2019 Year In Review: School Edition

As we head into the final month of December, American students are beginning to reflect on their 2019 semester. With a much-needed winter break ahead of them, students are able to take a step back and reflect on their academic performance over the past year before starting it all over again in January.

So how do students think they’ve performed this year? We surveyed 1,000 students to take a glimpse at the educational year in review and discovered some interesting trends. 

A little help from our friends

According to the survey, 85% of U.S. students said they sought homework help from other students during 2019, and of those, roughly 41% said it was on a regular basis. 

Technological assistance 

88% of students said they incorporated educational technology tools or platforms into their everyday school routine during the past year.

A universal equation

Mathematics was cited as the number one subject students had trouble with during 2019, with 45% of students saying it was their lowest grade.

“Research tends to show that American students struggle more with math compared to other nations,” says our Chief Business Officer Eric Oldfield, “but in fact globally, two-thirds of our questions are math-related. It’s one of the top two most discussed topics on the platform across all 35 countries and 150 million monthly users, and raises the most difficulty for students.” 

Stressed out 

Roughly 59% of students said they would rate the level of stress they experienced due to schoolwork in 2019 as above average or very high. In comparison, 30% said their level of school-related stress was average in 2019, and only 11% said their stress was below average.

Sleep and procrastination prevalent 

Nationwide, 32% of students said the biggest barrier to academic success they faced during 2019 was not getting enough sleep, making it the number one problem cited by students. Procrastinating on schoolwork was a close second, with 30% of students saying it was their biggest barrier to success.

Room for improvement 

Nearly 70% of students said they wish they would have received better grades in 2019, and 59% of students said they plan to make academic-related New Year’s resolutions for 2020. 

Survey Methodology:

Brainly used a third party polling site to survey 1,000 American students (ages 13-18) in December 2019. The respondents were a representative sample of the U.S. in terms of population and demographics, and the margin of error was estimated to be approximately 3-4%.