do homework do one's homework

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'Do Your Homework' or 'Do The Homework'. Which Is Correct?

The expression “do homework” refers to the work that a teacher gives a student to do at home.

The expression “ do homework ” refers to the work that a teacher gives a student to do at home.

Doing homework is a boring activity for some students.

Use the article “the” or a possessive pronoun (my, your, his, etc.) to be more specific.

Have you done your math homework ?

Since homework is an uncountable noun, it is not possible to use the indefinite article a/an.

The history teacher gave us some homework to do by Monday.

The history teacher gave us a homework to do by Monday.

1. Homework Is Uncountable

2. using other determiners with ‘homework’.

“ Homework ” is an uncountable noun; therefore, it does not have a plural form.

I have some homework to do.

I have three homeworks to do.

Being uncountable, " homework " is always followed by a singular verb.

The science homework was extremely difficult.

And you cannot put the article a/an in front of it.

You should do some homework today.

You should do a homework today.

But you can use the word “ assignment ” to mention separate pieces of homework.

Complete the three homework assignments .

Rebecca, you did an impressive job on the homework assignments .

Or just say “ a/one piece of homework ” or " a bit of homework ".

You still have one piece of homework left to do.

Note that we always say “ do homework ”. Avoid the verbs make or write with this word.

It’s worth doing a bit of homework before playing video games.

It’s worth making/writing a bit of homework before playing video games.

But you can use the verbs give or help (somebody).

The teacher gave us some homework to do by Friday.

My mother used to help me with my homework .

Instead of referring to the work that a student is asked to do at home, you can use “ homework ” as a synonym of preparation.

Since we have done our homework , we are well prepared for the meeting with the investor.

Using "a" or "the" with common activities

We commonly add a possessive pronoun (my, your, his, her, our, their) before “ homework ”.

Do your homework before dinner.

Have the kids done their homework ?

Jennifer is very good at doing her homework .

But you can also use other determiners, such as:

• some (affirmative sentences)
• any (interrogative and negative sentences)

The teacher gives too much homework .

I don’t have any homework .

We can also omit the determiner to speak about homework in a general way.

Homework is boring.

Is it bad to do homework in bed?

For homework , finish the exercise on page 8.

PristineWord

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‘Make homework’ vs. ‘do homework’ in English

First, let me note that “homework” is an uncountable (mass) noun in English. It is a common mistake, even among some non-native teachers of English as a foreign language, to say things like, “Hand in your homeworks, please.” The word “homework”, being uncountable, does not have a plural form. If you really must refer to several separate “pieces” of homework, the word you are looking for is “assignment”:

It is also not possible to use “homework” with “a”:

Let’s move on to the main topic of this article. Without further ado, the correct verb to use with “homework” is “do”, not “make”:

“Homework” is not in any way special in this respect. We always use “do” with activities and “make” with objects that are being made. Just like we “do work”, not “make work”, we also “do homework”, meaning the activity.

The confusion arises from the fact that the most direct translation of “homework” into other languages often refers to the sheets of paper on which the assignments are written, hence it would make sense to “make it”. For the very same reason, we wouldn’t usually speak about “writing homework”:

By the way, have you already seen my brand new web app for non-native speakers of English ? It's based on reading texts and learning by having all meanings, pronunciations, grammar forms etc. easily accessible. It looks like this:

Use the image

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Is there any difference in meaning between "do one's work" and "do one's work for them"?

Could you tell me if there is any difference in meaning between do one's work and do one's work for them . For example:

If the teacher finds out Kate does your homework , you are in big trouble. If the teacher finds out Kate does your homework for you , you are in big trouble.

• 1 The first implies the second. –  Ronald Sole Commented Aug 29, 2020 at 10:09
• I think that's exactly backwards, Ronald. If Kate "does my homework for me", she definitely "does my homework" - the second implies the first. See my example below for a case where the first grammar construction clearly does not imply the second. –  BadZen Commented Aug 31, 2020 at 1:23

In context, there is no difference. Both mean exactly the same thing!

But in other contexts, there can be a major difference in /agency/.

That man killed my mother!

That man killed my mother for me!

In the first case, we would not assume that the speaker wanted their mother killed. In the second, we would.

So, they are different, in general.

But it is uncommon to have a case in which Kate did my homework for me without my intending that she did so - so we assume that the teacher did not have those cases in mind. So the meaning of the two ends up the same.

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do one's homework

do one's homework ( third-person singular simple present does one's homework , present participle doing one's homework , simple past did one's homework , past participle done one's homework )

• 2009 , Colin Thatcher, Final Appeal: Anatomy of a Frame : As the hearing went on, Harradence impressed me. When the judge asked for his comment on an issue, Harradence had clearly done his homework and was never taken by surprise.
• Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see do ,‎ homework .

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"One can do his homework in the library"

One can do his homework in the library. One can do one's homework in the library.

Nowadays, are these structures part of colloquial English? The use of one as a pronoun is still in use or is it considered formal if not old-fashioned? In this case how can we render colloquially the same idea?

• 17 One wonders just whose homework the first sentence is suggesting that one do in the library. –  tchrist ♦ Commented Mar 12, 2019 at 20:20
• 6 The problem isn't the one . The problem is that one matches with one’s in English, not with his , which would appear to be some other guy’s homework. :) Sure we can do our own homework, and you can do your own homework, mais on ne peut pas faire les devoirs de quelques autre mec à notre bibliothèque. :) –  tchrist ♦ Commented Mar 12, 2019 at 20:33
• 2 You would not mix the two, one/one’s or he/his, not one/his as in your first example. –  jmoreno Commented Mar 13, 2019 at 11:02
• 1 @jmoreno I can see 2 cases were you would mix them: First, it's not a pronoun ("These two students keep fighting. One can do his homework in the library. The other can do her homework in the common room"). Secondly, when "one" is an abbreviated form: "[Some]one can do his homework in the Library"), especially as a derogative form of " You can do your homework in the library" –  Chronocidal Commented Mar 13, 2019 at 13:52
• 3 According to The Right Word at the Right Time , an anonymously written handbook of English grammar, usage, and style, published by the Reader's Digest, one can sometimes match with his in American usage, but not in British. It certainly looks strange to me, but I have seen it before. @tchrist. –  TRiG Commented Mar 13, 2019 at 15:58

6 Answers 6

In my opinion, using one in this sense is grammatical but awkward. I don't think it is entirely a matter of formality or that the usage has fallen out of practice (although, comparing one can , he can , she can , they can on ngrams does tell an intriguing story). I think the use of one is comparable to the use of the passive voice: both are clear and technically correct, but simply strained.

The best solution is to use a more specific word than one .

A student can do his or her homework in the library.

A touch of awkwardness remains. An easy resolution is to replace his or her with their (if you accept the singular they ).

A student can do their homework in the library.

Alternatively, we can just make the subject plural. After all, the library should accommodate multiple students.

Students can do their homework in the library.

• 5 As the beginning of the answer makes clear, this is a matter of opinion. Some people may regard 'one can do one's homework' as much less awkward than any of the alternatives that are advocated in this answer. –  jsw29 Commented Mar 12, 2019 at 23:51
• 8 I can easily imagine Snape telling Harry Potter that "One can do his homework in the library, Mr. Potter." and it feels as natural as nature itself. –  John Hamilton Commented Mar 13, 2019 at 11:17
• 1 @JohnHamilton In that case "One" is short for "Someone", and it's a snide or patronising way of saying " You can do your homework in the library" –  Chronocidal Commented Mar 13, 2019 at 13:56
• I think the ngram is not entirely useful because if one follows the links at the bottom of the page, one finds that very often it relates to "no one" and in one case to the "One Can" foodbank". google.com/search?q=%22one%20can%22&tbm=bks&lr=lang_en –  chasly - supports Monica Commented Mar 13, 2019 at 17:24
• 2 This might be an example where the passive voice is a good choice: "Homework can be done in the library" –  user323578 Commented Mar 13, 2019 at 21:39

These days, one seldom uses the subject "one", meaning the impersonal "one", though one generally still understands when others use it. It sounds stilted and old-fashioned. It's too bad that it has gone out of use. I liked it.

• 17 Surely in an age where pronominal use can be dictated by referent not by the referrer, you could just tell people that your preferred pronouns are one and one’s . :) –  tchrist ♦ Commented Mar 12, 2019 at 20:35
• 1 You liked it, but one didn't. –  Barmar Commented Mar 13, 2019 at 16:52
• I enjoy using one in that sense after reading David Eddings –  Wayne Werner Commented Mar 13, 2019 at 21:49

"One" used to be archaic .

But these days, "one" has become important again, as a non-gendered pronoun . Third party singular pronouns are in short supply. If one is to avoid linguistic horrors such as singular "they", then any usable word is in play. "One" has the advantage of being singularly singular; that's its very name!

You are right, however; "one" has gotten a bad reputation, from a particular style of intentional misspeaking : addressing another in the third party (he, she, one) instead of the second-party (you) as one properly should.

Presuming you are talking to the person doing homework, then "One should do ones homework in the library" is stilted on purpose; that's the whole point of saying it that way . Proper would be:

You can do your homework in the library -- remove the haughty formality and address the person directly. The "your" is superfluous, unless you actually mean to say "do your own homework, not Crabbe and Goyle's".

One can do homework in the library -- but in this case we are speaking generally about third parties doing homework: say, to the Library Committee. This makes the second pronoun very redundant, so I've dropped it. This particular phrasing is gender neutral and singular by design. (It is distinct from "Students can do their homework in the library", because that implies multiples of students working together would be OK.)

If we were speaking about a specific third party, we could just use gendered pronouns if that person has a gender. If our goal is to avoid gendered pronouns, then avert pronouns altogether (as I did in the italics just here).

In any case, one should feel free to use "one" as needed to refer to an actual third party; but make an effort to avoid expressions that make it sound stilted or overly formal.

• In the 'Library Committee' case, the second pronoun is not redundant if the committee wants to make clear that the students must work separately from each other (the committee, for example, may want to prevent the noise that would be created by the students collaborating on their homework). –  jsw29 Commented Mar 13, 2019 at 15:20
• This is only worthwhile if you accept the characterization of singular they as "a linguistic horror" of course. (I don't.) –  Martin Bonner supports Monica Commented Mar 14, 2019 at 9:28
• 1 One could also ask whether the answer's use of singular "you" is likewise a linguistic horror. (-: –  JdeBP Commented Mar 14, 2019 at 11:52

There is a significant difference between French and English which is causing some of the confusion here. In English, each personal pronoun has its own possessive form

I: my, you: your, he: his, she: her, it: its, they: their, one: one's etc.

French is different because all its third-person pronouns use the same possessive form

il, elle, on, ils, elles: son/sa/ses

as well as the obviously related same reflexive pronoun, se.

This means that the question in English is fundamentally different from the question in French.

From the etymological point of view, several languages have these s- pronouns, that are not well explained, popping up in different persons, including

English: she German: sie (she, they, you) Irish sinn (we) (as in Sinn Féin, We Ourselves) (Scots Gaelic similar) Irish sé, sí, siad (he, she, they) (but not found in Scotland)

In French, there is a non-possessive s-pronoun: soi. This is the strong form of on and is apparently related to son/sa/ses (since soi/son/sa/ses corresponds to moi/mon/ma/mes). This means that son/sa/ses has a closer connection to a word for one than to to any other 3rd-person pronoun.

I'd agree that the use of "one" sounds old-fashioned or formal. A more colloquial way of saying it would be

You can do your homework in the library.

They can do their homework in the library.

Homework can be done in the library.

depending on your intent.

The first is a general statement that people in general can do their homework in the library. The second is more referring to one specific person, but without using that person's gender. It might be a response to a question such as, "Where can my friend do homework?"

The third version is simple passive voice.

• I agree, "you" seems to have replaced the meaning of "one" in current spoken English. I'd say this is the most general and closest to "one" in meaning. –  Tim Foster Commented Mar 13, 2019 at 14:33

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the first thought that came to my mind when I saw this question is that there has always been a signficant usage difference relating to "one" between UK (or international) English and US English.

I'm an English person so I'm not entirely sure of my ground here... and usage in the US may have changed over recent years/decades. But is it not the case that US English will indeed say "one does x... and he then does y"? Whereas in other forms of English using "he" to correlate with "one" would be unthinkable and frankly confusing.

Further, I've always had the impression that US English is more relaxed about using "one" as one way of a) saying "we"/"I"/"people in general" do such-and-such or b) expressing essentially a passive voice. In UK English either sounds terribly, unforgiveably formal: toffs, academics and civil servants from the 1950s might have used "one" in normal speech, but an English person would only use it nowadays in a very formal register. And no young English person would ever use it at all. What do US people feel about acceptable usage of this pronoun?

