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School can be hard.  That is a fact for most people who struggle with doing homework and getting their work done on time.  I personally have never felt that school is a struggle, but I have some friends that have felt this way.  The reality of things is that it can be hard to manage all that work with all the other things that you can have in your life, like sports, clubs, and various other things that one can have going on at any given time.  It can be hard, but with some help, you can easily accomplish all your work and more.  Over the years I have picked up various strategies to help me accomplish this work. They are centered around organization and time management.  I believe these are the most important skills a student can have because they are life skills as well as strategies to help you get your work done.  Let's start with some time management

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Time Management - The ability to use ones time actively or effectively.

Without good time management getting things done would be really hard because you wouldn't be able to allocate time for other things in your life.  Bad time management is what causes you to turn in work late or not do homework.  I have had trouble with this in the past and I have picked up some strategies to help me to better manage my time.  these include: starting work earlier rather than later, creating an agenda for myself, eliminating distractions, and getting at least 8 hours of sleep a night.

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How I Manage My Time - 10 Time Management Tips

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Organization - An efficient and orderly approach to tasks.

This is important in school and life because you need some form of organization to get things done.  It allows you to find things easily and saves time because you're not spending 20 minutes looking for something.  It also improves communication because being organized can minimize misunderstandings, which can lead to complications later on.  A few ways you in which you can stay organized is by having binders for different subjects, making lists of stuff you need to do, and taking good notes in class.

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So, you're stressed out because you can't find your school papers in your room. You always lose your papers before the due date and your parents are bugging you to clean up your room. Getting organized might seem overwhelming, but this wikiHow will show you exactly how to get organized!

1. Grab your radio or iPod and turn it up! It'll give you a good distraction to what you are actually doing and get you pumped up and ready to go!

2. If your room is in a bad state and the thought of cleaning it all makes you overwhelmed and slightly panicked, remember one rule: You can do anything for fifteen minutes. Just do fifteen minutes of work at a time, then take a break and look at what you've accomplished. Take a few minutes off if you have to (but a few minutes doesn't have to mean the rest of the day). Breaking things into short chunks of time will keep you from getting burnt out.

3. Start in one corner of your room. A good place to start might be the bed. Just make the bed and arrange the pillows. There, a part of your room is tidy already, and it probably only took a minute or two!

4. Pull the stuff out from under the bed. Don't panic if there is a lot of stuff, just take one thing at a time and sort it. If it belongs in your room, put it near where it should end up. If not, put it in one of the baskets or the trash bag.

5. Do not forget your closet! Yes, it is tempting to ignore that bulging black hole that's stolen your clothes and shoes and who knows what else, but you must resist the temptation. If you neglect the closet, chaos will creep back into your space and your effort will have been wasted.

Keep your clothes organized in bins. For example, you could store summer clothes in one bin and winter clothes in another.

6. Get the vacuum. It was probably covered up by all of the things on your floor, and now is a good time to vacuum up all of the stains, spots, and whatnot.

1. Go through your school binders and your backpack. Clean out all the papers you don't need and either file them for studying for exams or recycle them. (this is easiest at the end of a quarter/semester, but can be done anytime).

2. Get one of those expanding portfolio folders, either from the store or something your parents have laying around.

3. Leave one or two tabs for each of your classes at school, depending on how many papers that the teacher usually hands out. Label the very first tab of each class with the name of that class.

4. Look at all of the papers you decided to keep from the first step and put them in the right place.

1. Get 6 note cards and a pen.

On one notecard, write "To-Do List". You will write all the random stuff you have to remember to do on here. Put it in the next available sleeve behind your Evening Routine in the photo album.

On the next 5 note cards, write "Homework for blank". Make one for each weekday. Put these in order in the photo album. Take a few minutes each weekend to make new ones for the next week. Now, when a teacher assigns homework you just whip out the card and list it.

2. Done. Your sanity saver book is complete. Now all you have to do is look at each day until you remember your routines. Don't forget to put it in your backpack.

Now you are nicely organized. Congratulations! You now have a more organized room!

Add New Question

What's an easy way to stay organized and declutter my room?

Karen Parziale is a Home Stager, Home Organizer, and the Founder of The Real Estate Staging Studio based in Hoboken, New Jersey. Karen has over 15 years of home staging and decorating experience and has staged over 5,000 homes. She specializes in project management, space planning, material selections and builder/architect/client relationships

Home Stager & Interior Designer

I'm really fond of cube shelves. They're super customizable, and you can style them in so many unique and interesting ways. I have like nine of them, and use one for hair products, one for skincare, one for hairpins, etc. You could do something like that and use one cube for homework, one for personal items, a row or two for clothes. That's probably your best bet for bedroom organization.

What's a cute way to organize my desk?

Karen Parziale is a Home Stager, Home Organizer, and the Founder of The Real Estate Staging Studio based in Hoboken, New Jersey. Karen has over 15 years of home staging and decorating experience and has staged over 5,000 homes. She specializes in project management, space planning, material selections and builder/architect/client relationships

Home Stager & Interior Designer

I love using decorative boxes. They come in all kinds of colors and motifs. Pens, scissors, papers, snacks, pretty much anything can be arranged and organized on a desk using small storage boxes.

