Get Ready, Get Set, Get Organized! - study skills

If you have trouble finding things and meeting deadlines, it's time to take control. Here's how to study and work smarter, not harder.

Meet Liz. It's the evening before her semester exam. Instead of studying quietly at her desk, she's frantically searching through stacks of papers, notebooks, and magazines. Why? She can't find the study guide and class notes she needs to prepare for the exam. She tried going through her locker after school, but it was such a hodgepodge of stuff, she quickly gave up. Now she's sure her notes have got to be somewhere in the jumble of papers in her bedroom. But alas, no luck. She does, however, find the planner she bought the first week of school and quit using the second week.

Liz's friend Harry has a dilemma of his own. Harry's science project is due tomorrow--and so is his English research paper. Over the last few days he's been getting more and more stressed out, worrying about how he's going to get both done. Now, the evening before the assignments are due, he's panicking. He can't seem to concentrate on either project.

Sound familiar? Being organized is a necessity now, just as it will be later in college and in your career. Here's what you can do if you don't want to end up in a disorganized, stressed-out dilemma like Liz and Harry.

1. Plan Ahead

Use a student planner or assignment book. Most students write down their class assignments and due dates. But try going a step further. Use your planner to record all the events in your life, from after-school activities and your part-time job to your Friday night date.

Record each class assignment deadline or test date as soon as you get it, whether it's a list of multiple test dates given at the beginning of the year or a simple homework assignment. "Spend three seconds to write down your assignments and due dates before you leave each class," suggests Eileen Roth, co-author of Organizing for Dummies, scheduled to be published in November.

If an assignment book isn't your style, use a master calendar with weekly and daily schedule sheets, say counselors at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Your master calendar should include regular commitments, such as classes, nights at your job, and sports practice. Each weekend, write down the major events for the coming week (for example, a history quiz on Wednesday, an English paper due Thursday, and a basketball game Friday). Then, every night during that week, list what you intend to work on the next day. For example, you might decide to use your study hall on Tuesday to start studying for the history quiz and plan to start your English paper after school. As you accomplish each item, cross it off your list.

2. Set Up Your Work Station

Set up your homework area and stock it with supplies. It's much easier to get assignments started if you don't have to search for something to write on. Fourteen-year-old Ana, for example, set up her computer desk at home like this: On her desk shelf are reference books, and next to her desk is a storage area with three drawers--one for pencils, pens, and other writing instruments; one for scissors and glue; and one for poster board, folders, and paper.

Make your work space your own. Consider painting wooden crates a favorite color, or buy some plastic crates or stackable trays.

3. Manage Your Time

Manage time wisely by establishing priorities. If you want to get certain things done arid there's only so much time, then you've got to plan ahead. Even the most organized person runs into challenges that make staying organized difficult. A typical challenge is a packed schedule. For instance, Lynsey, a sophomore, plays soccer six days a week for two to three hours each day. "It's very difficult to come home at 6:30 p.m. and do homework when I have a bunch to do," she says. What happens when several assignments are due at once? It's third-period study hail that saves the day. Lynsey might do homework for her early classes the night before and use study hall to prepare for a test later in the day.

It's easy to underestimate how much time you need to study for a test, however. Ana tackles the problem with a detailed plan that covers what she needs to study, how she plans to study it, and when to study what. For a test on three chapters, Ana might decide to make flash cards to study the vocabulary.

Dr. Carolyn Hopper, Middle Tennessee State University's study skills coordinator, says it's helpful to make flash cards or note cards as you are learning the material, instead of right before a test. Put a definition, formula, or important date to remember on each card. Then keep the cards with you and use down times to study--while you're waiting for class to start or for a friend to pick you up.

Hopper also suggests scheduling study time for when you're most alert. "Algebra may be hard enough when you're fresh. When you're tired, it's impossible!" she says. Most people are at their best during the daylight hours. "For every hour of study, it will take one-and-a-half hours to do the same task at night."

4. Keep Track of Your Papers and Books

Another organizational tip at test time: Save anything that might help you on a future test, including graded assignments and quizzes. These types of papers may have a tendency to pile up in your locker at school, however, along with everything from unused textbooks to last week's lunch! To keep track of miscellaneous papers, Roth suggests having at least one folder in your locker and immediately stashing away any stray papers into it.