• This is my experience of American vs British English, too. Americans often seem to use "one" as if it is a contraction of "someone", leading to "[Some]one can do his/her/their homework"-type constructions. –  David Richerby Commented Mar 14, 2019 at 13:36

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Meaning of do your homework in English

Do your homework.

• batten down the hatches idiom
• break someone in
• bug-out bag
• build (someone/something) up
• gear (someone/something) up
• get/have your ducks in a row idiom
• gird your self idiom
• preparation
• roll up your sleeves idiom
• set something up
• set the scene/stage idiom

Translations of do your homework

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do one's homework

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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How to Do Homework

Last Updated: July 15, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Ronitte Libedinsky, MS . Ronitte Libedinsky is an Academic Tutor and the Founder of Brighter Minds SF, a San Francisco, California based company that provides one-on-one and small group tutoring. Specializing in tutoring mathematics (pre-algebra, algebra I/II, geometry, pre-calculus, calculus) and science (chemistry, biology), Ronitte has over 10 years of experience tutoring to middle school, high school, and college students. She also tutors in SSAT, Terra Nova, HSPT, SAT, and ACT test prep. Ronitte holds a BS in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MS in Chemistry from Tel Aviv University. There are 11 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 961,159 times.

Even though your parents probably complain about how hard it was in their day, students nowadays have more homework than ever before, even when just starting their first year at middle school. That homework doesn't need to be a struggle now. Learning to plan out an efficient schedule for completing your homework, working on it effectively, and knowing when to get help with difficult assignments can help take the stress out of studying. Don't put it off any longer. See Step 1 for more information.

Working on Homework

Once you go into your space and start working, try not to leave until you've got a break scheduled. If you want a quick snack or drink, get it now before you start. Hit the bathroom and make sure you'll be able to work for the amount of time before your next break, uninterrupted.

• It's common that students will try to multi-task, watching TV or listening to the radio or continuing to chat on Facebook or Instagram while also trying to do homework. It'll be so much more fun to do those things after you're already done with your homework, though, and your homework will take half as much time if you're focused on doing nothing but your homework.
• Check your phone or your social networking sites during your study break, but not before. Use these distractions as a carrot, not as a pacifier.

If one assignment proves challenging and time-consuming, it's okay to switch for a while to something else. Just make sure to save enough time to circle back and give it another shot.

• Try to figure out what works best for you. Some students might like to start their homework immediately after school to get it done as quickly as possible, while it may be better to give yourself an hour to relax before starting in on it and decompress from the long school day. Don't wait for the last minute.
• While it may seem like a better idea to work straight through and finish, it's possible that the quality of the work you're doing will start to suffer if you don't give your mind a rest. It's difficult to think hard for more than 45 minutes at a time on a particular subject. Give yourself a rest and come back refreshed.

• The first fifteen minutes after a break are your most effective minutes, because your mind will be cleared, and ready to work hard. Give yourself a pep talk and dive back in, refreshed and ready.

• If you have trouble staying focused, get a parent, sibling, or friend to help keep you honest. Give them your phone while you're working to avoid the temptation to check it, or give them the video game controller so you won't be able to plug in for a few minutes of alien-hunting when you're supposed to be doing your homework. Then, when you're finished, show them the finished product and earn back your fun. Make it impossible to cheat.

• You can make yourself take enough time by having your gate-keeper (the person with your phone or video game controller) check over your homework for quality when you're done. If you know you're not going to get it anyway unless it's done right, you won't have any reason to rush. Slow down and do it right.

Joseph Meyer

When doing practice problems, promptly check to see if your answers are correct. Use worksheets that provide answer keys for instant feedback. Discuss answers with a classmate or find explanations online. Immediate feedback will help you correct your mistakes, avoid bad habits, and advance your learning more quickly.

Planning Your Homework

• It's common to quickly write out the math problems you're supposed to do at the top of your notes, or scribble down the page number of the English reading on a textbook page, but try to recopy this information into a specific homework list so you will be sure to remember to do it.
• Write down as many details as you can about each assignment. It's good to include the due date, corresponding textbook pages, and additional instructions from your teacher. This will help you plan your night of homework more effectively. Also, it's a good idea to write about your homework in a planner.

• Homework doesn't have to wait until you get home. Look through an assignment as soon as it's been given, so you'll have the time to ask your teacher any questions you might have before you leave school for the day.

• At home , a desk in your bedroom might be the best place. You can shut the door and tune out any distractions. For some students, though, this is a good way to get distracted. You might have video games, computers, guitars, and all sorts of other distractions in your bedroom. It might be a better idea to sit at the kitchen table, or in the living room, where your parents can call you out for procrastinating. You'll get it done more quickly without the temptation of distraction.
• In public , the library is a great place to study and do homework. At all libraries, it's a rule that you have to be quiet, and you won't have any of the distractions of home. The school library will often stay open after school ends, making it a good option for finishing up homework before heading home, or your school may even have an after-school study spot specifically for the purpose. [11] X Research source
• Try to switch it up . Studying in the same place too often can make work more difficult. Some studies have shown that a change in environment can make your mind more active, since it's processing new information. You'll be able to vary your routine and remember what you learned more effectively.

• Try starting with the most difficult homework . Do you really hate the idea of getting into the algebra homework? Does reading for English take the longest? Start with the most challenging homework to give yourself the most time to complete it, then move on to the easier tasks you can complete more quickly.
• Try starting with the most pressing homework . If you've got 20 math problems to do for tomorrow, and 20 pages to read in a novel for Friday, it's probably better to start with the math homework to make sure you'll have enough time to complete it. Make homework due the next day the priority.
• Try starting with the most important homework . Your math homework might be difficult, but if it's only worth a few completion points, it might be less important to spend a lot of time on it than the big project for Social Studies that's due in two days. Devote the most time to the most valuable assignments.

• Set an alarm or a timer to keep yourself honest. The less time you spend procrastinating and checking your text messages, the more quickly you'll be done. If you think you can finish everything in a half hour, set a timer and work efficiently to finish in that amount of time. If you don't quite finish, give yourself a few extra minutes. Treat it like a drill.
• Keep track of how long you usually spend on particular assignments on average. If your math homework typically takes you 45 minutes to finish, save that much time each night. If you start plugging away for an hour, give yourself a break and work on something else to avoid tiring out.
• Schedule 10 minutes of break time for every 50 minutes of work time. It's important to take study breaks and give your mind a rest, or you'll work less effectively. You're not a robot!

Finding Extra Time

• Do you really need an hour of TV or computer after school to decompress? It might be easier to just dive into your homework and get it done while the skills are still fresh in your mind. Waiting a couple hours means you'll have to review your notes and try to get back to the same place you already were. Do it while it's fresh.
• If you've got three days to read an assignment, don't wait until the last evening to do it all. Space it out and give yourself more time to finish. Just because you've got a due date that's a long time away doesn't mean it wouldn't be easier to finish now. Stay ahead of the game. Try either waking up earlier or going to bed later. But don't get too tired!

• If you've got to read a bunch of stuff for homework, read on the bus. Pop in some headphones to white noise that'll drown out the shouting of other students and tune into your book.
• The bus can be distracting, or it can be a great resource. Since it's full of your classmates, try to get other students to work with you and get things done more quickly. Work together on the math problems and try to figure out things together. It's not cheating if everyone's doing the work and no one's just copying. Also, you might make some new friends while you're at it!

• Don't rely on this time to finish homework just before it's due. Rushing to finish your last few problems in the five minutes before you need to turn it in looks bad in front of the teacher, plus it doesn't give you any time to review your homework after you finish it. Rushing is a good way to make mistakes. And always check difficult problems you had trouble with.

• Work on your homework while you're waiting for a ride, while you're killing time at your brother's soccer game, or while you're waiting for your friend to come over. Take advantage of any extra time you have in the day.

Getting Homework Help

• Asking for help with your homework isn't a sign that you're bad at the subject or that you're "stupid." Every teacher on the planet will respect a student that takes their homework seriously enough to ask for help. Especially ask if you weren't there that day!
• Asking for help isn't the same thing as complaining about the difficulty of homework or making excuses. Spending ten minutes doing half your math problems and leaving most of them blank because they were hard and then telling your teacher you need help isn't going to win you any favors on the due date. If it's hard, see your teacher ahead of time and find the time to get help.

• If there's not an organized homework help group at your school, there are many private tutoring organizations that work both for-pay and non-profits. Sylvan Learning Center and other businesses have after-school hours that you can schedule appointments at to get help studying and completing your homework, while community centers like the YMCA, or even public libraries will often have homework help hours in your area.
• Getting help doesn't mean that you're bad at your homework. All variety of students visit tutoring centers for extra help, just to make sure they have enough time and motivation to get everything done. It's hard being a student! There's no shame in extra help. Imagine being afraid to ask for anything! You wouldn't be able to ask in restaurants, shops, anywhere!

• Make sure that your group study sessions don't cross the line into cheating. Dividing up an assigned so your friend does half and you copy each other's answers is considered cheating, but discussing a problem and coming up with a solution together isn't. As long as you each do the work separately, you shouldn't have any problems.

• Some parents don't necessarily know how to help with your homework and might end up doing too much. Try to keep yourself honest. Asking for help doesn't mean asking your parent to do your work for you.
• Likewise, some older relatives have outdated ways of completing specific tasks and might suggest forcefully that something you learned in class is wrong. Always use your teacher's approach as the correct approach, and discuss these alternative ways of completing an assignment with your teacher if necessary.

Supercharge Your Studying with this Expert Series

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Reader Videos

• Make sure your little study space is well lit, quiet, and comfortable. This will make it much easier to do your homework properly. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0
• If you missed school that day, then you should call a friend to get the notes and/or homework from that day. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Take a piece of paper or wipe board and create a schedule for your homework. Be generous with the amount of time that you give for each task. If you end up finishing a task earlier than the schedule says, you will feel accomplished and will have extra time to complete the next task. It makes homework get done quicker than usual. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

Tips from our Readers

• Don't put off starting homework just to have more playtime. Jumping in early leaves you more free time for later and ensures you don't miss out on sleep. Plus, the class material is still fresh right after school, so you'll understand your homework better.
• Make sure you have what you need handy when you get stuck on homework. Don't be afraid to ask questions if you're confused — asking helps you understand things better. And get enough sleep since it's easier to get your work done when you're well-rested.
• Do your homework as soon as you get home every day except Fridays. On Fridays, give yourself permission to relax for the evening. Also, take short breaks as you work to help you focus. For example, play a quick game or eat a healthy snack.
• Ask for help when you need it, but don't rely on others to give you all the answers. The point of homework is for you to practice what you've learned, so try to work through problems yourself before asking for hints or explanations.
• Write down homework assignments in your planner right when your teacher gives them so you don't forget details later. Knowing exactly what work you need to do keeps you from being surprised.
• Break big assignments down into smaller pieces that feel more manageable. Taking things step-by-step makes big tasks feel less overwhelming, and helps you stay motivated.

• Never leave unfinished homework for the next day because you might have other homework to do and you will have to do both. Thanks Helpful 24 Not Helpful 0
• If you forget your homework, your teacher might not accept late work or may even give you more homework. Thanks Helpful 7 Not Helpful 1

Things You'll Need

• Writing equipment, such as pencils, rulers, and erasers.
• Resources that may help you work faster.
• A comfy place to sit while doing homework.

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www.warnerpacific.edu/5-tips-for-dealing-with-too-much-homework/
• ↑ https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mental-wealth/201206/10-tips-make-homework-time-less-painful
• ↑ Ronitte Libedinsky, MS. Academic Tutor. Expert Interview. 26 May 2020.
• ↑ https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/plan-for-college/college-prep/stay-motivated/take-control-of-homework
• ↑ https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/homework.html
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/understanding-assignments/
• ↑ https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/homework.html
• ↑ https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/homework.html#a_Create_a_Homework_Plan
• ↑ https://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/Extras/StudyMath/Homework.aspx
• ↑ https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/studying-101-study-smarter-not-harder/
• ↑ https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/homework-help.html

About This Article

If you need to do homework, find a quiet, comfortable spot where you won’t be distracted. Turn off any electronics, like your TV, phone, or radio, and gather all of the supplies you’ll need before you get started. Work on the most important or hardest assignments first to get them out of the way, and if you have a homework assignment that actually seems fun, save it for last to motivate you to finish your other work faster. Keep reading to learn how to find extra time to get your homework done, like working on it on the way home from school! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How to Help Students Develop the Skills They Need to Complete Homework

Middle and high school students can learn to work more efficiently by using strategies that improve their executive function skills.

