On this page, you'll find tips to help you stay organized, manage your time and prepare for exams.
Keys to Organization & Time Management for Students
Simple tools:
- Having an agenda, planner, calendar, etc.
- A multi-compartment backpack to separate items (notebooks, textbooks, gym clothes, etc.)
- A watch or using alarms on your smartphone (stopwatch feature)
- Coloured pocket folders or subject notebooks
- Coloured sticky notes and tabs
- Highlighters
- Accordion files or folders to put loose papers in
- Three hole punch, stapler and paper clips
Organizational Apps
- Google Drive - what doesn’t it do?
- Google docs/sheets
- Google forms
- Calendar
- Google classroom
- Popplet - a way of making web diagrams to help with studying a topic on your phone or tablet
- myHomework or Remember the milk (keeps track of assignments/tests/etc.) ○ only if you don’t use a calendar
- Flashcards, Brainscape or Quizlet - to help create flashcards
- Reminders/To-do lists/Google Keep
Tools
- Blocks of study time and breaks (50/10 or 45/15)
- Dedicated study spaces (clean your space so it’s organized)
- Weekly reviews
- Prioritize your assignments/tasks
- Achieve something! - start it
- Postpone unnecessary activities until the work is done
- Identify resources (or people) to help you
- Use your free time wisely
- Review notes and readings before class or at the end of class
Pitfalls
- Failing to keep a to-do list - be sure it is specific
- Not setting personal goals (by subject or overall)
- Not prioritizing
- Failing to manage distractions
- Procrastination - this may not be an issue for you but an excuse
- Taking on too much
- Thriving on busy
- Multitasking
- Not taking breaks
- Ineffectively scheduling (i.e.) when do you work best
From www.mindtools.com
Exam Preparation Tips
Strategies for Success
- Set goals for each day, plan your time accordingly.
- Work in chunks with short breaks.
- Be aware of your learning environment and how you work best.
- Use visual aids and word associations, such as pictures, charts, flashcards and graphic organizers.
- Use what works best for you (speak it, draw it, sing it, write it)
- Be aware of distractions, such as electronic devices and your physical environment.
- Review, practice and then have someone test you or test yourself.
- Review past homework questions, test questions and review questions.
- If you come across a problem when studying, write down questions to ask the teacher for clarification.
- Keep going inf you encoutner difficulties, don't give up.
Manage stress by:
- Not cramming - avoid procrastination.
- Staying organized.
- Staying active - exercise may re-energize you.
- Eating well.
- Resting - get enough sleep.
- Being aware that anxiety can be contagious.
- Think positively!
- Preview the whole exam before beginning to answer any questions.
- Make sure your exam has no missing or duplicate pages.
- Read the instructions carefully.
- Allocate your time - do not spend too much time on any one question.
- Allocate time to review your answers.
- If you don't know the answer to a question, circle the question number and come back to it later.
- Note the value of each question to ensure you are putting enough detail when needed.
- When writing essays, organize your thoughts first by writing a brief outline or creating a mind map.
Suggestions for Different Types of Questions
- Come up with the answer in your head before looking at the possible answers
- Eliminate answers you know are incorrect
- Read all the choices before choosing your answer
- If there is no guessing penalty, always take an educated guess and select an answer
- Don’t keep on changing your answer; usually your first choice is the right one
- In ‘none of the above’ choices, if you are certain one of the statements is true don’t choose ‘none of the above’
- In ‘all of the above’ options – if you know two are at least correct, ‘all of the above’ is a strong possibility
- Watch for double negatives – try to create the equivalent positive statement
- Always question options that are completely unfamiliar to you or the topic
- If you are stuck, mark/star/highlight the question and come back to it later
- Read through each statement carefully, and pay attention to qualifiers and key words (Examples of qualifiers would include never, always, sometimes, etc.)
- If any part of the question is false, then the entire statement is false
- If there is no guessing penalty, then guess
- Qualifiers like never, always and every mean that the statement must be true all of the time.
- Words like usually, sometimes and generally mean that the statement can be considered true or false depending on the circumstances. Usually these types of qualifiers lead to an answer of true.
- Read the questions carefully. Make sure you are answering all of the questions that are asked of you.
- Try to anticipate questions that will be asked on the test and prepare for them
- Try not to leave an answer blank. Write down your thoughts and ideas. Partial marks are better than receiving a zero.
- Check the amount of marks the question is worth
- Answer the questions making sure you have enough points to get all the marks
- Read the questions carefully to make sure how many responses you need (often there is a choice)
- Ask your teacher if you don’t understand the instructions
- Brainstorm your ideas and plan an outline on a scrap piece of paper
- Budget your time so that you don’t spend too much time on one question.
- Underline key words to help focus your attention on the main ideas of the essay or what is being asked (Examples include: analyze, compare, contrast, evaluate, summarize)
- Don’t write long introductions and conclusions. The majority of your time should be spent on answering the question(s) asked