odette

Hey guys, so I’m nearing the end of my senior year, and it’s been great so far! I accomplished my academic tasks efficiently and didn’t burn myself out, and I think the main contributor to my success as a student is my organization system. This system has been refined throughout my high school years, but I think now I’ve finally found the most effective methods.

Please remember that this isn’t the only organization system you can adopt; this is just the one that works the best for me, and I hope that by sharing it with you, you’ll gain a new perspective on how to stay organized as a high school student.

The first thing I wanna talk about is my notebook system, which I briefly mentioned in my Guide to Note-Taking.

My notebook system comprises three types of notebooks: the Everything Notebook, the subject notebook, and the revision notebook.

The Everything Notebook

The first stage is in-class notes. I only bring one notebook to school every day. I call it my Everything Notebook, and this is where I write down all of the notes I take in class. This way, I don’t have to lug around six notebooks where I’m only going to use a few pages in each of them that day.

Subject Notebooks

At the end of the day, I would revise my notes and compare them to the syllabus so I know where we are in the learning process. I would then transfer my class notes from my Everything Notebook to my different subject notebooks. This is stage two. I also start to jazz up my notes because I use the notes in my subject notebooks to study for tests.

In addition to my class notes, I include material from my teachers’ notes that they might not have elaborated on, as well as points in the syllabus (I’m currently taking A2) that were only glazed over briefly, or not at all, in some cases. (Note: this does not mean they completely skip a chapter or topic; it’s more like they missed a few bullet points that should be in my notes but aren’t. An example would be if we’re learning about phenol reactions and the teacher forgot to mention the use of FeCl3 as a test for phenol.)

Revision Notebooks

Stage three comes a little later, when exam week is just around the corner. Essentially, I rewrite and improve my notes from my five different subject notebooks into a single revision notebook or binder. (Recently, I’ve opted for a revision notebook because they’re lighter and easier to carry around.)

Because my teachers don’t always teach in the order of the syllabus, the first thing I do is organize my notes according to the syllabus. I would then fill in any other missing gaps in the material that hadn’t been filled in stage two.

When compiling material for my revision notebook, I use as many sources as possible: my own notes, my teachers’ notes, youtube videos, online sites, and my favorite, the mark scheme! I add in some answers from past papers (explanations only, so no calculations) mainly to secure marks. It’s safer to memorize definitions straight from the mark scheme than from the textbook or from handouts. I also do this to ease my memorization, especially for topics that require lengthy explanations. It’s a lot easier to remember the 6 points I need to explain the principles of NMRI than to remember everything in the four-page handout my teacher gave me.

Folders and binders are essential to organizing your papers. Some people keep a single accordion folder for all their papers, but for me it’s just too heavy to carry around all the time. The same goes for subject folders that are brought to school every day.

Instead, my binder/folder system comprises my Everything Folder and my subject binders.

The Everything Folder

The folder I carry with me to school every day is this A4 folder I got from Tokyu Hands. It has 5 pockets, one for each day of the week, so all the papers I receive on Monday will go behind the first divider, and so on.

Some people also keep blank papers in their folders; I don’t because my school has its own lined paper and graphing pads that I keep under my desk that I use if a teacher asks us to do an assignment on those papers. If I do work at home, I prefer to just use a plain A4 paper or a legal pad.

Subject Binders

At the end of the week, I’ll sort my papers into my subject binders. Sometimes I’ll keep some papers in the folder if I think I’ll be needing it the next week. This usually only applies to worksheets because all my teachers’ notes are available on Google Classroom, so I can access them even if I don’t physically have them.

Each of these binders have sections inside them:

Physics: 1 for handouts, notes, and tests, 1 for Paper 4 (Theory), 1 for Paper 5 (Practical Planning). I included extra tabs to mark the different topics in the handouts section.

Chemistry: same as Physics.

Economics: 1 for Paper 3 (MCQ), 1 for Paper 4 (Case Study and Essay). A lot of my Economics material is online, though.

English: 1 for Paper 3 (Text and Discourse analysis), and 2 for Paper 4 (Language Topics, which includes 1 for Child Language Acquisition, 1 for World Englishes). Past papers, handouts, and notes all go under their respective topics.

Mathematics: I just keep everything together because I never revise math and just constantly do past papers.

This makes it easier for me to revise each subject because I can just take one binder with me instead of a messy folder with everything just shoved in there.

I keep a magazine file for each of my A-Level subjects (English and Mathematics are combined). All my textbooks, revision guides, and subject notebooks are kept here, so if I need to revise one subject, that’s the magazine file I’ll take out.

These magazine files prevent any small things (like my book of flashcards) from being shoved to the back of my bookshelf, or materials from different subjects from getting mixed up.

In my senior year, I mostly plan using this app called Edo Agenda. It syncs across all my devices for free and has all the features I need: a to do list to organize tasks, monthly and weekly calendars to organize events, a journal to organize notes and memos.

I used to bullet journal regularly, but it takes too much time during weekdays, so now I just bullet journal for the therapeutic effects it gives me, and I use an app for organizing tasks and events. Sometimes at the end of each week, I’ll transfer my tasks to my bullet journal and then decorate the page, but again, this is just for its therapy.

Organizing your school supplies is just as important as organizing your papers and notes. With a more organized backpack and pencil case, you won’t waste time looking for your things at the bottom of an abyss.

Pencil Case

I don’t find it necessary to bring so much stationery to school unless I plan on making notes at school (usually during revision week).