The effects of homework are mixed. While adolescents across middle and high school have an array of life situations that can make doing homework easier or harder, it’s well known that homework magnifies inequity . However, we also know that learning how to manage time and work independently outside of the school day is valuable for lifelong learning. From the homework wars  to students who have little time for homework to students who don’t even know where to begin, everyone can agree that kids who can self-regulate and engage in independent rehearsal are better positioned for whatever the future holds.

How can we empower students to overcome barriers to doing homework well?

Executive Functioning

Homework is partially an assessment of executive functioning. Executive functioning and self-regulation take time to develop. They depend on three types of critical brain function: working memory, mental flexibility, and self-regulation .

Let’s break this down to consider how to improve their efficiency.

Working memory: Don’t hold everything in your head; it is not possible. When doing homework, students should write down their ideas, whether they are notes while reading, numbers when working through a math problem, or non-school-related reminders about chores, such as remembering to take the dog for a walk. Clearing working memory for the immediate task at hand allows the brain to focus as the strain is reduced.

Mental flexibility: As students build their independence and grow their homework routines, seeing an array of strategies, or more than one way to solve a problem, is important. Consider the results when a child gets stuck and doesn’t know what to do to get unstuck or when one keeps trying the same failed approach. Chunking homework helps simplify the process. When stuck, a student looks at a smaller piece, which makes it easier to see other solutions. More practice with mental flexibility happens when others model thinking in different ways, and students practice flexible thinking with partners by asking them: What is another way? Use this bubble map to chart out multiple ways.

Self-regulation: Learning how to prioritize work and stick with it by not giving in to impulses is a skill that students develop over time . One way to teach self-regulation is to have students practice control by concentrating for short periods of time with the goal of building up to longer, more sustained periods of time as the year progresses. For a child who struggles with reading for an extended time, start with five minutes and then build from there.

Another self-regulation tip is creating a plan to overcome distractions. What happens when the child stumbles? Three minutes into reading and a student is reaching for their cell phone. Recommend that they practice moving the cell phone away from the homework area, and summarize before returning to the reading. Stops and starts are frustrating and often result in lost homework time. Have students practice responses to distraction, and make this part of their homework. When a student struggles to stay on task, they should be encouraged to remove any distraction in order to regain focus.

Use classroom assessment as a tool to plan for and support student homework. Record the following information for students:

• Do they write, read, and/or solve problems in class? For how many minutes independently?
• What is the quality of their work? Are they actually learning, or are they just going through the motions?
• Do they know how to strategize on their own or get help from a peer when they’re stuck? Observe them and take notes, and/or have them reflect on this question.

We cannot expect that students will independently practice a skill they don’t engage with during class. If it doesn't happen in the classroom, it's not going to happen at home. The teacher should be able to realistically gauge how much and what students might achieve at home. A suggestion to build independence is to use task analysis . Here is a model . For students who struggle with getting homework done, at first they may not actually do homework; rather, they practice the routines of setting up and getting started.

Direct Instruction

The following are some techniques that help students with homework:

• Mindful meditation to gain focus
• Prioritizing and estimating time
• Filtering out distractions

Peers as Partners

Class partnership routines need practice. With strong partnerships, kids learn how to support and learn from each other. Access to teachers will never match the unlimited access to peers. The hours that students who achieve at high levels put in after class are often spent alone rehearsing the content or with peers who push each other to improve.

Class-to-Home Connection

While some students struggle with executive functioning, others rush through their homework. The most important step in having homework count is to make it seamless, not separate from class. Homework flows from classwork. Especially with a mix of synchronous and asynchronous work, now there is no homework, just work done for our classes. Consistent instructional goals with engaging and meaningful tasks help students see the value in working beyond the last bell.

What’s the point of homework?

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Katina Zammit does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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Homework hasn’t changed much in the past few decades. Most children are still sent home with about an hour’s worth of homework each day, mostly practising what they were taught in class.

If we look internationally, homework is assigned in every country that participated in the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2012.

Across the participating countries, 15-year-old students reported spending almost five hours per week doing homework in 2012. Australian students spent six hours per week on average on homework. Students in Singapore spent seven hours on homework, and in Shanghai, China they did homework for about 14 hours per week on average.

Read more: Aussie students are a year behind students 10 years ago in science, maths and reading

Shanghai and Singapore routinely score higher than Australia in the PISA maths, science and reading tests. But homework could just be one of the factors leading to higher results. In Finland, which also scores higher than Australia, students spent less than three hours on homework per week.

So, what’s the purpose of homework and what does the evidence say about whether it fulfils its purpose?

Why do teachers set homework?

Each school in Australia has its own homework policy developed in consultation with teachers and parents or caregivers, under the guiding principles of state or regional education departments.

For instance, according to the New South Wales homework policy “… tasks should be assigned by teachers with a specific, explicit learning purpose”.

Homework in NSW should also be “purposeful and designed to meet specific learning goals”, and “built on knowledge, skills and understanding developed in class”. But there is limited, if any, guidance on how often homework should be set.

Research based on teacher interviews shows they set homework for a range of reasons. These include to:

establish and improve communication between parents and children about learning

help children be more responsible, confident and disciplined

practise or review material from class

determine children’s understanding of the lesson and/or skills

introduce new material to be presented in class

provide students with opportunities to apply and integrate skills to new situations or interest areas

get students to use their own skills to create work.

So, does homework achieve what teachers intend it to?

Do we know if it ‘works’?

Studies on homework are frequently quite general, and don’t consider specific types of homework tasks. So it isn’t easy to measure how effective homework could be, or to compare studies.

But there are several things we can say.

First, it’s better if every student gets the kind of homework task that benefits them personally, such as one that helps them answer questions they had, or understand a problem they couldn’t quite grasp in class. This promotes students’ confidence and control of their own learning.

Read more: Learning from home is testing students' online search skills. Here are 3 ways to improve them

Giving students repetitive tasks may not have much value . For instance, calculating the answer to 120 similar algorithms, such as adding two different numbers 120 times may make the student think maths is irrelevant and boring. In this case, children are not being encouraged to find solutions but simply applying a formula they learnt in school.

In primary schools, homework that aims to improve children’s confidence and learning discipline can be beneficial. For example, children can be asked to practise giving a presentation on a topic of their interest. This could help build their competence in speaking in front of a class.

Homework can also highlight equity issues. It can be particularly burdensome for socioeconomically disadvantaged students who may not have a space, the resources or as much time due to family and work commitments. Their parents may also not feel capable of supporting them or have their own work commitments.

According to the PISA studies mentioned earlier, socioeconomically disadvantaged 15 year olds spend nearly three hours less on homework each week than their advantaged peers.

Read more: 'I was astonished at how quickly they made gains': online tutoring helps struggling students catch up

What kind of homework is best?

Homework can be engaging and contribute to learning if it is more than just a sheet of maths or list of spelling words not linked to class learning. From summarising various studies’ findings, “good” homework should be:

personalised to each child rather than the same for all students in the class. This is more likely to make a difference to a child’s learning and performance

achievable, so the child can complete it independently, building skills in managing their time and behaviour

aligned to the learning in the classroom.

If you aren’t happy with the homework your child is given then approach the school. If your child is having difficulty with doing the homework, the teacher needs to know. It shouldn’t be burdensome for you or your children.

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Homework – Top 3 Pros and Cons

Pro/Con Arguments | Discussion Questions | Take Action | Sources | More Debates

From dioramas to book reports, from algebraic word problems to research projects, whether students should be given homework, as well as the type and amount of homework, has been debated for over a century. [ 1 ]

While we are unsure who invented homework, we do know that the word “homework” dates back to ancient Rome. Pliny the Younger asked his followers to practice their speeches at home. Memorization exercises as homework continued through the Middle Ages and Enlightenment by monks and other scholars. [ 45 ]

In the 19th century, German students of the Volksschulen or “People’s Schools” were given assignments to complete outside of the school day. This concept of homework quickly spread across Europe and was brought to the United States by Horace Mann , who encountered the idea in Prussia. [ 45 ]

In the early 1900s, progressive education theorists, championed by the magazine Ladies’ Home Journal , decried homework’s negative impact on children’s physical and mental health, leading California to ban homework for students under 15 from 1901 until 1917. In the 1930s, homework was portrayed as child labor, which was newly illegal, but the prevailing argument was that kids needed time to do household chores. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 45 ] [ 46 ]

Public opinion swayed again in favor of homework in the 1950s due to concerns about keeping up with the Soviet Union’s technological advances during the Cold War . And, in 1986, the US government included homework as an educational quality boosting tool. [ 3 ] [ 45 ]

A 2014 study found kindergarteners to fifth graders averaged 2.9 hours of homework per week, sixth to eighth graders 3.2 hours per teacher, and ninth to twelfth graders 3.5 hours per teacher. A 2014-2019 study found that teens spent about an hour a day on homework. [ 4 ] [ 44 ]

Beginning in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic complicated the very idea of homework as students were schooling remotely and many were doing all school work from home. Washington Post journalist Valerie Strauss asked, “Does homework work when kids are learning all day at home?” While students were mostly back in school buildings in fall 2021, the question remains of how effective homework is as an educational tool. [ 47 ]

Is Homework Beneficial?

Pro 1 Homework improves student achievement. Studies have shown that homework improved student achievement in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college. Research published in the High School Journal indicated that students who spent between 31 and 90 minutes each day on homework “scored about 40 points higher on the SAT-Mathematics subtest than their peers, who reported spending no time on homework each day, on average.” [ 6 ] Students in classes that were assigned homework outperformed 69% of students who didn’t have homework on both standardized tests and grades. A majority of studies on homework’s impact – 64% in one meta-study and 72% in another – showed that take-home assignments were effective at improving academic achievement. [ 7 ] [ 8 ] Research by the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) concluded that increased homework led to better GPAs and higher probability of college attendance for high school boys. In fact, boys who attended college did more than three hours of additional homework per week in high school. [ 10 ] Read More

Pro 2 Homework helps to reinforce classroom learning, while developing good study habits and life skills. Students typically retain only 50% of the information teachers provide in class, and they need to apply that information in order to truly learn it. Abby Freireich and Brian Platzer, co-founders of Teachers Who Tutor NYC, explained, “at-home assignments help students learn the material taught in class. Students require independent practice to internalize new concepts… [And] these assignments can provide valuable data for teachers about how well students understand the curriculum.” [ 11 ] [ 49 ] Elementary school students who were taught “strategies to organize and complete homework,” such as prioritizing homework activities, collecting study materials, note-taking, and following directions, showed increased grades and more positive comments on report cards. [ 17 ] Research by the City University of New York noted that “students who engage in self-regulatory processes while completing homework,” such as goal-setting, time management, and remaining focused, “are generally more motivated and are higher achievers than those who do not use these processes.” [ 18 ] Homework also helps students develop key skills that they’ll use throughout their lives: accountability, autonomy, discipline, time management, self-direction, critical thinking, and independent problem-solving. Freireich and Platzer noted that “homework helps students acquire the skills needed to plan, organize, and complete their work.” [ 12 ] [ 13 ] [ 14 ] [ 15 ] [ 49 ] Read More

Pro 3 Homework allows parents to be involved with children’s learning. Thanks to take-home assignments, parents are able to track what their children are learning at school as well as their academic strengths and weaknesses. [ 12 ] Data from a nationwide sample of elementary school students show that parental involvement in homework can improve class performance, especially among economically disadvantaged African-American and Hispanic students. [ 20 ] Research from Johns Hopkins University found that an interactive homework process known as TIPS (Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork) improves student achievement: “Students in the TIPS group earned significantly higher report card grades after 18 weeks (1 TIPS assignment per week) than did non-TIPS students.” [ 21 ] Homework can also help clue parents in to the existence of any learning disabilities their children may have, allowing them to get help and adjust learning strategies as needed. Duke University Professor Harris Cooper noted, “Two parents once told me they refused to believe their child had a learning disability until homework revealed it to them.” [ 12 ] Read More

Con 1 Too much homework can be harmful. A poll of California high school students found that 59% thought they had too much homework. 82% of respondents said that they were “often or always stressed by schoolwork.” High-achieving high school students said too much homework leads to sleep deprivation and other health problems such as headaches, exhaustion, weight loss, and stomach problems. [ 24 ] [ 28 ] [ 29 ] Alfie Kohn, an education and parenting expert, said, “Kids should have a chance to just be kids… it’s absurd to insist that children must be engaged in constructive activities right up until their heads hit the pillow.” [ 27 ] Emmy Kang, a mental health counselor, explained, “More than half of students say that homework is their primary source of stress, and we know what stress can do on our bodies.” [ 48 ] Excessive homework can also lead to cheating: 90% of middle school students and 67% of high school students admit to copying someone else’s homework, and 43% of college students engaged in “unauthorized collaboration” on out-of-class assignments. Even parents take shortcuts on homework: 43% of those surveyed admitted to having completed a child’s assignment for them. [ 30 ] [ 31 ] [ 32 ] Read More

