One thing that students often sometimes neglect when it comes to holds is to apply an anticipated cross-wind correction when entering the hold. Make sure you copy down the local winds aloft on your kneeboard prior to departure. Now you don't have to know exactly how much to adjust it but a logical guess goes a long way on getting established in the hold after the entry.

Example: Winds 360 at 30kts hold on 090R standard turns with a teardrop entry. On that entry fly a heading of 040 or 050 rather than the academic 060 heading. This will minimize you blowing though the inbound due to strong tailwinds when turning inbound and allow you to get established on that inbound so that you know exactly how much to correct on the following outbound.

Another technique I have is to use a 1:30 for the parallel entry rather than the one minute. This works as max holding speed below 6000 is 200kias and most training airplanes when holding are flown 90-100kias. Using 1:30 still keeps me well in the protected area and again allows me to get better established on that first inbound after the entry.