Monday, February 21, 2011

Staying organized is the key to student success

By the end of February in an academic school year, a students stress level can be at an all time high, especially with all the midterms and final year end papers. With high stress levels, students become more over whelmed and forgetful, well at least this is how I get during stressful times in my school year! To help with remembering when all school assignments, papers, projects and tests are, it is always helpful to have a good planner to jot all your due dates in.

When choosing a planner for your school year, it is important to determine what your specific needs are. Here are a few of my requirements when it is time for me to choose a planner.

My key requirements for a good planner are:
Ø  It's dated. Don't settle for an undated organizer, it will only force you to lose time filling in the dates, or worse, make it too hard to use.
Ø  Has both monthly and weekly calendar. I like have an over view of each month to stay on track, but a weekly views keep me from getting too overwhelmed.
Ø  Has room for notes. A space for notes is essential addition to a personal planner as you can quickly write key points surrounding an assigned project or test.
Ø  Front or back folder flap. In my planner I prefer to have a place where I can put lose reminders, business cards or appointment cards into my planner where I can access them at anytime without loosing them.

Once you determine what key features your planner must have, it is now time to purchase the planner. Leading company in student organization, Mead, offers various planners for any student, their needs and grade level.

When you visit the student section of the company website, Mead has designed a quick survey that when finished, recommends products to meet each students specific needs. Whether you are looking to stay organized with schoolwork or extracurricular activities or to customize your planner to stand out from the rest, Mead planners will help you stay organized.

For more information on planners and other Mead products, please visit, http://www.meadonline.com/Home.aspx

Until next week,

xo xo, your how to girl!

6 comments:

  1. So I'm not going to lie, I went through a good chunk of university without writing anything in a planner. I managed to somehow store things in my head and remember them. It wasn't until this year that I really started writing everything down, and it makes things so much easier. I now write things in my calendar on my computer as well as in my planner. It makes such a difference.

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  2. I liked that you included tips on things that people should look for. My first year of university a woman came in and handed out sheets of paper with 15 minute intervals. We were supposed to schedule our days in 15 minute chunks of time as a way to make it through first year. It was overwhelming. Luckily, I found something that works for me and it's been a lot easier to stay organized and on track without constantly checking if my 15 minutes are up.

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  3. I do agree with Steph. I never used an organizer or planner. But most things at university happen during a two week span. One thing I would suggest for those that do not want to buy a planner is use the ones we are given for free. It is a good starter. I am not going to lie, I use my phone organizer because I loose my organizer all the time. So for those prone to loosing it, what type of set up would you suggest for an electronic organizer?

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  4. Like the others, I didn't use a planner in University either. At this point in my life though, I can't imagine not having one. All your criteria are definitely noteworthy as I think all of those things would be helpful in staying organized.

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  5. For an electronic organizer I haven't really found one that I have gravitated too, but I have found that my calendar on my computer has actually worked very well for me. My computer calendar layout allows me to see a month at a time (also shows individual days when selected) so I am able to see how much work I have an when I should get started. Megan, check your computers calendar program to see what its like!

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  6. I think its the key to success and also the key to insanity.

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