Con 2 Homework exacerbates the digital divide or homework gap. Kiara Taylor, financial expert, defined the digital divide as “the gap between demographics and regions that have access to modern information and communications technology and those that don’t. Though the term now encompasses the technical and financial ability to utilize available technology—along with access (or a lack of access) to the Internet—the gap it refers to is constantly shifting with the development of technology.” For students, this is often called the homework gap. [ 50 ] [ 51 ] 30% (about 15 to 16 million) public school students either did not have an adequate internet connection or an appropriate device, or both, for distance learning. Completing homework for these students is more complicated (having to find a safe place with an internet connection, or borrowing a laptop, for example) or impossible. [ 51 ] A Hispanic Heritage Foundation study found that 96.5% of students across the country needed to use the internet for homework, and nearly half reported they were sometimes unable to complete their homework due to lack of access to the internet or a computer, which often resulted in lower grades. [ 37 ] [ 38 ] One study concluded that homework increases social inequality because it “potentially serves as a mechanism to further advantage those students who already experience some privilege in the school system while further disadvantaging those who may already be in a marginalized position.” [ 39 ] Read More

Con 3 Homework does not help younger students, and may not help high school students. We’ve known for a while that homework does not help elementary students. A 2006 study found that “homework had no association with achievement gains” when measured by standardized tests results or grades. [ 7 ] Fourth grade students who did no homework got roughly the same score on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) math exam as those who did 30 minutes of homework a night. Students who did 45 minutes or more of homework a night actually did worse. [ 41 ] Temple University professor Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek said that homework is not the most effective tool for young learners to apply new information: “They’re learning way more important skills when they’re not doing their homework.” [ 42 ] In fact, homework may not be helpful at the high school level either. Alfie Kohn, author of The Homework Myth, stated, “I interviewed high school teachers who completely stopped giving homework and there was no downside, it was all upside.” He explains, “just because the same kids who get more homework do a little better on tests, doesn’t mean the homework made that happen.” [ 52 ] Read More

Discussion Questions

1. Is homework beneficial? Consider the study data, your personal experience, and other types of information. Explain your answer(s).

2. If homework were banned, what other educational strategies would help students learn classroom material? Explain your answer(s).

3. How has homework been helpful to you personally? How has homework been unhelpful to you personally? Make carefully considered lists for both sides.

Take Action

1. Examine an argument in favor of quality homework assignments from Janine Bempechat.

2. Explore Oxford Learning’s infographic on the effects of homework on students.

3. Consider Joseph Lathan’s argument that homework promotes inequality .

4. Consider how you felt about the issue before reading this article. After reading the pros and cons on this topic, has your thinking changed? If so, how? List two to three ways. If your thoughts have not changed, list two to three ways your better understanding of the “other side of the issue” now helps you better argue your position.

5. Push for the position and policies you support by writing US national senators and representatives .

More School Debate Topics

Should K-12 Students Dissect Animals in Science Classrooms? – Proponents say dissecting real animals is a better learning experience. Opponents say the practice is bad for the environment.

Should Students Have to Wear School Uniforms? – Proponents say uniforms may increase student safety. Opponents say uniforms restrict expression.

Should Corporal Punishment Be Used in K-12 Schools? – Proponents say corporal punishment is an appropriate discipline. Opponents say it inflicts long-lasting physical and mental harm on students.

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Natalie Leppard Managing Editor [email protected]

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Home > The Pros and Cons of Homework

School Life Balance , Tips for Online Students

The Pros and Cons of Homework

Updated: July 16, 2024

Published: January 23, 2020

Remember those nights when you’d find yourself staring at a mountain of homework, eyes drooping, wondering if you’d ever see the light at the end of the tunnel? The debate over homework’s role in education is as old as time. Is it a crucial tool for reinforcing learning or just an unnecessary burden?

For college students, this question takes on new dimensions. Juggling homework with the endless amount of classes, part-time jobs, and social lives can feel like walking on thin ice. The pressure to maintain grades, meet deadlines, and still find time for friends and relaxation can be overwhelming. So, is homework a friend or foe?

Photo by  energepic.com  from  Pexels

The homework dilemma.

A large amount of college students report feeling overwhelmed by their academic workload, leading to high levels of stress and anxiety. According to Research.com , 45% of college students in the U.S. experience “more than average” stress, with 36.5% citing stress as a major impediment to their academic performance. This stress often stems directly from the homework load, leading to symptoms like headaches, exhaustion, and difficulty sleeping. The intense pressure to manage homework alongside other responsibilities makes us question the true impact of homework on students’ overall well-being.

And then there’s the digital twist. A whopping 89% of students confessed to using AI tools like ChatGPT for their assignments. While these tools can be a godsend for quick answers and assistance, they can also undermine the personal effort and critical thinking necessary to truly understand the material.

On the brighter side, homework can be a powerful ally. According to Inside Higher Ed , structured assignments can actually help reduce stress by providing a clear learning roadmap and keeping students engaged with the material. But where’s the balance between helpful and harmful? 

With these perspectives in mind, let’s dive into the pros and cons of homework for college students. By understanding both sides, we can find a middle ground that maximizes learning while keeping stress at bay.

The Pros of Homework

When thoughtfully assigned, homework can be a valuable tool in a student’s educational journey . Let’s explore how homework can be a beneficial companion to your studies:

Enhances Critical Thinking

Homework isn’t just busywork; it’s an opportunity to stretch your mental muscles. Those late-night problem sets and essays can actually encourage deeper understanding and application of concepts. Think of homework as a mental gym; each assignment is a new exercise, pushing you to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information in ways that strengthen your critical thinking skills .

Time Management Skills

Do you ever juggle multiple deadlines and wonder how to keep it all together? Regular homework assignments can be a crash course in time management . They teach you to prioritize tasks, manage your schedule, and balance academic responsibilities with personal commitments. The ability to juggle various tasks is a skill that will serve you well beyond your college years.

Reinforcement of Learning

There’s a reason why practice makes perfect. Homework reinforces what you’ve learned in class, helping to cement concepts and theories in your mind. Understanding a concept during a lecture is one thing, but applying it through homework can deepen your comprehension and retention. 

Preparation for Exams

Think of homework as a sound check and warm-up for exams. Regular assignments keep you engaged with the material, making it easier to review and prepare when exam time rolls around. By consistently working through problems and writing essays, you build a solid foundation that can make the difference between cramming and confident exam performance.

Encourages Independent Learning

Homework promotes a sense of responsibility and independence. It pushes you to tackle assignments on your own, encouraging problem-solving and self-discipline. This independence prepares you for the academic challenges ahead and the autonomy required in your professional and personal life.

The Cons of Homework

Despite its potential benefits, homework can also have significant downsides. Let’s examine the challenges and drawbacks of homework:

Impact on Mental Health

Homework can be a double-edged sword when it comes to mental health . While it’s meant to reinforce learning, the sheer volume of assignments can lead to stress and anxiety. The constant pressure to meet deadlines and the fear of falling behind can create a relentless cycle of stress. Many students become overwhelmed, leading to burnout and negatively impacting their overall well-being. 

Limited Time for Other Activities

College isn’t just about hitting the books. It’s also a time for personal growth, exploring new interests, and building social connections. Excessive homework can eat into the time you might otherwise spend on extracurricular activities, hobbies, or simply hanging out with friends. This lack of balance can lead to a less fulfilling college experience. Shouldn’t education be about more than just academics?

Quality Over Quantity

When it comes to homework, more isn’t always better. Piling on assignments can lead to diminished returns on learning. Instead of diving deep into a subject and gaining a thorough understanding, students might rush through tasks just to get them done. This focus on quantity over quality can undermine the educational value of homework. 

Inequity in Education

Homework can sometimes exacerbate educational inequalities. Not all students can access the same resources and support systems at home. While some might have a quiet space and access to the internet, others might struggle with distractions and lack of resources. This disparity can put certain students at a disadvantage, making homework more of a burden than a learning tool. 

Dependence on AI Tools

With the advent of AI tools like ChatGPT , homework has taken on a new dimension. While these tools can provide quick answers and assistance, they also pose the risk of students becoming overly reliant on technology. This dependence can take away from the actual learning process, as students might bypass the critical thinking and effort needed to truly understand the material. Is convenience worth the potential loss in learning?

Finding the Balance

Finding the right balance with homework means tackling assignments that challenge and support you. Instead of drowning in a sea of tasks, focus on quality over quantity. Choose projects that spark your critical thinking and connect to real-world situations. Flexibility is key here. Recognize that your circumstances are unique, and adjusting your approach can help reduce stress and create a more inclusive learning environment. Constructive feedback makes homework more than just a chore; it turns it into a tool for growth and improvement.

It’s also about living a well-rounded college life. Don’t let homework overshadow other important parts of your life, like extracurricular activities or personal downtime. Emphasize independent learning and use technology wisely to prepare for future challenges. By balancing thoughtful assignments with your personal needs, homework can shift from being a burden to becoming a helpful companion on your educational journey, enriching your academic and personal growth.

Homework has its pros and cons, especially for college students. It can enhance critical thinking, time management, and learning, but it also brings stress, impacts mental health, and can become overwhelming. Finding the right balance is key. 

Focus on quality assignments, maintain flexibility, and make sure your homework complements rather than dominates your life. With a thoughtful approach, homework can support your educational journey, fostering both academic success and personal growth.

How can I manage my time effectively to balance homework and other activities?

Create a schedule that allocates specific times for homework, classes, and personal activities. Use planners or digital calendars to keep track of deadlines and prioritize tasks. Don’t forget to include breaks to avoid burnout.

How can I reduce the stress associated with homework?

To manage stress, practice mindfulness techniques like meditation or deep breathing exercises. Break assignments into smaller, manageable tasks and tackle them one at a time. If needed, seek support from classmates, tutors, or mental health professionals.

Is using AI tools for homework cheating?

While AI tools like ChatGPT can be helpful for quick assistance, relying on them too much can hinder your learning process. Use them as a supplement rather than a replacement for your own effort and critical thinking.

How can teachers make homework more equitable?

Teachers can offer flexible deadlines, provide resources for students who lack them, and design assignments that account for different learning styles and home environments. Open communication between students and teachers can also help address individual challenges.

What are some strategies to make homework more meaningful?

Focus on quality over quantity by designing assignments that encourage deep thinking and application of knowledge. Integrate real-world problems to make homework more relevant and engaging. Provide constructive feedback to help students learn and grow from their assignments.

In this article

At UoPeople, our blog writers are thinkers, researchers, and experts dedicated to curating articles relevant to our mission: making higher education accessible to everyone.

Because differences are our greatest strength

Homework challenges and strategies

By Amanda Morin

Expert reviewed by Jim Rein, MA

At a glance

Kids can struggle with homework for lots of reasons.

A common challenge is rushing through assignments.

Once you understand a homework challenge, it’s easier to find solutions.

Most kids struggle with homework from time to time. But kids who learn and think differently may struggle more than others. Understanding the homework challenges your child faces can help you reduce stress and avoid battles.

Here are some common homework challenges and tips to help.

The challenge: Rushing through homework

Kids with learning difficulties may rush because they’re trying to get through what’s hard for them as fast as possible. For kids with ADHD, trouble with focus and working memory may be the cause.

Rushing through homework can lead to messy or incorrect homework. It can also lead to kids missing key parts of the assignment. One thing to try is having your child do the easiest assignments first and then move to harder ones.

Get more tips for helping grade-schoolers and middle-schoolers slow down on homework.

The challenge: Taking notes

Note-taking isn’t an easy skill for some kids. They may struggle with the mechanical parts of writing or with organizing ideas on a page. Kids may also find it hard to read text and take notes at the same time.

Using the outline method may help. It divides notes into main ideas, subtopics, and details. 

Explore different note-taking strategies .

The challenge: Managing time and staying organized

Some kids struggle with keeping track of time and making a plan for getting all of their work done. That’s especially true of kids who have trouble with executive function.

Try creating a homework schedule and set a specific time and place for your child to get homework done. Use a timer to help your child stay on track and get a better sense of time.

Learn about trouble with planning .

The challenge: Studying effectively

Many kids need to be taught how to study effectively. But some may need concrete strategies.

One thing to try is creating a checklist of all the steps that go into studying. Have your child mark off each one. Lists can help kids monitor their work.

Explore more study strategies for grade-schoolers and teens .

The challenge: Recalling information

Some kids have trouble holding on to information so they can use it later. (This skill is called working memory. ) They may study for hours but remember nothing the next day. But there are different types of memory.

If your child has trouble with verbal memory, try using visual study aids like graphs, maps, or drawings.

Practice “muscle memory” exercises to help kids with working memory.

