Starting the Semester

Assignment Calendar: My first goal whenever I begin organizing for a new semester is to get all of my big assignment, such as tests, quizzes and papers, all written in my planner. I go through each syllabus and write them out in the calendar area of the planner. I then add my social events such as football games, date parties, etc. This helps me to see which of my weeks will be super busy and which will be semi-easy. This is especially important for this class because it allows me to see when I have extra time to work ahead so that the busier weeks are not as stressful.

Prioritize: I make it a priority to not let myself get behind at all the first few weeks of class. I make sure to have all my readings finished before class, my notes completed, my syllabi printed, etc. This makes it more likely that I will keep up with my school work and not get behind because I won’t be playing catch up from the beginning.

Books: I buy my books as soon as I possibly can. My sophomore and junior year I always waited to see if the teacher mentioned we would really be using the books before ordering them. 90% of the time the teacher said we would and I would have to order them, hoping they were still in stock, and then wait almost a week to get them. By this time, I was usually behind on the readings and had to borrow a friends book. Now I order them all, but don’t take them out of their boxes/wrappings until I know we need them; this makes them easy to access if needed and quick to return if not.

Books: the most expensive necessity for education. Pixbay