Causes and effects of student procrastination on academic performance

¶ … Procrastination: a Student Perspective

Procrastination is a fact of life, particularly that of a student's life. Procrastination is completely avoidable, yet it is also quite inevitable. Procrastination can stem from internal and external factors. There are some students are lazy. There are students who have poor time management skills; they do not prioritize elements of their schedules appropriately and prepare assignments at the last moment. There are students who do not care about schoolwork. These students are not invested in or connected to their studies; perhaps they are not knowledgeable in the ways education can be satisfying personally, professionally, and otherwise. It depends on the student. Every students procrastinates at one point or another, what varies is how often students procrastinate and how far they push the point of procrastination. There are some students that have found that with some instructors, it does not matter if they complete the assignments on time. There are students and people in general, who are manipulative, and have a talent for getting others to grant them their wishes and/or having great powers of persuasion. Procrastinating students could be a part of this group.

An effect of procrastination can be stress. For students who care about their work, procrastination can stress them out. Procrastination can cause anxiety, insomnia, and physical side effects such as muscle aches or headaches. An effect of procrastination is often panic and frenzy. Sometimes procrastination is intentional and sometimes it is unintentional. Whatever the case, when a student recalls an impending deadline very close to that deadline, that student may, as the vernacular goes, "freak out." There are small percentages of the student and general populations though, that thrive upon deadlines. Sometimes there are people who do their best work when a deadline looms overhead pushing them to create under pressure. Thus, a possible effect of procrastination is outstanding work. For those individuals, procrastination may be sharpening their skills in preparation for a high stress, or highly demanding career, where adherence to deadlines is rigorous and mandated.