The challenge: Learning independently

It’s important for kids to learn how to do homework without help. Using a homework contract can help your child set realistic goals. Encourage “thinking out loud.”

Get tips for helping grade-schoolers do schoolwork on their own.

Sometimes, homework challenges don’t go away despite your best efforts. Look for signs that kids may have too much homework . And learn how to talk with teachers about concerns .

Key takeaways

Some kids have a hard time doing schoolwork on their own.

It can help to tailor homework strategies to a child’s specific challenges and strengths.

Sometimes, there’s too much homework for a child to handle. Talk to the teacher.

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The 5 Best Homework Help Websites (Free and Paid!)

Other High School , General Education

Listen: we know homework isn’t fun, but it is a good way to reinforce the ideas and concepts you’ve learned in class. But what if you’re really struggling with your homework assignments?

If you’ve looked online for a little extra help with your take-home assignments, you’ve probably stumbled across websites claiming to provide the homework help and answers students need to succeed . But can homework help sites really make a difference? And if so, which are the best homework help websites you can use? 

Below, we answer these questions and more about homework help websites–free and paid. We’ll go over: 

• The basics of homework help websites
• The cost of homework help websites 
• The five best homework websites out there 
• The pros and cons of using these websites for homework help 
• The line between “learning” and “cheating” when using online homework help 
• Tips for getting the most out of a homework help website

So let’s get started! 

The Basics About Homework Help Websites–Free and Paid

Homework help websites are designed to help you complete your homework assignments, plain and simple. 

What Makes a Homework Help Site Worth Using

Most of the best sites allow users to ask questions and then provide an answer (or multiple possible answers) and explanation in seconds. In some instances, you can even send a photo of a particular assignment or problem instead of typing the whole thing out! 

Homework help sites also offer more than just help answering homework questions. Common services provided are Q&A with experts, educational videos, lectures, practice tests and quizzes, learning modules, math solving tools, and proofreading help. Homework help sites can also provide textbook solutions (i.e. answers to problems in tons of different textbooks your school might be using), one-on-one tutoring, and peer-to-peer platforms that allow you to discuss subjects you’re learning about with your fellow students. 

And best of all, nearly all of them offer their services 24/7, including tutoring! 

What You Should Should Look Out For

When it comes to homework help, there are lots–and we mean lots –of scam sites out there willing to prey on desperate students. Before you sign up for any service, make sure you read reviews to ensure you’re working with a legitimate company. 

A word to the wise: the more a company advertises help that veers into the territory of cheating, the more likely it is to be a scam. The best homework help websites are going to help you learn the concepts you’ll need to successfully complete your homework on your own. (We’ll go over the difference between “homework help” and “cheating” a little later!) 

You don't need a golden piggy bank to use homework help websites. Some provide low or no cost help for students like you!

How Expensive Are the Best Homework Help Websites?

First of all, just because a homework help site costs money doesn’t mean it’s a good service. Likewise, just because a homework help website is free doesn’t mean the help isn’t high quality. To find the best websites, you have to take a close look at the quality and types of information they provide! 

When it comes to paid homework help services, the prices vary pretty widely depending on the amount of services you want to subscribe to. Subscriptions can cost anywhere from $2 to $150 dollars per month, with the most expensive services offering several hours of one-on-one tutoring with a subject expert per month.

The 5 Best Homework Help Websites 

So, what is the best homework help website you can use? The answer is that it depends on what you need help with. 

The best homework help websites are the ones that are reliable and help you learn the material. They don’t just provide answers to homework questions–they actually help you learn the material. 

That’s why we’ve broken down our favorite websites into categories based on who they’re best for . For instance, the best website for people struggling with math might not work for someone who needs a little extra help with science, and vice versa. 

Keep reading to find the best homework help website for you! 

Best Free Homework Help Site: Khan Academy

• Price: Free!
• Best for: Practicing tough material 

Not only is Khan Academy free, but it’s full of information and can be personalized to suit your needs. When you set up your account , you choose which courses you need to study, and Khan Academy sets up a personal dashboard of instructional videos, practice exercises, and quizzes –with both correct and incorrect answer explanations–so you can learn at your own pace. 

As an added bonus, it covers more course topics than many other homework help sites, including several AP classes.

Runner Up: Brainly.com offers a free service that allows you to type in questions and get answers and explanations from experts. The downside is that you’re limited to two answers per question and have to watch ads. 

Best Paid Homework Help Site: Chegg

• Price: $14.95 to $19.95 per month
• Best for: 24/7 homework assistance  

This service has three main parts . The first is Chegg Study, which includes textbook solutions, Q&A with subject experts, flashcards, video explanations, a math solver, and writing help. The resources are thorough, and reviewers state that Chegg answers homework questions quickly and accurately no matter when you submit them.  

Chegg also offers textbook rentals for students who need access to textbooks outside of their classroom. Finally, Chegg offers Internship and Career Advice for students who are preparing to graduate and may need a little extra help with the transition out of high school. 

Another great feature Chegg provides is a selection of free articles geared towards helping with general life skills, like coping with stress and saving money. Chegg’s learning modules are comprehensive, and they feature solutions to the problems in tons of different textbooks in a wide variety of subjects. 

Runner Up: Bartleby offers basically the same services as Chegg for $14.99 per month. The reason it didn’t rank as the best is based on customer reviews that say user questions aren’t answered quite as quickly on this site as on Chegg. Otherwise, this is also a solid choice!

Best Site for Math Homework Help: Photomath

• Price: Free (or $59.99 per year for premium services) 
• Best for: Explaining solutions to math problems

This site allows you to t ake a picture of a math problem, and instantly pulls up a step-by-step solution, as well as a detailed explanation of the concept. Photomath also includes animated videos that break down mathematical concepts to help you better understand and remember them. 

The basic service is free, but for an additional fee you can get extra study tools and learn additional strategies for solving common math problems.

Runner Up: KhanAcademy offers in-depth tutorials that cover complex math topics for free, but you won’t get the same tailored help (and answers!) that Photomath offers. 

Best Site for English Homework Help: Princeton Review Academic Tutoring

• Price: $40 to $153 per month, depending on how many hours of tutoring you want 
• Best for: Comprehensive and personalized reading and writing help 

While sites like Grammarly and Sparknotes help you by either proofreading what you write via an algorithm or providing book summaries, Princeton Review’s tutors provide in-depth help with vocabulary, literature, essay writing and development, proofreading, and reading comprehension. And unlike other services, you’ll have the chance to work with a real person to get help. 

The best part is that you can get on-demand English (and ESL) tutoring from experts 24/7. That means you can get help whenever you need it, even if you’re pulling an all-nighter! 

This is by far the most expensive homework site on this list, so you’ll need to really think about what you need out of a homework help website before you commit. One added benefit is that the subscription covers over 80 other subjects, including AP classes, which can make it a good value if you need lots of help!  

Best Site for STEM Homework Help: Studypool

• Best for: Science homework help
• Price: Varies; you’ll pay for each question you submit

When it comes to science homework help, there aren’t a ton of great resources out there. The best of the bunch is Studypool, and while it has great reviews, there are some downsides as well. 

Let’s start with the good stuff. Studypool offers an interesting twist on the homework help formula. After you create a free account, you can submit your homework help questions, and tutors will submit bids to answer your questions. You’ll be able to select the tutor–and price point–that works for you, then you’ll pay to have your homework question answered. You can also pay a small fee to access notes, lectures, and other documents that top tutors have uploaded. 

The downside to Studypool is that the pricing is not transparent . There’s no way to plan for how much your homework help will cost, especially if you have lots of questions! Additionally, it’s not clear how tutors are selected, so you’ll need to be cautious when you choose who you’d like to answer your homework questions.  

What Are the Pros and Cons of Using Homework Help Sites?

Homework help websites can be a great resource if you’re struggling in a subject, or even if you just want to make sure that you’re really learning and understanding topics and ideas that you’re interested in. But, there are some possible drawbacks if you don’t use these sites responsibly. 

We’ll go over the good–and the not-so-good–aspects of getting online homework help below. 

3 Pros of Using Homework Help Websites 

First, let’s take a look at the benefits. 

#1: Better Grades Beyond Homework

This is a big one! Getting outside help with your studies can improve your understanding of concepts that you’re learning, which translates into better grades when you take tests or write essays. 

Remember: homework is designed to help reinforce the concepts you learned in class. If you just get easy answers without learning the material behind the problems, you may not have the tools you need to be successful on your class exams…or even standardized tests you’ll need to take for college. 

#2: Convenience

One of the main reasons that online homework help is appealing is because it’s flexible and convenient. You don’t have to go to a specific tutoring center while they’re open or stay after school to speak with your teacher. Instead, you can access helpful resources wherever you can access the internet, whenever you need them.

This is especially true if you tend to study at off hours because of your extracurriculars, work schedule, or family obligations. Sites that offer 24/7 tutoring can give you the extra help you need if you can’t access the free resources that are available at your school. 

#3: Variety

Not everyone learns the same way. Maybe you’re more of a visual learner, but your teacher mostly does lectures. Or maybe you learn best by listening and taking notes, but you’re expected to learn something just from reading the textbook . 

One of the best things about online homework help is that it comes in a variety of forms. The best homework help sites offer resources for all types of learners, including videos, practice activities, and even one-on-one discussions with real-life experts. 

This variety can also be a good thing if you just don’t really resonate with the way a concept is being explained (looking at you, math textbooks!).

Not so fast. There are cons to homework help websites, too. Get to know them below!

3 Cons of Using Homework Help Websites 

Now, let’s take a look at the drawbacks of online homework help. 

#1: Unreliable Info

This can be a real problem. In addition to all the really good homework help sites, there are a whole lot of disreputable or unreliable sites out there. The fact of the matter is that some homework help sites don’t necessarily hire people who are experts in the subjects they’re talking about. In those cases, you may not be getting the accurate, up-to-date, and thorough information you need.

Additionally, even the great sites may not be able to answer all of your homework questions. This is especially true if the site uses an algorithm or chatbot to help students…or if you’re enrolled in an advanced or college-level course. In these cases, working with your teacher or school-provided tutors are probably your best option. 

#2: No Clarification

This depends on the service you use, of course. But the majority of them provide free or low-cost help through pre-recorded videos. Watching videos or reading info online can definitely help you with your homework… but you can’t ask questions or get immediate feedback if you need it .

#3: Potential For Scamming 

Like we mentioned earlier, there are a lot of homework help websites out there, and lots of them are scams. The review comments we read covered everything from outdated or wrong information, to misleading claims about the help provided, to not allowing people to cancel their service after signing up. 

No matter which site you choose to use, make sure you research and read reviews before you sign up–especially if it’s a paid service! 

When Does “Help” Become “Cheating”?

Admittedly, whether using homework help websites constitutes cheating is a bit of a grey area. For instance, is it “help” when a friend reads your essay for history class and corrects your grammar, or is it “cheating”? The truth is, not everyone agrees on when “help” crosses the line into “cheating .” When in doubt, it can be a good idea to check with your teacher to see what they think about a particular type of help you want to get. 

That said, a general rule of thumb to keep in mind is to make sure that the assignment you turn in for credit is authentically yours . It needs to demonstrate your own thoughts and your own current abilities. Remember: the point of every homework assignment is to 1) help you learn something, and 2) show what you’ve learned. 

So if a service answers questions or writes essays for you, there’s a good chance using it constitutes cheating. 

Here’s an example that might help clarify the difference for you. Brainstorming essay ideas with others or looking online for inspiration is “help” as long as you write the essay yourself. Having someone read it and give you feedback about what you need to change is also help, provided you’re the one that makes the changes later. 

But copying all or part of an essay you find online or having someone write (or rewrite) the whole thing for you would be “cheating.” The same is true for other subjects. Ultimately, if you’re not generating your own work or your own answers, it’s probably cheating.

5 Tips for Finding the Best Homework Help Websites for You

Now that you know some of our favorite homework help websites, free and paid, you can start doing some additional research on your own to decide which services might work best for you! Here are some top tips for choosing a homework help website. 

Tip 1: Decide How You Learn Best 

Before you decide which site or sites you’re going to use for homework help, y ou should figure out what kind of learning style works for you the most. Are you a visual learner? Then choose a site that uses lots of videos to help explain concepts. If you know you learn best by actually doing tasks, choose a site that provides lots of practice exercises.

Tip 2: Determine Which Subjects You Need Help With

Just because a homework help site is good overall doesn’t mean that it’s equally good for every subject. If you only need help in math, choose a site that specializes in that area. But if history is where you’re struggling, a site that specializes in math won’t be much help. So make sure to choose a site that you know provides high-quality help in the areas you need it most. 

Tip 3: Decide How Much One-On-One Help You Need 

This is really about cost-effectiveness. If you learn well on your own by reading and watching videos, a free site like Khan Academy is a good choice. But if you need actual tutoring, or to be able to ask questions and get personalized answers from experts, a paid site that provides that kind of service may be a better option.

