Organization

Organization is one of the keys to succeeding in college. It sounds weird, we know. How can staying organized really affect your grades, after all. The truth is, organization is going to affect your grades – a lot. And it isn’t just making sure your clothes are picked up, it’s everything that needs to stay organized. Pretty much if you’re not organized, you’re going to be stressed. And college is a little stressful on its own.

To start with, you need to make sure all of your college course supplies are organized right down to your pens. You need to know where everything is in your dorm room. You’re going to be on the go quite a bit for your classes, and the last thing you want to do is hunt for a pen that you thought was in this certain drawer. Keep your things organized from the start. This may be harder if you’ve never really been an organized person, but once you get used to it, it will be easier. When you’re unpacking when you get to college, find designated spots for things and make sure you always keep those things in those spots. In other words, when you’re finished with your index note cards or other supply, make sure they get put back where you originally decided to keep them. It will make your life so much easier to have all of your class supplies neatly organized.

One of the most important things that need to stay organized are your notes and homework. We’ve talked about it before, so I won’t say it again other than this – you need to have a good planner for college. You need to be able to keep track of your homework and have it all in a convenient place so you don’t forget to do something. Outside of the planner, you need to keep your notes organized. Don’t get in the habit of highlighting every single thing in a book because you think it’s important. Same goes for your notes. Highlight headings and important terms and if there’s something your professor stresses that you need to know, highlight that too. Invest in binder dividers so you can keep your units separated – you don’t want to throw out your notes after a unit is done. There will be exams at the end of the school year that you’ll need those for. How you organize your notes doesn’t matter – if you’re typing them, you can keep them organized in sub folders off of the folder for the class. If you’re handwriting the notes, keep them in folders or have them divided or even invest in those small Sticky Note Tabs to separate the topics. If you’re keeping your notes in loose leaf paper in a binder, make sure you have paper reinforcements, too. You’re going to be turning those pages a lot – you want to make sure all the notes stay in your binder! And most importantly – make sure you have homework that you have to turn in in a separate folder or pocket of your binder. You don’t want to have to search through everything like you may have done in high school to find your assignment!