Some airplanes are “slicker” than others, meaning they don’t produce as much drag due to retractable gear, or low-drag wings and other features. There’s an adage that goes along with that - “you can slow down or you can go down, but you can’t do both.” Now, that’s of course a little overblown and it doesn’t apply universally, but it’s not bad advice, overall. So in return, we have to stay ahead of the plane, planning our descent so that we’re not fast and/or high at the point where we transition to a properly configured final approach, on speed. Give yourself a mile or two at pattern altitude before actually joining the pattern, rather than descending straight into it or doing a long straight-in.
Part of this is understanding how the wind (and maybe higher TAS at altitude) is affecting your groundspeed, and it is often different aloft than on the surface. A strong tailwind during descent, on downwind, or base can really make a plan that doesn’t take those into account go poorly.
But if you do end up high and fast…
Level out momentarily at low power to get configured. Drop the gear first, then get down into flaps range before continuing. Bring the props up to full fine pitch at idle and they get pretty draggy. Most people don’t realize how much extra power they carry and that they can really bring it further down to idle. Just avoid shock-cooling or breaking gearboxes by making abrupt power changes in some aircraft.
Another is using geometry - widen and/or extend your pattern (this is common for faster airplanes). Do a few S turns (or the ol’ 360). Of course, this method can work against you in regard to other traffic and perhaps terrain/obstacles, not to mention potentially putting you out of glide range to the airport.
You can also use a forward slip, though it really shouldn’t be relied on in some aircraft and configurations (per the POH). But it’s a useful skill and almost required for some flapless aircraft and/or short-field/obstacle landing situations.
But in the end, don’t get behind the airplane - be at the target speed and altitude on downwind to begin with. Pull power and start configuring midfield downwind, or abeam the numbers at the very latest. Practice, practice, practice pattern work.
And if it doesn’t look good, you can always go around.