Tip 4: Set a Budget

If you decide you want to go with a paid homework help website, set a budget first . The prices for sites vary wildly, and the cost to use them can add up quick. 

Tip 5: Read the Reviews

Finally, it’s always a good idea to read actual reviews written by the people using these homework sites. You’ll learn the good, the bad, and the ugly of what the users’ experiences have been. This is especially true if you intend to subscribe to a paid service. You’ll want to make sure that users think it’s worth the price overall!

What’s Next?

If you want to get good grades on your homework, it’s a good idea to learn how to tackle it strategically. Our expert tips will help you get the most out of each assignment…and boost your grades in the process.

Doing well on homework assignments is just one part of getting good grades. We’ll teach you everything you need to know about getting great grades in high school in this article.

Of course, test grades can make or break your GPA, too. Here are 17 expert tips that’ll help you get the most out of your study prep before you take an exam.

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Ashley Sufflé Robinson has a Ph.D. in 19th Century English Literature. As a content writer for PrepScholar, Ashley is passionate about giving college-bound students the in-depth information they need to get into the school of their dreams.

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Excuses for Not Doing Homework and Getting Away with It

Homework: a dreaded task for many students. When faced with an unfinished assignment, the temptation to concoct an elaborate excuse can be overwhelming. Common excuses for not doing homework can range from:

• Difficulty comprehending the assignment
• Being swamped with other coursework
• A stolen backpack
• Malfunctioning computer, etc.

Other students might claim confusion over the instructions, a packed extracurricular schedule, or simply forgetting that homework was assigned.

While these excuses might temporarily alleviate the immediate pressure, they do little to address the underlying issue: the unfinished assignment. Instead of resorting to creative storytelling, students might consider seeking assistance. A platform like DME offers a practical solution by providing expert help with any type of homework. Rather than spending time and energy crafting the perfect excuse, you can focus on learning and improving your academic performance with our help.

I Had Trouble Comprehending The Assignment

This excuse is a classic for a reason: it's often believable. If the assignment was genuinely complex or poorly explained, it can be a valid reason for not completing it on time. By expressing confusion about the task, students can appear diligent and eager to learn rather than careless or lazy.

It works best when the assignment is truly challenging or if the instructions are unclear or ambiguous. It can also be effective if the subject matter is new to the student or if the assignment requires a specific skill set that they haven't yet mastered. However, overuse of this excuse can make it less credible, so it's important to use it sparingly.

Homework Stressing You Out?

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I Was Unwell And Couldn't Complete It

This excuse taps into a universal human experience: illness. When used strategically, it can be a powerful tool for avoiding the consequences of unfinished homework. By claiming to be too sick to complete the assignment, you can evoke sympathy and understanding from teachers.

This excuse works best when accompanied by visible symptoms, such as a cough, runny nose, or red eyes. However, it's important to be cautious about overusing this excuse, as it can raise suspicion if used frequently. Additionally, providing too many details about the illness can be counterproductive.

My Backpack Was Stolen, And I Lost All My Materials

This can be quite effective when executed correctly. By adding specific details, students can increase the credibility of their stories.

• Where and when the theft occurred: The more specific the location and time, the more believable the story becomes. For example, "My backpack was stolen from my locker between the third and fourth period today."
• What was stolen: List specific items that were in the backpack, such as textbooks, notebooks, and the homework assignment. This can help to reinforce the loss and make the excuse more impactful.
• Steps taken to recover the backpack: Describe any efforts made to recover the stolen items, such as filing a police report or contacting the school administration. This demonstrates that the student is taking responsibility for the situation.

My Computer Malfunctioned And I Couldn't Access My Work

This excuse has become increasingly common in our technology-dependent world. A malfunctioning computer can be a legitimate obstacle to completing homework, especially if the assignment requires the use of specific software or online resources.

• Nature of the malfunction: Clearly describe the problem. Did the computer freeze, crash, or experience a power outage? Be specific about the issue.
• Attempts to resolve the problem: Explain what steps were taken to fix the computer, such as restarting, troubleshooting, or seeking help from a tech-savvy friend or family member.
• Loss of data: If applicable, mention that important files or the homework itself were lost due to the malfunction.

While this excuse can be effective, it's important to remember that technology can be unpredictable. Backing up your work regularly can help mitigate the risk of data loss.

I Found The Homework Confusing

This can be a straightforward approach that can be effective when you can't motivate yourself to do homework . It implies that you made a genuine effort but were unable to grasp the assignment's requirements.

When to use it:

• If the homework directions are vague or contradictory, claiming confusion can be valid.
• For complex subjects like math or science, where concepts can be challenging, expressing confusion can be believable.
• If the homework covers material that hasn't been thoroughly taught in class, claiming confusion can be justified.

How to use it:

• Instead of simply saying, "I found it confusing," elaborate on the specific parts you didn't understand. This demonstrates genuine effort.
• Express your desire to complete the assignment correctly and ask for clarification or help. This portrays you as a responsible student.
• Frequent use of this excuse can make it less credible.

I Was Overloaded With Assignments From Another Class

Claiming to be overwhelmed by assignments from another class can be a convincing excuse; you just can't concentration on homework . It taps into the relatable experience of juggling multiple academic responsibilities. To make this excuse more effective, students often specify the demanding class and the nature of the overwhelming assignments. For instance, detailing a major history project due on the same day can bolster the claim.

However, to sound authentic, it's important to convey the impression of effective time management gone awry. You might explain how you attempted to balance both workloads but ultimately fell short. This demonstrates awareness of your responsibilities without appearing careless.

I Missed The Class When The Homework Was Given

While claiming to have missed the class when the homework was assigned can be a viable option, it's essential to approach it with caution and sincerity. Here are some additional tips:

• Be specific about the absence: Was it a doctor's appointment, a family emergency, or a school-related event? Providing specific details can enhance credibility.
• Show that you've taken steps to catch up : Mention that you've contacted a classmate to get the assignment details or that you plan to visit the teacher during office hours.
• Avoid overusing this excuse: Frequent absences for this reason can raise suspicions. Use this excuse sparingly and only when absolutely necessary.

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My Schedule Was Packed With Extracurricular Activities And Volunteer Work

This excuse can be particularly effective when combined with evidence of genuine involvement. Students might mention specific accomplishments, awards, or leadership roles within their extracurricular activities. For instance, detailing the hours spent practicing for a sports team or organizing a community service event can strengthen the claim of a time crunch.

However, it's crucial to maintain a balance between showcasing achievements and appearing overly boastful. You should emphasize the challenges of managing a demanding schedule rather than bragging about your accomplishments. Additionally, expressing genuine regret for missing the assignment and a willingness to make it up can help mitigate potential negative consequences.

I Don't Recall Receiving Any Homework

This excuse is a risky one, as it can easily be challenged. It's best used when there's genuine uncertainty about the assignment. To make this excuse more believable, you might mention checking your notes or planner and finding no record of the homework. Expressing confusion and a willingness to complete the assignment once it's clarified can also help mitigate potential negative consequences.

But be careful not to sound careless. Show you're ready to do the work as soon as you know what it is. Remember, it's usually better to be honest. If you really don't remember, just ask the teacher nicely to explain the homework again.

Be Honest About Why It Wasn't Done

This might seem like the most obvious choice, but it's often the best excuse for not doing homework. Honesty can build trust between a student and a teacher. If the homework simply wasn't a priority, or if the student procrastinated, admitting this can show maturity and a willingness to take responsibility.

Of course, honesty should be balanced with taking steps to rectify the situation. Offering to complete the assignment as soon as possible or asking for an extension demonstrates a commitment to learning.

Remember, while excuses might temporarily alleviate the pressure, honesty and responsibility are key to building a positive relationship with teachers and fostering a strong learning environment.

Final Thoughts

When faced with overwhelming workloads, consider these good excuses for not doing homework:

• Claiming difficulty understanding an assignment
• Being overloaded by other coursework
• Reporting losing your assignments or necessary materials
• Occasionally, admitting to procrastination or a lack of interest.

If you're struggling to complete assignments, considering professional assistance can be a game-changer. Platforms like DME offer expert help with a wide range of subjects, providing you with the opportunity to excel academically without resorting to excuses. Simply ask us - do homework for me and let us build a strong foundation for your future success.

How to Make a Believable Excuse for not Doing Homework?

What is a good excuse for late homework.

We rented our house on Airbnb for 15 years. It was so much work that we had to stop.

• Before Airbnb was even invented, my husband and I started renting our home to make extra money.
• We bought multiple homes that we rented on Airbnb throughout the years.
• Airbnb income is not passive, and now I don't rent my home anymore.

Renting your home to strangers for money wasn't even on the horizon when my husband and I bought our first house almost 20 years ago.

But the little bungalow in Louisville, Kentucky , wasn't far from the racetrack where the famous Kentucky Derby runs every May. I thought renting our house to race-goers would be an easy way to make a quick paycheck.

So in 2007, before Airbnb was even invented , we'd started what would eventually be called house-hacking — renting your own home to generate income to pay for itself. We could earn enough over the race weekend to cover three months of mortgage.

We were early Airbnb adopters

It didn't go well at first, though, with our first guests writing us a bad check. So when Airbnb came along with some guardrails to protect hosts, we were super early adopters.

Although it's commonplace now, in those early days, friends thought we'd lost it when we let strangers stay in our house. "What if they lick your plates and put them back?" I'll always remember one aghast friend asking.

Related stories

Renting out that house led to the idea that we could Airbnb a $17,000 triplex in Detroit we bought in 2014 after I fell in love with the city while visiting. We were able to use the income to recoup the renovation costs, and we double-dipped by renting our Louisville house anytime we were in Detroit . We divided our time between cities, keeping that house for a year and a half. That experience propelled us to buy a sprawling Victorian in a historic neighborhood of Louisville in 2016.

"We could Airbnb the shit out of this!" my husband's text read when he sent me the $200,000 listing. A beautiful house that just needed some work, with a third floor guest suite and a carriage house, it had tons of potential as a short-term rental rental. We estimated we could probably cover the renovation cost and maybe even the mortgage with the income . Income that we thought would be passive.

It didn't turn out to be passive, though, at least when it came to the amount of work and worry that went into eventually becoming one of Airbnb's longest-tenured super hosts. Even switching to renting to travel nurses during COVID didn't come without stress, and we eventually sold the house in 2023.

Realtors know that people are looking for short-term rentals

I've been househunting and have lost count of the number of listings I've seen promising income from short-term rentals.

Now, we're not in the old days anymore, and most cities have  licensing requirements  for short-term rentals that restrict the number in any given area and impose tax collections. But not everyone plays by those rules, and sometimes, listing agents on behalf of sellers promote this revenue stream on houses that don't have the required license — and aren't even eligible for one.

After spending a lot of money and time getting the legal permits and licenses for my home, I think this practice is pretty unsavory — especially from a profession that's supposed to have strict ethical guidelines. Even when the listing truly does have legal income potential, it's not a magic bullet or a fast path to riches.

Maybe rentals can be considered passive by IRS definitions, but here's the truth from someone who's been doing this for more than 15 years: rentals are endless work.

Not just the cleaning, or calendar management, or the trying to delight guests or respond to issues. It's also the emotional labor of worrying about reviews. You're only ever as good as your last two or three, and I stressed every detail trying to keep up my all-five-star superhost status.

I've had so many issues with my rental

Owning a home built in the late 1800s can be a source of worry in the best of circumstances. However, inviting a rotating cast of strangers under the roof, strangers who can leave reviews that can make or break your business, brings its own host of additional worries.

Just like I could never turn off my phone in case a guest needed something, I couldn't turn off the worry, either.

When it rained, I worried about leaks — which happened. When it was cold, I worried about the mini-split HVAC going out, which it did — on a freezing Christmas Day. When it was hot, I worried the AC couldn't keep up — which it often couldn't in a 130-year-old third-floor space where guests thought they could set the temperature to 60 on 100-degree days.

But the money was good when it was good , so it was worth it. Until competition ratcheted up, and with that, a push from Airbnb to discount prices. Even before COVID, I'd grown tired of their incessant reminders to cut my price. So when the pandemic hit, I made the pivot to renting to travel nurses at my two spaces. That wasn't a ton less money, but a lot less work. Instead of doing laundry and cleaning and answering a fresh batch of questions every two or three days, it was every three months.

I recommend people do their homework before becoming hosts

To anyone tempted to buy a property just for its rental potential, I say proceed with caution.

Do your own homework to make sure you can legally rent it; don't rely on the listing claims. Check local listings to see how much competition you'll have and how much they're getting. Consider how much time you can siphon from your other job to run your rental, and what that will cost. Evaluate your budget to make sure you can carry the mortgage indefinitely if misfortune — pandemic, natural disaster, terrorist attack, major repairs, a pest infestation — strikes and you lose that income.

