A New Semester Approaches: Make It a Good One with Our Top Ten Tips

0 Comments08/26/11

A brand new school year is about to begin, and with it comes a massive juggling act: time management, prioritizing, organizing, test preparation, paper writing, deadlines, meetings, study groups, part-time jobs, and extracurricular activities, among other things, are enough to make your head spin. Here are some tips to make the transition from summer to “back to school” a little easier, whether you're in high school or college.

Tip #1: Don't let all the “stuff” on your plate overwhelm you. Millions of people have survived the rigors of student life, and you can, too.

Tip #2: Get a calendar, an agenda, or a little notebook for to-do lists.

Tip #3: Use the aforementioned calendar, agenda, or little notebook every single day. Trying to manage your time without some kind of memory-prompting device is like trying to get groceries home without a bag. Something invariably gets dropped, damaged, misplaced, or vanishes altogether. If your school provides an agenda, use it! If not, get a cheap calendar and carry it with you (yes, all the time). August is a great month to find rock-bottom prices on a calendar for the current year, and as the holidays approach, card stores generally feature a stack of free calendars for the new year at the checkout counter. Having trouble deciding whether you need a day-by-day, week-by-week, or month-by-month calendar view? Consider this: Day-by-day agendas are great for breaking out the details of a really huge project, but you'll need a “month at a glance” feature to get the big picture.

Tip #4: For the non-pen-and-paper types among us, check out these recommendations for iPhone calendar and to-do list apps, and Android calendar and to-do list apps.

Tip #5: Vow to take good notes.

Tip #6: Tip #5 requires paper and a writing instrument, although there are many good electronic note-taking systems as well. Regardless of which method you use, be prepared. Carry your pen and paper, your iPad, or your phone throughout the school day. That way, when the voice inside your head says, “I probably should write this down,” you'll be able to heed the call.

Tip #7: Unless your instructor specifically requests that you organize your work in a certain way, use a system that works for you. Forget the fluff—you'll need notebooks that won't fall apart, binders with strong rings that open every time without bloodying your fingers, stiff-backed folders, plain old #2 lead pencils with good erasers, and ballpoint pens with black or blue ink. Again, an electronic system can work fine, too, as long as you use it.

Tip #8: If you're using spiral notebooks for in-class assignments, make sure the left-hand side of each page is perforated for easy removal. Ragged edges on sheets of paper torn from a spiral notebook are the visual equivalent of a banshee's wails.

Tip #9: If you prefer binders over notebooks, accept the fact that you'll need a hole punch (not necessarily a three-hole punch that weighs ten pounds and costs 30 bucks—a 4-dollar handheld punch will do nicely). So when that ten-page study guide without any holes lands on your desk, you won't be tempted to use a broken pencil from the bottom of your backpack as a primitive hole-poking implement.

Tip #10: Failure to observe Tip #9 can ruin your day. How, you ask? You know that single pocket on the inside cover of most heavy-duty binders? It can only hold so much before stretching out or tearing—and consequently becoming completely useless. The resulting jumble of spilled pages isn't pretty.

Next time, we'll see what the experts say about study habits, multitasking, and brain freeze. HINT: The last one has nothing to do with ice cream.

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