By: Marissa Adamo
keep an agenda
Have a calendar in your bag (whether it be a digital calendar or a physical planner)! I recommend keeping at least one to plan out all of my mandatory events that you have to attend throughout the day, such as class times, sports practices, club meetings, and work-study hours.
Notion is a free online build-your-own planner that provides templates to start mapping out your entire year and has helped me tremendously during my sophomore year of college. I built a planner with folders for each year (sophomore and onward) that contain files with a master calendar, a day-to-day plan, and a to-do list.
For extremely busy people, to-do lists save a lifetime. I have a to-do list notepad from Staples and write one every morning, ranking my priorities from most critical to least critical. These assignments do not necessarily have to be work or school-related since we assume that we have a plan with all of our tasks written down. I typically write down necessary chores I have to get done or reminders to tell myself before leaving my room to go to class.
I also keep a day-to-day physical agenda in my backpack for class and club meetings. I found it easy for me (whether it be a notebook or an agenda) to always jot down short-hand notes of what assignments I have to do that day, and if it is a long-term project, I will fill the spaces out in later days of the week in my schedule.
Keep a home-folder/binder
I always keep a binder labeled for all of my classes with pockets that keep loose-leaf papers from the professors (tests, quizzes, notes). Since most professors are shifting to an online format for tests, quizzes, and note distribution, I have nothing more than the tabs to categorize the papers. You can also have a home folder with two pockets, but I find it more organized to section the files by class type (plus, the folder gets full quickly)!
subject notebook and textbook purchasing methods
I recommend waiting the first week before purchasing any expensive textbook or additional notebooks. Some professors may explain to get a different textbook or walk you through how to buy it on a database. Also, some professors may not prefer you to take notes from your laptop (while some do), so it is wise to see which class needs a notebook for notetaking and which class you can roll into with your computer.