As for me, my new home is a single family. Nope, no income to subsidize the mortgage, but also no suitcases rolling around above my bedroom, no nagging worry about what-ifs, and nobody to worry about pleasing but, well, myself.

Axel Springer, Insider Inc.'s parent company, is an investor in Airbnb.

• Main content

5 online services to get help with homework

There's more to consider than just what supplies to buy this year (though we'll help with that too.)

As students prepare to go back to school , finding reliable online homework help services can be a challenge.

Websites touting "homework help," for example, are often obscuring dicey services that simply complete assignments for you (done both by human and robot hands), while self-proclaimed "tutors" peddle possible money-grabbing scams . Educators are becoming increasingly suspicious of any third-party help. 

But learners of all ages are still seeking legitimate options — both free and at a cost — for when those lessons just aren't clicking, and online platforms are just a click away. 

The Princeton Review

Known as the biggest name in standardized test prep, the Princeton Review offers 24/7 online tutoring provided by a network of 3,000 vetted tutors. Help can be found for more than 40 subjects , both K-12 and college level. 

The service isn't cheap, however. Monthly subscriptions start at $39.99 for one hour per month. Sessions can be purchased in bulk, as well, starting at $349.99 for ten hours. Students can sign up for a free trial on the Princeton Review website to see if it's right for them. 

MySuperGeek 

MySuperGeek is a Europe-based homework help company that offers personal tutoring across subjects like math, economics, statistics, accounting, chemistry, and even law and society. Learners create an account, get matched with a live tutor, and then work through assignments in real time.

MySuperGeek is a paid service, but not subscription-based, with customers paying for homework help per tutor and per session. Rates start at around $10 per hour. 

Khan Academy

The highly popular nonprofit Khan Academy was established in 2006, based on an online educational video series that has since ballooned in scale. It now offers an expansive set of free practice exercises, hundreds of instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard for learners of all ages. Khan Academy launched its own AI learning assistant , powered by OpenAI's GPT-4, that's been recommended by the likes of Bill Gates and parent review organization Common Sense Media. 

Like Khan Academy, other free online education hubs like YouTube phenomenon Crash Course can offer learning aids and subject-focused videos that can be helpful for general topics. 

Chegg is an oft-talked about (and controversial) textbook and academic support service, which offers subscription-based tutoring across subjects. Chegg homework help doesn't connect users to live tutors, instead learners upload their homework questions and are then served with "expert-backed" explanations and textbook examples. Users can also access a library of similar questions and answers, as well as a recently added AI study helper, too. 

• How Google's LearnLM plans to supercharge education for students and teachers
• 10 ways you can support teachers this school year
• 4 ways to make your back-to-school shopping list better for the environment
• How social media in the classroom is burning teachers out

But the multi-million dollar company has recently come under fire for enabling a widespread wave of cheating during a global shift to online learning during the pandemic lockdown. Many educators now consider Chegg assistance a case of academic dishonesty, so review your class's policies closely before using.

If Chegg is still calling your name (maybe for non-assignment help): The platform offers several mobile apps, like it's 24/7 homework help app, Chegg Study ; a math-focused assignment helper, Mathway ; and a language learning platform, Busuu . Subscription pricing is based on the number of questions a learner expects to submit each day. The basic Chegg Study plan starts at $14.95 for five questions. 

Your local library

Before subscribing to an online service at a cost, or wading into some academically murky waters, check out what your local library has to offer. Many library systems host in-person and virtual tutoring through online services like Brainfuse and national board-ran sites like Tutor.com (a Princeton Review service). 

Some cities even offer educator-led assistance on demand, like New York's Dial-A-Teacher . And don't forget: Your teachers are there for you, too.

Topics Social Good Family & Parenting

Chase joined Mashable's Social Good team in 2020, covering online stories about digital activism, climate justice, accessibility, and media representation. Her work also touches on how these conversations manifest in politics, popular culture, and fandom. Sometimes she's very funny.

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Possessive - One has to do <his, one's> homework regularly.

• Thread starter jester.
• Start date Aug 27, 2006

Senior Member

• Aug 27, 2006

They are both a correct J3 and are entirely interchangeable. you can use them both. However there are subtle differences which i shall explain. "One has to do his homework regularly." You would probably say it like this if you were talking about yourself doing your own homework. "One has to do one's homework regularly." You would use this one if you meant that people in general should be doing their homework. Hope it helps =)  

j3st3r said: Hello, I am unsure which possessive pronoun I have to combine with the personal pronoun "one". "One has to do his homework regularly." "One has to do one's homework regularly." Which one of these is correct? Click to expand...

languageGuy

Both are correct?? This is not what I was taught. Is this a recent development, or did my grammar teacher lead misinform me many years ago?  

which is incorrect i lay no claims on grammatical eloquency but am interested in which is in fact correct or perhaps more correct as the case may be  

I was taught to use "one's" with "one" and "his" with "he." He has to do his homework regularly. One has to do one's homework regularly. Of course, if one is regularly doing some schoolyard bully's homework, then maybe "one has to do his homework regularly" would be correct. Again, this may be old-fashioned. I am curious what others think.  

languageGuy said: Both are correct?? This is not what I was taught. Is this a recent development, or did my grammar teacher lead misinform me many years ago? Click to expand...

My grammar teacher made lots of mistakes. She was mean and nasty, and you could never argue with her. Please forgive me, Gaer, if I offended you. I was only offering what I was taught (a long time ago) and hoping others would share their insights also. Your examples were truly most excellent and seemed to support what I thought was correct. I don't do a lot of writing so I don't worry too much about sounding forced or pompous.  

I am another who would seek agreement - One xxxxx one's yyyyyy She xxxxx her yyyyyy  

languageGuy said: My grammar teacher made lots of mistakes. She was mean and nasty, and you could never argue with her. Please forgive me, Gaer, if I offended you. I was only offering what I was taught (a long time ago) and hoping others would share their insights also. Your examples were truly most excellent and seemed to support what I thought was correct. I don't do a lot of writing so I don't worry too much about sounding forced or pompous. Click to expand...

One. . .he , though historically condemned as inferior to one. . .one, predominates in AE usage. But it's future probably isn't bright. Garner's Modern American Usage  

river said: One. . .he , though historically condemned as inferior to one. . .one, predominates in AE usage. But it's future probably isn't bright. Garner's Modern American Usage Click to expand...

Member Emeritus

I vote for consistency 'one ... one's' 'he ... his', etc.  

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7 efficient tricks for mastering excel homework, sponsored post.

• August 1, 2024

Excel is one of the best applications available in the market regarding data management. In various study sectors, you will find Excel as a useful option to work on. From finance to information technology, learning Excel is a must. 

Well, when it comes to data analysis there is nothing more reliable compared to Microsoft excel. In fact, learning excel will help you to become efficient in dealing with your future. For better job oporuntites in international organizations, you must become smart at using excel. 

Do you struggle to work on Excel?  

Database & table management 

Spreadsheet Creation & design 

Data Analysis & visualization 

If your study require all these tasks, excel is your only platform to do that prominently. However, if you are not good at basic math and computer functions then you are in danger. Considerably, excel is a process that gives you the workflow to deal with all your data works. 

So, its time to consider excel homework as they can help you will all the Excel homeworks within the deadline so that you can stay tension free during your exams. However, this cannot be a permanent solution as you must find a way to become self efficient. 

Tricks To Become Better With Excel  

Working on Excel can be a daunting task for you, but we can help you make it fun and exciting. First, you must understand that it is not a spreadsheet application. So, you have a lot more to do with it.  

In fact, these days, with advanced Excel, people do unthinkable things with their simple data manager.  

However, you will only become a pro once you understand the basics. Whether you are a student trying to complete your Excel homework on time or simply trying to impress your boss in the office with better data analysis, these basic skills will lead you to the path of becoming an Excel pro. 

Master Keyboard Shortcuts  

One of the quickest ways to boost your efficiency in Excel is by mastering keyboard shortcuts. Did you know that? 

Don’t you find navigating through the menu bar of Excel a time-consuming and daunting process? 

Well, these shortcuts can save you a lot of time compared to navigating through menus. You can find manuals for using shortcuts on YouTube or on the internet. In the meantime, we have shared you a few of the basics.  

Ctrl + C (Copy) and Ctrl + V (Paste): Basic but crucial. 

Ctrl + Z (Undo) and Ctrl + Y (Redo): For quick corrections. 

Ctrl + Arrow Keys: To navigate to the edges of your data range. 

Ctrl + Shift + L: To add or remove filters in a data set. 

Getting comfortable with these shortcuts can make your workflow smoother and faster. 

Use Excel Functions Effectively  

Excel functions are the backbone of efficient data manipulation. So, it is time to familiarize yourself with the following functionalities. 

SUM(): Adds up a range of cells. Useful for totals. 

AVERAGE(): Calculates the average value of a range. 

IF(): Provides conditional results based on a logical test. 

VLOOKUP() and HLOOKUP(): For searching data in tables. 

These functionalities will help you deal with a long sheet and create results instantly. Understanding how to use these functions can significantly streamline data analysis and reporting tasks.  

Employ Conditional Formatting  

Conditional formatting can make your data easier to interpret at a glance by automatically applying styles based on cell values. For instance: 

Highlight Cells Rules: To highlight cells that meet certain criteria, such as values greater than a specific number. 

Color Scales: To visualize data ranges with gradient colors. 

This feature helps in spotting trends and outliers without manual inspection. 

Leverage PivotTables for Data Analysis³  

PivotTables are potent tools for summarizing large data sets. They allow you to: 

Aggregate Data: Quickly calculate sums, averages, and counts. 

Group Data: Organize information into categories or periods. 

Filter Data: Easily focus on specific subsets. 

Simply selecting the Insert and choosing PivotTable from the options will let you customize the table. It will help you drag fields into the Rows, Columns, Values, and Filters areas. 

Use Named Ranges for Clarity  

Named ranges are a great way to make your formulas easier to understand. Instead of referencing a cell range like ‘A1:A10’, you can name it something descriptive like ‘SalesData.’ This not only makes formulas more readable but also simplifies managing your data. 

To name a range, select the cells you want to name, go to the “Formulas” tab, and click “Define Name.” It is can be better choice to make your assignments stand out among all students. 

Implement Data Validation  

Data validation helps ensure that the data entered into your spreadsheet meets specific criteria. For example, you can restrict a cell to only accept dates within a certain range or only allow numbers within a specified limit. 

If you want to set up the data validation, make it easy by selecting the cells you want to validate. After that, consider the “data” tab and click “Data Validation.” 

Now, choose the type of validation you need, such as a list of acceptable values or a numerical range. 

Automate with Macros  

For repetitive tasks, macros can be a lifesaver. Macros are small programs you can record or write using VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) to automate tasks. For instance, if you frequently format data in a certain way, recording a macro can save you from repeating the process manually each time. 

To record a macro, you have to follow a few simple steps- 

Go to the “View” tab 

Now click “Macros,” 

Then select “Record Macro.” 

That’s it! 

Perform the actions you want to automate, then stop recording. You can now run the macro whenever needed. 

Conclusion  

Excel is an incredibly versatile tool, and mastering it can greatly enhance your productivity and efficiency, especially when dealing with homework or complex data tasks. Keep practicing and experimenting with these features, and soon, you will be navigating and analyzing your data like a pro.  

With the right approach to Excel, you can solve half of your assignment problems, such as time management and data accuracy. If you are incredible in your subjects, there is no need to stay behind just because you cannot use Excel at its full potential.  

However, getting yourself out of the barrier can help you deal with situations smoothly. So, it’s time to excel in your efficiency with Excel. 

Happy Excel-ing! 

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From gated villages across Australia, retirees are sharing their financial horror stories about the land lease industry

For almost a decade, pensioners Trish Reece and her husband Wayne have been living in a gated village in Shepparton in regional Victoria, run by the controversial land lease operator Lifestyle Communities.

Now they want to get out.

"We don't want to live here anymore," she says.

But she says they are stuck, financially, due to the so-called exit fees charged by the company when a resident sells their home.

Lifestyle Communities exit fees start at 4 per cent of the selling price and scale up to a cap of 20 per cent from the fifth year of ownership.

For a house that sells for $500,000, Lifestyle can take up to $100,000 in exit fees after five years.

"We're just vegetables waiting to pop off the perch so they can collect their exit fee," Trish says.

Lifestyle specialises in land lease communities in Victoria, where residents buy the home, usually a manufactured or moveable dwelling, and rent the land, paying site rental fees of up to $250 a week for a couple.

