions to your task management system as if they are homework assignments (because technically they are).
The Solution:
Use a task management system that isnât your portal. You need a clear list that shows you at least one week at a time. Many academic planners are designed exactly for this purpose, or you could use an app.
When choosing your task management system (notebook or app), I always suggest keeping it as simple as possible. Make sure you like the binding, the paper, and the size. If thereâs anything you donât like about it, youâll resist using it.
3. Low Self-Awareness
One of the most overlooked reasons school is hard is that you donât even know whatâs not working. This is called low self-awareness. That might sound vague, but it shows up in specific ways that can affect your grades.
When you have low self-awareness, it can look like the following:
- Reading page after page of your book and not even realizing that youâve zoned out.
- Taking notes from your textbook but not knowing what youâre writing down.
- Spending hours studying for a test, but still getting a bad grade because you never even realized that you didnât understand the material.
Low self-awareness means you feel overwhelmed, but youâre not sure why â so you just keep doing what youâve always done, hoping it will eventually work. This is a quiet academic killer.
When you donât have a system for reflecting on whatâs working and what isnât, you canât make changes. And when you never change your approach, you stay stuck in the same patterns, whether theyâre working or not.
And then your confidence tanks, because you start thinking thereâs something wrong with you. Thereâs not.
The Solution:
Start small by doing a weekly reflection about whatâs going well and what’s not going so well. This doesnât have to take long at all. It can be as simple as asking yourself on Sunday, âWhat worked for me this week? What didnât? What do I want to try differently?â
If youâre looking for something more specific, you can ask yourself the following questions:
- Did I run out of time this week?
- Did I lose track of any assignments this week?
- Did what Iâve studied show up on the test?
- Did my study methods work?
Self-awareness isnât a personality trait or something youâre born with. Itâs a skill you can develop. But you can only develop it if you give yourself time to practice it (which is where the weekly planning comes in, which is part of your time management system in Step 1).
4. Zoning Out in Class
Weâve all zoned out in class, especially if weâre exhausted or itâs a particularly boring lesson. Zoning out once in a while isnât the problem â but when it happens a lot, it becomes a problem fast.
Why? Because when you miss instruction, context, or clarification from your teacher, everything that comes after that gets harder. Confusion compounds.
Itâs like walking into a movie 15 minutes late and trying to follow the plot. You might catch up eventually, but itâs going to take more energy and more time. And sometimes, you just never get there.
When you miss whatâs being taught in class, even just the first explanation, youâll be confused when you go to do your homework or study for a test. This leads to frustration, falling behind, and thinking youâre âbad atâ the subject ⊠when really, you just missed the setup.
The Solution:
Use simple, low-effort focus tools to stay mentally present during class. This might mean taking notes (even if your teacher doesnât require it), checking in with yourself every 10 minutes with a quick âAm I still with it?â or changing your body position so youâre slightly uncomfortable.
Also, if you know you tend to zone out in certain classes (usually the ones where the teacher talks a lot), sit near the front, ask a few clarifying questions, or try any of these other anti-zoning-out strategies.
5. Not Knowing How to Study
Not knowing how to study is a huge reason why school feels harder than it needs to be. Using the wrong study methods makes you think youâre studying (youâre putting in effort, youâre spending time with your notes, etc.) when youâre actually not.
In other words, when you use passive study methods like rereading your textbook or flipping through your notes, you genuinely believe youâre studying. But in reality, these methods donât work and they waste your time.
Not only does not knowing how to study lead to bad grades, but it causes low motivation and unnecessary stress.
And letâs backtrack for a moment: Knowing how to study is about more than just knowing how to study. It also has to do with having the right materials to study in the first place. The first step to having the right materials to study? Knowing how to take notes.
The Solution:
The solution is simple: Learn actual study methods like active recall and spaced repetition. Active recall is when you test yourself on your material without looking at any notes. Below is a podcast episode where I share some effective active recall strategies.
Is it hard? Yep. But itâs easier than spending hours thinking youâre studying but having nothing to show for it.
6. No Clear Purpose or Direction
When you donât have a reason for why youâre doing school â or where youâre trying to go â itâs easy to feel lost. And when you feel lost, itâs hard to stay motivated, prioritize the right things, or push through when school gets hard (because it will).
Not having a sense of direction doesnât mean youâre lazy or donât care. It just means no oneâs helped you connect the dots between what youâre doing now and what you want for your future.
This lack of direction leads to some very real consequences. You might spend tons of energy on things that donât matter to you. You might load up your transcript with the wrong classes. You might burn out trying to do more than is necessary.
Additionally, not having a vision for the next two to four years of your life can lead you to regretting your lack of direction down the road.
For example, if you donât take the time to think about what kind of college major you want to pursue, you may not take the right high school classes that are required for acceptance into certain college majors. Thatâs something you would regret. (Curious about college majors and how to get accepted into them? Hereâs a great free resource from a college major expert, Lisa Marker Robbins.)
The Solution:
You donât need to have your whole life figured out. You donât need a five-year plan or a perfect vision board. But you do need some sense of where youâre headed.
Start by asking yourself basic questions like:
- What kind of life do I want outside of school?
- What subjects do I actually enjoy?
- What kind of jobs sound interesting to me?
- What kind of college am I interested in?
- What careers do I find interesting?
And talk to people. Ask questions. Have real conversations with teachers, coaches, family members, or anyone you trust. The more you talk, the clearer things get.
Direction brings clarity. And clarity makes school feel less confusing and more like a step toward something real.
7. Disorganization
Being disorganized is another invisible reason why school is hard. In fact, I cover ALL the ways being disorganized messes with your school experience right here.
When your backpack is a mess, your folders are crammed with loose papers, and you canât find the materials you need, everything takes longer. You lose time hunting for your notes. You forget where you wrote something down. You canât remember if the thing youâre looking for was a paper or a digital file.
Bad organization doesnât just slow you down. It also affects your ability to prepare for tests. If youâre missing materials, itâs almost impossible to make flashcards, create a study guide, or complete your homework properly. If you sit down to study, but donât have the materials you need to actually get started, itâs easy to think that the material is hard instead of facing the fact that being disorganized is harder.
In other words, you canât use good strategies if you donât have access to the resources that support them.
The Solution:
Start with the basics. Clean out your backpack, folders, and binders once every two weeks. Make sure your materials are labeled and easy to access. If youâre not sure how to structure your supplies or your digital files, keep it simple: one folder per class, clearly labeled, and no loose papers floating around.
In SchoolHabits University, I show you how to create organization systems that actually work â even if youâve never been ânaturallyâ organized before. You donât have to become a perfectionist. You just need to be able to find what you need when you need it.
Final Thoughts About Why School Is Hard:
If school feels hard, itâs not because youâre not smart enough. Itâs not because youâre lazy. Itâs probably because you were never taught these invisible skills in the first place. But the good news is, theyâre all learnable. Every one of them.
If youâre reading this and thinking âNo one ever taught me these things,â youâre not alone and itâs not too late. SchoolHabits University is where I teach the systems and strategies that can completely change how school feels, and how successful you are in it.