Also, find out from teachers which books will be used only for homework and take those home. Keep your other books on the sturdy built-in locker shelves, but consider buying some plastic ones, too.

Keeping track of papers is also important at home. Once you finish a major unit in class, store your notes and related papers in a labeled folder. Before dumping everything at the end of the year, sort through your paperwork carefully, says Roth. Ask yourself: Will I use this information again? If you think you will, is it something that you can look up elsewhere? A periodic table of elements from chemistry class, for example, is certainly important, but that table can be found in your textbook and elsewhere.

5. Take One Step at a Time

How can you study smarter, not harder? Organizational experts agree that the best way to get big projects done is to break them down, with mini-deadlines that you set yourself. Then, when conflicts come up in your schedule closer to the due date, you'll be in better shape to be flexible.

Think of your main goal as the peak of a pyramid and your daily routines and to-do lists as the different levels or mini-goals. There are a lot of mini-goals you will reach on the way to your destination. At each level, break tasks up into reasonable steps or stages. For example, if you have an important English research paper like Harry did, divide the project into stages:

* Pick a topic.

* Do the research and take notes.

* Outline or organize what you want to say.

* Write the paper and compile a bibliography.

Sound hard? Not if you make a schedule in your daily planner for how you're going to get it all done.

Let's say you have four weeks. The first week you pick a topic and start the research. As you do your research, write down on notecards the information you'll need for your paper along with quotes you'll want to use, and record your sources (in bibliographic form) on the notecards. During the second week, start arranging your notecards according to topics until you can draft a possible outline. Keep reading and taking notes using the notecards and your outline to guide you. The third week, write a very rough draft. Let it sit for a day or two. The fourth week, revise and polish your rough draft. The bibliography should be easy because you've got your references and quotes on notecards. All you have to do is collect and alphabetize them.

You can make this longer-term task easier by setting aside a certain period of time each day to work on it. Whether it's an hour a day in the school or public library, during study hall, after school, or in the evening at home, stick to it. For example, the first two weeks, while you're doing most of your research, you'll work in the public library every evening from 7 to 8 p.m.

3. Set Limits

Can you guess the most popular time-wasters? Computer games, TV, and telephone calls. To avoid these tempting distractions, you'll have to set limits. If it's too hard to stop once you've started a computer game, then limit yourself to Saturday afternoon. If your friends call you every evening, start limiting the time you talk to them--or tell them you can't talk until you finish what you are doing.

The earlier you get organized and learn to manage your time, the more likely you are to be successful in school and on the job.

How Organized Are You?

When you're organized, you can find things--right when you need them. To see how your organizational skills rate, mark in the blanks below either a, b, c, or d:

a) I know just where it is.

b) I would have to look in a few places, but I'm pretty certain I could find it.

c) I might be able to find it.

d) I doubt I could find it.

_____ 1. Notes from last Monday's social studies class

_____ 2. A book you got during the first week of school and haven't had to use yet

_____ 3. A major report from last year (computer file or hard copy)

_____ 4. A calendar of upcoming days off from school

_____ 6. A dictionary at home

_____ 7. A science test from last year

Give yourself 5 points for every a answer, 3 point for every b, 1 point for every c, and 0 points for every d.

If you scored between:

30 and 35--You are very organized.

20 and 29--Your organizational skills are good, but think about the time you could save if you had an exact place for all your school-related paperwork.

14 and 19--You sometimes know where to look for things, but more often you're not sure. Try to set up a system of saving school-related paperwork, and you will likely have fewer crises when you've got a due date coming up.

0 and 13--Your organizational skills need a boost. Motivate yourself to get organized, using tips from this article.

Finding the Solution

If you life isn't very organized, a crisis situation could easily occur. The following scenarios demonstrate what might happen. Write what you could do to avoid each problem.

1. Your printer runs out of ink the night before your term paper is due.

2. You have to do a science project, and when you go to buy the supplies the night before it's due, the craft store is closed.

3. You need to go on-line to get your home-work done, but your sister is on the computer most of the night chatting with friends.

4. Your work schedule comes out for next week, and you discover your boss wants you to work the same night your team has a big game.

5. You have first-period study hall and were planning to use it to complete your homework for the day. Then you find out you have to attend an assembly that period.

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