#weeks until

Top 3 Tips for School // Universi-Tea Back to School Challenge

Many, many days late on the schedule I was doing for this challenge, BUT! These are my best tips for school:

1) Read ahead. 

I know so many students who don’t read before class (if at all - I’ve known several people who never buy/rent the books, even when we actually need it - I don’t get how they pass!). Here’s why this is important:

Sometimes what’s done in class is NOT in the book, and vice-versa. For example, my history class last year - really cool class, way outside the box with creativity and getting us to really think about events and time periods. I stopped reading the book at all eventually, but then the tests had stuff I didn’t recognize at all - and it wasn’t Google-able either! It had to have been book stuff.

When you read ahead, the lecture becomes a way to test your memory of what you read. This is especially great in classes where the teachers just go through the book and don’t add much else to it. If you find yourself saying “oh yea, I remember that” then you leave class with a good idea of how much studying you need to do!

Less in-class notes. Yo, my class notes are a disaster and barely legible. If I can sit there and only write down the extra tidbits that are not in the book or make a note of what the professor says will definitely be on the tests, then I spend less time trying to write every detail down and more time just listening.

This also gives you a buffer if for some reason you get behind.

2) “Weeks Until”

Psych paper due on November 1? On October 25, mark “1 week until psych paper.”  October 18 - “2 weeks until psych paper” and so on - I usually go 3-4 weeks out for all major things like tests/exams, papers, and presentations/projects. I use my weekly study schedule pages for this, not the tiny little boxes on my monthly calendar.

3) Project Tracker

For really in-depth projects, create a tracker. For me, a list of each part is cool, but it’s even better to have a visual representation of how much is done and still needs to get done. Check out the super beautiful one I made for my bio project here! I tracked each step, each part of the project, and the progress along the way. Made life so much easier!

CONCLUSION:

Really, the key for college is to just stay organized and plan ahead. Write everything down from your syllabus as soon as you get it, using whatever style planning system that works for you. Any additional assignments - put them in your planner as soon as you get them!!!! Also, get in the habit of looking at your week ahead - get an idea of how much reading, writing, flashcard-studying/etc. that you need to do this week and figure out when you are going to work on stuff. If you have an unusually high amount of work (midterm and finals week!), make sure you are prepared to get studying done during extra blocks of time.