When you enter college, your classes tend to sail fairly smoothly during the first few weeks. You use the planner you receive at SOAR, writing down everything. After a while, you fall out of the routine of lugging that thing around. And then your classes get harder. Soon, you feel like you are drowning in deadlines, completely unorganized, and maybe an overall mess.
“So? How can I not fall behind classes?”
But fear not. That won’t be you, especially if you follow my best piece of advice for your studying: a bullet journal. One may wonder how keeping a journal would help academically, but in my experience, a lack of organization is a huge cause for lagging behind in your studies. With a bullet journal handy, life becomes a whole lot more manageable.
“What is a bullet journal, and how do I keep one?”
A quick Google search will show you thousands of beautifully kept and decorated journals, full of charts and drawings. But honestly, the classic bullet journal doesn’t require any art or time at all. It just involves repetition and an organized way of planning out things.
Here are my best tips:
- Find any notebook that’s big enough for you to write in, and preferably lined.
- Create a key in the notebook for different colors and symbols, etc. (Ex: In mine, blue pen means a Homework assignment, and a Star means that it’s important.)
- Every day, list the tasks you have to do for the day. Check them off as they get completed.
- You can create mini monthly calendars as well, for deadlines.
- Make it yours. Personalize it, stick things in there, and don’t think of it as a chore.
Have fun!