It is part of a booming $12 billion land lease industry that houses more than 130,000 Australians, fuelled by a housing affordability crisis and an ageing population.

A significant number of residents are on a pension and given they own the home and rent the land, most are eligible to claim Commonwealth government rent assistance to help offset site rental fees.

ABC Investigations and 7.30 recently uncovered growing discontent among some Lifestyle residents , including 80 at its Wollert community on Melbourne's northern fringe, who have lodged claims in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT).

The investigation highlighted claims Lifestyle is gouging residents with unfair fees, which some of its competitors don't charge, and charging dead people rent, a practice that is common across the industry.

The stories prompted the Victorian government to announce it would develop a series of reforms , including a standardised site agreement for land lease residents.

The company's share price also took a flogging, falling 24 per cent as investors lost confidence after the company confirmed a significant downgrade of profit for 2024.

It pulled its forward outlook and estimates "due to the difficulty in quantifying the impact the uncertainty caused by recent media coverage might have on future sales and settlements".

It told investors it had written to VCAT to ask for an urgent hearing.

The stories generated a flood of messages to the ABC from residents not just in Lifestyle villages but other land lease communities across Australia.

Trish Reece is one of them.

Her relationship with the company turned sour in 2021 when her mother-in-law Gwenda, who was living in the same Lifestyle community, had to move into aged care and gifted her home to Trish and Wayne, knowing they preferred her home and would move in.

Under Lifestyle's contracts, the family faced the prospect of having to pay two exit fees: one for selling the home Trish and Wayne had been living in, and another for the couple to take ownership of Gwenda's home.

Trish says they were told verbally by a manager at Lifestyle, who has since left, that the company would help them out and waive one exit fee if they decided to shift into Gwenda's home if her circumstances changed.

Her husband Wayne was also at this meeting and recalls the offer being made.

When they eventually sold their home in the community and moved into Gwenda's, the company made it clear they would have to pay two exit fees, which disappointed them, but Trish says she was unwell at the time and didn't fight it.

All up, Lifestyle deducted $104,831 in exit fees, rent and selling fees, leaving them with $180,168. When they sell the place they are currently in they will face a third exit fee.

"They were underhanded, greedy," she says.

"We would have been better off financially if we stayed in the original home because we wouldn't be up for three sets of exit fees," she says.

"It's so much of a chunk of our retirement savings gone … we'll have to be carried out of here in a box. We can't leave."

In a statement, Lifestyle said it had spoken to its team and they "categorically deny a waiver was ever offered".

It said the exit fees were applied in accordance with contracts signed by the home owners and that the family made a profit on both transactions after paying the exit fees.

"The affordability of our homes is a key reason many residents choose a Lifestyle Communities option in the first place given the lower up-front cost due to the [exit fee] model," Lifestyle said.

Moving homes within Lifestyle is an issue of concern for a number of people.

One resident of a Lifestyle Community who wrote to the ABC said: "I'm not sure if you are aware that if you decide to sell your house in a Lifestyle Community and purchase another in the same village, Lifestyle also charge the same exit fees to both yourself as the vendor and also the vendor of the house you are purchasing, thereby doubling their profit. 

"I feel this is a very unscrupulous practice by Lifestyle."

Some others have also expressed concern about exit fees. 

For five years, Deborah Jones has been fighting for her mother, who lives in a Lifestyle community.

Deborah is taking Lifestyle to VCAT over exit fees and is calling on the government to step in and regulate the industry.

"Enabling the [exit fee] is discriminating against Victorians, and the legislation needs to be brought into line with other states," Deborah says in her VCAT claim, lodged in 2023.

Another person told the ABC that Lifestyle had charged a relative a 0.5 per cent handling fee and 2.5 per cent selling agent commission totalling $18,000 despite the relative finding the buyer and introducing the buyer to the Lifestyle agent.

"It was a friend of a friend who wanted to get into that particular site," he said.

He said the exit fee cost tens of thousands of dollars to "get out of their clutches".

"She has the psychological scar of feeling like a complete idiot for ever going there in the first place," he said.

Lifestyle said in a statement the home owner chose to appoint Lifestyle Communities and signed its selling agreement, which sets out the terms of the engagement, including the fees charged.

"It is also important to note that Lifestyle does not make a profit on agent commissions," the company said.

'Do your homework'

Lifestyle, which declined to give an on-camera interview for the 7.30 investigation, wrote to all residents the day after the program aired, expressing it was "disappointed" with the coverage and that it was "distressed that this matter is playing out in the media and the impact this may have on the Lifestyle brand and potential value of your homes".

It sparked debate among residents, some believing it was designed "to pit home owners against each other".

Some contacted the ABC, defending the company and expressing anger that another side of their community had been ventilated.

At Shepparton, a meeting of residents gave support to Lifestyle.

At another village, a resident was concerned the stories could have a negative impact on the sale of properties "and the many advantages of these communities for most residents".

Another said they looked at the paperwork before signing and were aware of what their family would incur.

"The price of our home has significantly increased over the years, in fact so much so, that the exit fees will be more than covered … We have our own voices and do not agree with what was said," the resident said.

Another said they were sorry there were some unhappy residents, "but do your homework before you sign on the dotted line".

Lifestyle said the purpose of the letter to residents was to provide reassurance to concerned home owners regarding its model and the security of their homes.

"As a business for purpose, we have been hurt by recent allegations aired by the ABC," it said in a statement, noting that it stood by its model.

It said it was easy to sell and move on from a Lifestyle community, adding the average profit per home owner was $86,000.

"Lifestyle stands behind the [exit fee] model and notes that most operators in Victoria have [an exit fee]," its statement said.

Discontent brewing in communities around the country

The issues raised by some of the residents at Lifestyle's Wollert Community have put the national spotlight on a sector that until now has largely flown under the radar, despite its size and gaps in the state-based regulations.

Across the industry, stories of bullying, intimidation, fee gouging, excessive rent increases and misleading contracts abound.

In Queensland, Roger Marshall, the president of a volunteer group that advocates for land lease (also referred to as residential parks) residents, the Queensland Manufactured Home Owners Association (QMHOA), told the ABC the land lease sector has great potential as a retirement living option, but weak regulation had resulted in some questionable business practices being allowed to continue.

"It is the view of QMHOA that the factor which underpins all of the stories of dissatisfaction and concern from home owners about the way they are treated by park owners is a significant imbalance of power in the relationship between the two parties and the way in which park owners abuse their power advantage in pursuit of their own self-interest at the expense of their customers," he said.

"A recurring theme in our conversations with home owners when they come to us with concerns is their feelings of being trapped and unable to do anything about the injustices of the situation they face," he said.

A survey across the Queensland land lease sector in 2022 found one of the biggest concerns was rent and housing affordability.

It found 60 per cent of respondents were not happy with how their last market review of site rent was conducted and 41 per cent indicated site rent increases had affected their ability to afford other essential items.

On the other side of the country, in Perth, Graeme Sinden helped organise a petition that was signed by more than 125 dissatisfied residents at the land lease community he lives in.

The petition, supplied to the ABC, says residents feel misled and that the facility has not met their expectations.

It also raises concerns about unfairness in the rental fee structure in the village, with some residents paying more than others due to an array of different agreements.

Another resident who signed the petition said the reason residents signed was that over the past three years potential residents were promised additional features and facilities by the marketing team, but these had not yet been delivered.

"This is still very much a work in progress and, in fact, has now been stalled and the area is fenced off. The proposed swimming pool appears from the picture on the website to be the size of a small paddling pool – hardly functional for a village of 397 residents (whose number increases each month)," the person said.

Back in Victoria, Judy Duff has seen firsthand some of the challenges with land lease communities.

She tried to leave her land lease community a few years ago but the exorbitant fees made it unaffordable to buy elsewhere.

"Once you're in, you can't get out and you can't afford to get out," she says.

Judy decided to do something about the lack of protections for retirees and 18 months ago set up a grassroots group, Victorian Manufactured Home Owners Association, to lobby for change.

She describes the situation in Victoria as a "legislative black hole".

"The operators have been allowed to go on their merry way and do as they please," she says.

"We need legislation, reform. We need standard leases; we need exit fees to be voided. We need dispute resolution. And we also need management to be trained in what is and what isn't elderly abuse."

She has created a series of photo boards of residents living in difficult conditions, including poor maintenance by some operators.

They include pictures of an uneven area where an elderly woman fell and broke her hip, a land lease operator that is selling homes in a community that lacks footpaths, requiring residents to walk on roadways with numerous potholes.

"Even when dry, this road is a major safety hazard," the storyboard says.

In another, she says "many of these villages have hastily constructed homes with terrible building faults".

"Some examples include mould growing in bathrooms, leaking windows, plumbing not connected, poor drainage and mould building up underneath houses from lack of ventilation."

The day after 7.30 aired, the Victorian government said it would strengthen protections for Victorians living in land lease communities and said the commissioner for residential tenancies would lead a research project to "better understand issues impacting residents" in partnership with the Consumer Policy Research Centre and provide a report to the government by the end of the year.

The government has been aware of deficiencies in the legislation for more than a decade but has continued to drag its heels. 

Residents are hopeful that this time they will act.

Housing for the Aged Action Group chief executive Fiona York has been lobbying for change for years.

In terms of whether the reforms go far enough, she is encouraged the government is starting to take the sector more seriously, but says there is still a lot that needs to be done.

"We hope to see the government take action on things like unfair fees, management training and accreditation, and issues with dispute resolution," she says.

She says over the past two and a half years, one of the land lease companies about which residents contacted her organisation most for advice was Palm Lake Resort Willow Lodge, operated by Palm Lake Group.

She says since new managers took over earlier this year, things have improved.

"We would say this supports our claim that the government should introduce mandatory training and accreditation for retirement housing managers," she says.

'They're bullies'

Donna Moore saw firsthand the dirty tactics used by this operator after she inherited her grandmother's home at the Willow Lodge community in Bangholme, Victoria, and tried to sell it.

She says she was told her grandmother's 99-year lease did not exist and that the house had "serious defects," which meant Palm Lake could not consent to the sale of the home in its current state. It instead offered her a small fee.

Donna challenged the operator in VCAT, saying she felt a responsibility to fight, to make it easier for the next person.

"Some poor old person who has to go into aged care, they'll be left with nothing if they try to sell an older home," she said.

The tribunal upheld her grandmother's 99-year lease and in a separate hearing found that the house didn't have "serious defects".

Both parties to the dispute provided the tribunal with expert reports on the condition of the home. Palm Lake relied on an expert whose building licence had expired five years earlier.

The tribunal found the expert report relied on by Palm Lake "appeared to be exaggerated" and not supported by the photos.

It said the report included warnings of significant health and safety risks from asbestos and electrocution but noted the expert never observed these things and repeated references to "major wood rot" was not supported by the photos.

Ms Moore says she sold her grandmother's home later that year for $240,000, which was significantly more than the original offer.

"They're bullies, the power imbalance is so over the top," she says.

She described the behaviour as elder financial abuse. 

"They sell the idea of a lovely retirement, but the reality is anything but."

In a statement, the company said: "There are several older Willow Lodge homes that do not pass modern building requirements because building standards have changed dramatically over the past five decades."

"Palm Lake Resort is protecting future purchasers of these older-style homes by not issuing a site agreement until the home complies with modern building requirements."

The company said it recently spent $1.5 million on improvements to the resort, and opened a $5 million community facility for residents.

Palm Lake's Willow Lodge have been challenged in VCAT before.

Back in 2014, consumer advocacy group the Consumer Action Law Centre (CALC) took action on behalf of 14 residents, claiming the exit fees were an unfair contract term, operated as a penalty and were harsh and unconscionable.

Some of the clients claimed they were invalid due to non-compliance under the relevant legislation.

Eighteen months into the dispute, both parties settled.

Willow Lodge agreed to waive the exit fees of six of the 14 residents.

Two had their exit fees reduced to 4 per cent of the sale price and the others settled with a cap of 12 per cent on the exit fee for residents who had owned their home for 10 years or more.

All settled on the basis a rent review clause would require the company to commit exit fee revenue to capital improvements to the community.

Over the course of the dispute, some of the 14 residents were suffering declining health, including one admitted to hospital up to 10 times to treat a vascular condition, one treated for breast cancer and was waiting to move into a nursing home, one had bowel cancer, two had a heart attack, one had a neurological condition and suffered uncontrollable seizures and suffered random and uncontrollable seizures throughout the litigation.

At the time CALC, said elderly consumers were not well-equipped to deal with lengthy, adversarial and stressful litigation due to their declining health.

A few months later, a parliamentary inquiry into retirement housing made a series of recommendations including the introduction of a retirement housing ombudsman to help address deficiencies and challenges faced by the elderly in the existing dispute resolution process.

Eight years on, residents are still waiting.

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