There's no question. To do well in school, you have to be organized.

Just as you control how you imagine yourself as a student and how you respond to the world, you control how you organize your time.

Time management gets harder in high school.

Even if you were able to stay on top of details in middle-school, you might find that juggling homework for six or more classes plus after-school activites and time with friends, gets pretty hectic. Chances are, your high school teachers aren't as quick to remind you of deadlines as your middle-school teachers were.  They might post homework on the board in class or even online, but it's up to you to keep track of what needs to get done for when. Plus, as you graduate from one grade to the next in high school, teachers expect you to work more independently.

So if your old systems are breaking down and you've got a string of "lates" and "incompletes" it's time to do something different.

But what?

Fortunately, there are people who study organization and time management professionally. Here's what they recommend:

Organize Your Stuff and Your Space

  1. Get 3-ring binders for every subject. Put every single sheet of paper related to each course in its own binder. This includes the course outline, tests, assignment sheets, evaluation rubrics, your class notes, handouts, permission forms for trips  etc. You might even want to buy or make dividers for each binder based on the subject and its themes or units. Get a small three-hole punch that you can carry in your backpack so you can quickly file everything away in the right place.
  2. Set up a study area at home. It doesn't need to be fancy, it just needs to be a quiet, distraction-free zone where supplies like a calculator, paper, pens, pencils, erasers, dictionaries etc. are readily available. The area should be well lit. Beware of computer distractions. It's better to do your homework away from the temptations of instant messaging and social-networking websites.

Organize Your Time

  1. Schedule your life. It might sound silly and a bit overwhelming, but if you can schedule everything you need to do in a day, you're more likely to get it all done - and on time. Start with the stuff you have to do like attend classes and soccer practice after school. Look at the time you have left over. When will you do homework? When will you eat dinner? When will you go to bed? Get a calendar or a dayplanner and schedule your day.

    Your daily schedule might look like this:

    7:00 Wake up
    7:00-7:30 Shower, get dressed, eat breakfast
    7:30 Catch bus for school
    8:15-3:15 Classes
    3:30-4:30 Soccer practice
    4:45 Catch bus for home - listen to music and relax on the bus
    5:15 Get home, grab a snack
    5:30-6:30 Homework
    6:30-7:30 Dinner
    7:30-8:00 Help clean up, chores
    8:00-9:00 Homework/Study
    9:00-10:00 Relax - TV, Internet time, hang out, read for fun
    10:00 Sleep
  2.  Set realistic timelines for assignments. Based on the amount of time you have to get your homework and assignments done, you have to do a little planning. Let's say you do a lab in science today. The report is due in one week. You figure it will take about three hours to complete the assignment. How many nights will you have to work on it? Remember, you'll probably have other homework and assignments too. If you can give the assignment a full two hours of attention one night, you'll have it done in two nights. But if you're also working on an essay for English, your science timeline might have to change.
  3. Set priorities. Life is all labout making choices. There's never enough time in the day to get everything done, so everybody has to set priorities. You might want to watch TV but if that science lab report is due tomorrow. What takes priority? A good student recognizes that homework has to come first. As you juggle more than one assignment at a time, you also have to prioritize your time so you make all of your deadlines.

    Consider this scenario:
    It's Friday. By next Thursday you have to finish that English essay, the science lab report and research and write a post on your enviro-blog for geography class.

    Prioritize by asking yourself the following questions:
    • What assignment will take the most time?
    • What assignment will take the least time?
    • Should I try to finish one assignment before I start the next or should I do small parts of each assignment every day until they're all done?

  1. Break big tasks into smaller subtasks and schedule each subtask. After they look at their priorities, good time managers see what small tasks have to be done before the big task can be finished. It's easier to schedule smaller activities, especially when you've only got two hours a day to work on several assignments. For the scenario above, you could break down the science lab report into several parts:

    • Review assignment expectations, evaluation rubric, my observations and data from the lab (10 minutes)
    • Draft conclusions based on data (1 hour)
    • Write the purpose, hypothesis statement, materials - all of the standard, easy stuff following proper scientific format (40 minutes)
    • Create data tables and graphs (30 minutes)
    • Put it all together (30 minutes)
    • Read it over to catch errors, review conclusions etc. (10 minutes).

    You can do the same for the other three assignments and decide how to schedule all of the subtasks during your study/homework time. Also check out My Big Project Planner for more tips.
  2. Reward yourself! If you stick to your study schedule, give yourself a treat! It could be watching TV for an hour, eating popcorn, surfing the Internet for fun, playing a videogame - whatever you like. All work and no play will make you grumpy...so when you've accomplished a goal, give yourself a treat!

Manage Your Stress

A little bit of stress is good for students because it helps to focus the mind. Too much stress, however, is bad because it leads to lower productivity. When you're stressed, it's harder to set priorities and keep to your schedule. To improve your study skills, you have to keep your stress-levels in check. These six tips can help.

  1. Sleep. You're more likely to feel stressed out and overwhelmed by all you have to get done if you're tired all of the time. Plus, if you're tired, you can't learn as well. Try to get the sleep you need to feel alert and energetic throughout the day. Aim for 8-9 hours per night.
  2. Study when you're most alert. Even if you get enough sleep every night, everyone experiences energy highs and lows throughout the day. If you know you feel tired from 4-5 each day but you perk up from 7-8, it's smarter to study when you're more alert. You'll get more done, think more critically and feel more accomplished.
  3. Exercise. Even if you're not super sporty, everybody feels better about life when exercise it part of their regular routine. Walter Pauk, who wrote a book called "How to Study in College" did a study where he compared students who swam or jogged regularly with students who didn't. Do you know what he found? The joggers and swimmers were less stressed out, less anxious, less confused and were less likely to be depressed and angry. Hmmm...now how about that? Plus, you'll be healthier and look better at the beach.
  4. Eat healthy food. Start the day with a healthy breakfast and you'll get better grades than students who skip breakfast or scarf a twinkie and a diet cola.  Healthy breakfast choices include whole grain toast or cereal (avoid too much sugar), milk, yogurt, cheese, fruit and eggs, even meat. Remember, if your body isn't healthy, your mind can't be healthy either.
  5. Laugh. Students who can laugh at themselves and have a positive outlook on the world are more likely to do better. They also feel less stressed out.
  6. Ask for help when you need it. If you feel like you're in over your head, there is absolutely no shame in asking your teachers for help. Maybe you just need a little extra time to work through a difficult problem or maybe you need to schedule regular extra-help sessions? Whatever the issue, smart students know that asking questions is the fastest way to get answers and get things done.

More EduGuide Resources on Organization

Learn More Study Skills

 

Sources:

Gall, M.D., Gall, J.P., Jacobsen, D.R. & Bullock, T.L. (1990) "Tools for Learning: A Guide to Teaching Study Skills." Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Pauk, W. (1989). "How to Study in College. 4th Ed." Boston: Houghton Mifflin.