Backpack

Because we’re already in the revision term, I don’t really carry a lot of things in my everyday backpack, just the following:

Pencil case

Everything Notebook

Everything Folder

Revision notebook

Kindle

Phone

Wallet

Earphones

Calculator

Speaker

Drinking bottle

A pouch with things like a hairbrush, pads, and lip balm

if you realize you’ve been studying for hours: grab a snack to refuel your body and watch a sitcom to refuel your brain. then back to the books.

if you’re feeling stressed out: take some deep breaths, text your friends, maybe stare at a wall for a few minutes. gather yourself.

if you can’t seem to focus: get moving and get outside. take out the garbage, check your mail box, maybe walk your dog. just get moving and get fresh air. it’ll help bring you back.

if there’s something else going on in your life and you can’t get it off your mind: write down what’s going through your head, sort of like a diary entry. it’ll help you work things out.

if you’re just mentally and physically exhausted: set a timer for 25-30 minutes and take a nap. any longer and you’ll hit REM and you’ll wake up feeling just as tired. once you wake up, get some caffeine in you.

if the material is boring as hell: find another way to study. see if there’s a crash course video online about it or draw out what you’re trying to learn in diagrams and pictures to make it fun.

if people around you won’t shut up: listen to some music. soundtrack and classical music is always good because they won’t absorb you as much as music with lyrics. white noise (like ocean waves, rain sounds, etc.) also works.

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all books are good books.  you are not a “lesser reader” if you only read manga or comic books or a “better reader” for reading academic heavy texts.

reading is reading no matter what it is, be it a graphic novel, a romance, a classic, an audiobook, a picture book, a cookbook, fanfiction, fucking whatever, read what makes you happy

bby it took me under 2m to remove your watermark in paint bc i cbf 2 boot up ps ._.’

also are you a nigger?

who’d want to pretend to be a nigger. P:’

oh, i get it, niggers are stealing your work.

Combined with the following ask:

Do you have any tips for how to improve self-esteem and confidence? I think I may be an xNTJ but years of bullying, betrayal, depression, and bereavement have left me feeling pretty low and worthless.

A few thoughts below.

To my 20 year old self

You can be right and still lose the argument. How you communicate to someone and how you deliver the message is just as important as the contents of the message itself. If you disregard the nuances of other human beings and come off as a total asshole, they’ll completely shut down and reject your input no matter how great it is.

Don’t fight battles with no rewards. If people can’t stop you, they’ll try to distract you so you’ll trip over your own feet and sabotage yourself. Don’t let them.

Older people may be less intelligent than you, but they have more experience– listen and learn. Even idiots can teach you what not to do.

Shut up. Most situations don’t require your input, your action, your reaction, or your intervention. Often times it’s like throwing gas on a fire to put it out. If you’re patient and wait, the answers tend to reveal themselves or the problem will solve itself.

Always do your laundry, there’s nothing worse than running out of clean underwear.

On building self-esteem and confidence

Stop explaining yourself to people who have already made up their minds about you. It’s a waste of time so tend to the relationships with the people who genuinely care for your well-being.

Finish. Quitting is a pathological disorder that can spread to other areas of your life. If you quit at one thing, the odds are you have low resilience and you will give up at other endeavors in your life. No matter what– finish. Get to the end. No matter how imperfect you think the outcome will be, finish. You’ll either have a sense of accomplishment from having completed something, lessons learned from the failure, or both. 

Small victories build confidence. If you can’t do the small things correctly, you won’t be able to tackle the big things. If you can’t wake up in the morning and jog a mile consistently then you’re not going to be able to climb Mount Everest. Patience is key and biting off more than you can chew will often end in failure and demoralization. Practice makes perfect, and progress takes time. 

Pain is weakness leaving the body. Build your tolerance by trying new things outside of your comfort zone, push yourself when you feel like you want to quit, and confront the things you fear the most. Similar to lifting weights, the only way your body can grow stronger is by steadily increasing the weights until you can bear heavier burdens. The more you do this, the easier it becomes.

Be a thermostat, not a thermometer. That is, be consistent in your values, personality, and habits– don’t let your emotions and behavior mold to your environment because you’ll always be in a state of flux. It makes you vulnerable to other people dictating your moods.

Follow your heart but take your brain with you. Do the things you love but in a logical and planned way. Don’t question your goal if it’s what you truly want to do, but scrutinize your method because that’s what will determine success or failure.

On college

Evidence is more powerful than theory. In college and in the real world, you must be able to prove your abilities with evidence because just being “smart” isn’t enough. That evidence is superior performance, high grades, high test scores, and strong internships. You can’t stroll into a job interview and debate the interviewer, declare victory, and secure the position. Come with proof.  

Do well no matter what. Even if you’re unsure about your major, never let your performance slide because GPAs are cumulative. If you only do well in the subjects you love, it will reveal to employers that you have selective motivation. This is a problem because in the real world you won’t enjoy everything assigned to you even at a job you love and employers need to have confidence you can still succeed.

Who you know is as important as what you know. Connections matter in the real world, don’t overlook building relationships with people who will be your peers, your friends, future colleagues, and potential future bosses for the rest of your life and professional career.

Don’t fuck around. If you’re paying thousands of dollars in tuition and going into debt, make sure you pick a career that can sustain you after you graduate. No matter how much you love fine arts, if you go $100,000 into debt at 6.5% interest, your life will be extremely difficult. Find a balance between what you love and what can support you.