The biggest spelling bee of the season is right around the corner. All your friends are hard at work. They are determined to leave no stone unturned in order to achieve glory at this year’s spelling bee.

From word lists to practice sheets, your peers have completed them all. From words that are easy to spell, to the ones that can twist your tongue, they have mastered them all.

In short, they are fully prepared to take on the challenges that are about to be thrown into their way at the spelling bee.

And then, there is you.

You took procrastination to a whole new level as you went on delaying your preparations for the spelling bee, and now it’s too late.
What do you do now? Is this season’s spelling bee over for you before it even started?

Believe it or not, there is still some hope for you. Although you have wasted a lot of time, you can still make up for it. Preparing for the spelling bee when it’s already too late is a daunting task, but it is anything but impossible.

In this article, we will explore the steps you need to follow to prepare for the upcoming spelling bee no matter how late you’re.

Note: Under general circumstances, if you have around 30 days before the spelling bee kicks off, you are pretty much in the clear and you will not need to rush your preparations. This article will focus on the preparation steps you will have to take when you have less than 15 days to prepare.

1: Calculate how much time you have in your hand

Assuming that you have less than 15 days at hand, your first and foremost task is to take a good look at the calendar and find out how many days you have remaining. Once you have calculated the time you have at hand, you will be able to understand how much cramming you have to do.

This step will serve two different but very important purposes.

Firstly, you will be aware of how late you are and how much time you have to fit in all the work.

Secondly, as your preparation deadline is right there knocking on your front door, you are likely to be hit by a sense of slight fear which can further help your fuel your cramming sessions.

Remember, there are people out there who manage to cover large volumes of their exam syllabus the night before their exam. So if they can do it, you should be able to as well.

2: Look at the volume of content you are yet to cover

Your next task is to go through the syllabus and the word lists to see how much you know and how much you don’t.

In this step, you should also take the time to go through all the rules and regulations of the spelling bee you’re about to participate in.

Don’t be scared if the content to be covered is a lot more than what you initially expected. This happens to everyone who waits till the very last minute to start preparations.

3: Isolate all unknown or difficult words from the word lists

This is where the main preparation starts.

You need to pick out words from the word lists which seem unknown or difficult to you. These words can be the ones which are difficult in general, or are completely new to you. Choose this set of words carefully as they will next be composed as a separate new word list for your last minute preparations.

See also

Understanding conjunction words and where to use them

Check out the spelling bee word lists here.

4: Prepare a separate word list with the isolated words

Once you’ve isolated all the unknown and difficult words from the word lists, you need to put them all together in a new list.

This new list is your best friend for the next few days up until the competition ends.

Take one whole day for step 1 and 2, and another day for step 3 and 4. This will leave you with at least 12-13 days for the main preparation.

Import your custom word lists into the Spelling Bee Ninja training platform and practice them here.

5: Note down certain attributes of the words from your newly prepared list

Word attributes include things like the root words and pronunciations of the words from your word list. You should also write down at least two sentences using each word.

This step should be completed in a day or two. These attributes are vital to your spelling bee success. Root words help you to breakdown complex or long words into smaller words and help you understand their origin. The pronunciations are to be written right next to the word. You’ll be able to see the difference between the spelling of the word and the way it’s pronounced.

Sentences are to be written down so that you can know where and how these words are used.