Organization and Study Tips for College

For many college students around the country, this is the second week of classes, which means exams are anywhere from 2-4 weeks away. That might still seem like a lot of time, but as the coursework starts picking up, it's easy to get overwhelmed as that time flies by, so here are some organization and study tips for college students.

1. Invest in a planner. No, I do not mean spend $50 on a 5-in-1 life planner, address book, farmers almanac, 5 year calendar, huge spiral bound monstrosity. Yes, these do work wonderfully for some people, and if you are one of those people, please be my guest. What I mean is that you should invest time and energy into setting up your planner and continually using it throughout the year. When I get my syllabi at the beginning of each semester, I like to go into my planner and mark all of the test dates and project due dates for the entire semester. Occasionally these dates may get shuffled around, but at least you'll have it in your planner to begin with, and then you can scratch it out and rewrite it or draw a huge arrow from the original date to the new date. You also have to invest a few minutes outside of class to write down homework assignments and then check to make sure you've completed everything that needs to get done. Usually if I don't have any upcoming assignments in a class, I'll make a note of that too, just so that when I'm looking back through my planner I know I haven't forgotten something for that class.

2. Use sticky notes. Seriously, there are a million different practical applications for the usage of sticky notes. They make marvelous book marks that you can annotate and they're really handy for reminding you of stuff. I like to make notes of assignments and due dates on sticky notes and post them on the wall above my desk. When I finish the assignment, I take it down, crumple it up, and throw it in the trash can, giving me a wonderful feeling of accomplishment until I look back up at the wall and see at least 10 more sticky notes waiting to be removed. Basically however you choose to use them, sticky notes are wonderful little things!

3. Keep your course materials together. Some people like to have a different folder or binder for each class, so if that works for you, go ahead! I personally don't like constantly having to switch out binders, mostly because I'm terrified I'll bring the wrong one by mistake. However you choose to keep papers and materials organized, make sure you continued to use it. It can become really easy to just cram a bunch of handouts into the front pocket of a binder, but then you end up having to shuffle through a huge stack of paper to find what you're looking for, and it takes forever. So, I recommend using dividers or one of those accordion pocket folders to keep papers organized by class and, if you're really ambitious, by subsection.

4. Flashcards. We've now moved on to "study" tips, and the first big one is FLASHCARDS! The reason the flashcards are so popular is that they work! True, you may merely be memorizing the concepts, but hey, sometimes that's all it takes to do well on a test. Some people like using online flashcard websites and programs, and again, if this works for you, do it! I'm a personal fan of handwriting my own flashcards out on note cards (usually note cards that I've cut in half so's to save paper). I find that simply writing out the concepts onto the flashcards helps me, and having the physical flashcards with me in my backpack allows me to review/study, with or without internet access during short breaks of time that I would normally just waste playing a game on my phone.

5. Read the textbook. Your professor assigned it for a reason: it will help you do well in the class. I'm not saying that you have to read ahead in the book, so that you already know exactly what your professor is talking about, but it's good to not fall really far behind. I remember for one of my intro biology classes, I felt fairly comfortable with the material, so I chose not to read the book, assuming that attending lectures and workshops would be enough to do well. During the week of the first test, other students told me that there would apparently be a significant part of the test that came directly from the book instead of the lectures, so I panicked and started reading right away, and, wouldn't you know it, I fell asleep after reading the first 3 pages. I mean, deep, deep sleep; like I think I crashed for about 2 hours because the book was so boring, I was overwhelmed with how much I needed to read, and I was exhausted. Please, learn from my mistakes and read the assigned parts of the book!

6. Learn your learning style. Are you a visual learner or an auditory learner? How about a kinesthetic or logical learner or a solitary or social learner? Figure out what learning styles work best for you, and use it to your advantage. If you're an auditory learner, ask your professor if you can record the lectures and listen to them again. If you're visual, study figures and diagrams more closely and try to write things out. If you're not sure what learning style you have, you can take a quiz online such as these: Educationplanner.org
       LDpride.net
       Vark: A guide to learning styles

7. Form a study group and take turns "teaching" the concepts to one another. Research shows that being able to teach a concept indicates mastery of the concept, so while you're studying with your friends, take a break and try to explain it to them without using any of your notes. If you're able to clearly explain the concept to them, then you probably understand it enough yourself to do well on the test/assignment. Also, when working with a study group, try and use a variety of learning styles to help all of the members of the group.

I hope that these tips have given you new ideas about different things to try (or not to try) to help you do well in your classes this semester, or to help you stay organized and on top of things. Thank you for reading my blog, and please check back here often for new posts.