How can I make my bedroom feel cozier?

Karen Parziale is a Home Stager, Home Organizer, and the Founder of The Real Estate Staging Studio based in Hoboken, New Jersey. Karen has over 15 years of home staging and decorating experience and has staged over 5,000 homes. She specializes in project management, space planning, material selections and builder/architect/client relationships

Home Stager & Interior Designer

Upgrade your bedding! Throw pillows, plush blankets, shaggy rugs, and cute drapes are all a great way to give your bedroom a cozier look.

Things You'll Need

Trash bag and recycling bin

A box (or a laundry basket)

Two other laundry baskets

A portfolio

A 4X6 photo album

Some 4X6 note cards

A computer with a printer

Home Stager & Interior Designer

This article was co-authored by Karen Parziale. Karen Parziale is a Home Stager, Home Organizer, and the Founder of The Real Estate Staging Studio based in Hoboken, New Jersey. Karen has over 15 years of home staging and decorating experience and has staged over 5,000 homes. She specializes in project management, space planning, material selections and builder/architect/client relationships This article has been viewed 120,589 times.

Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 120,589 times.

"I think this is good, because it shows you ways to organize yourself in a way that doesn't take ages. I'm not the most patient person, and every organization help page I've seen has always got this really long method that no one has time for. Thanks!" ..." more

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How to Organize Your Room and School Work (for Teens)

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So, you're stressed out because you can't find your school papers in your room. You always lose your papers before the due date and your parents are bugging you to clean up your room. Getting organized might seem overwhelming, but this...

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Procrastination is also a big reason why people can't get work done. To hopefully gain some insight into why this is, watch the attached video.

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Inside the mind of a master procrastinator

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Tim Urban knows that procrastination doesn’t make sense, but he’s never been able to shake his habit of waiting until the last minute to get things done. In this hilarious and insightful talk, Urban takes us on a journey through YouTube binges, Wikipedia rabbit holes and bouts of staring out the window -- and encourages us to think harder about what we’re really procrastinating on, before we run out of time.

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Taking notes is a big part of staying organized and managing your time better while in school.  It allows you to  organize your thoughts on paper which means you can easily remember what something was about rather than waste time trying to find it in your brain. This also help with your organization because you can keep all your notes in one place. My favourite way to take notes is to write in bullet points. This way I get the main info and it is quick and easy to write. There are also other ways to take notes. For a quick summary and explanation of them, click on the article above.

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Which is the best note-taking method for you?

There are hundreds of different ways you can take notes - but not all are created equal.

The most effective note-taking methods will help you not only understand the concepts you're learning better, but help you easily revisit and revise the material easily when exams roll around.

But the best one for you can depend on your subject/topic, learning style, and even how your lecturer teaches.

So, here's an overview of the best note-taking methods for college students, how to apply each, and when you should (or shouldn't) use each one.

The Outline Method is one of the most structured note taking methods, and visually looks very organized.

Add your main points as bullet points, and elaborate on them underneath. For any piece of supporting information, create a nested bullet point below it. Remember to keep your points brief, preferably around one sentence per point.

The finished note should look similar to an outline.

When to use this note-taking method

The outline method is ideal for when you need to jot down information quickly, like during lectures or meetings.

With its clear structure, you can easily see the hierarchy of information, and what ideas correlate to which point.

Pros:

Highlights key points of the topic

Allows you to group related points together

Highly structured and visually organized, making it revision friendly

Cons:

Not great for subjects that require many diagrams, charts, or visuals

The Cornell note-taking method is one of the most popular and renowned note-taking techniques, created by Prof. Walter Pauk of Cornell University in the 1950s. It's designed to make you actively think about your notes as you go along, rather than mindlessly jotting things down.

All notes from the class go into the main note-taking column.

The smaller column on the left side is for comments, questions or hints about the actual notes.

After the lecture, you should take a moment to summarize the main ideas of the page in the section at the bottom which will speed up your reviewing and studying process immensely. The best part is that many people already remember and digest the information while they write a summary like this.

When to use this note-taking method

Cornell notes are especially effective for studying, because of how easy it is to revise from afterwards.
Pros:

Helps you extract the main ideas

Writing the summary gives you a better level of understanding on the topic

Your notes are already logically organized and easy to skim when it comes time to revise

Cons:

Takes a bit more effort when taking notes

Requires some time to set up the page

(To help you get you started, try this free Cornell notes template.)

The Boxing Method is a highly visual note-taking method. It gives you an at-a-glance overview of your topic.

Each section or subtopic of your notes will live in its own labeled box

This method was originally coined by a GoodNotes user, ipadstudying. Note-taking apps like GoodNotes are especially helpful for this method, because you can draw boxes and straight lines without the help of a ruler.

When to use this note-taking method

We recommend using this for revision. Each page or set of notes will be for one course or topic. In each of the boxes, summarize the key points from each individual lecture (or subtopic). Label the boxes accordingly.

At the end, you have one summary page of all the key points for that course.
Pros:

Helpful to create during revision

Gives you a summary of each lecture, chapter, or subtopic at a glance

Cons:

Not a suitable method for lecture or meeting notes, when you have to be able to jot things down quickly

Can be a hassle if you're drawing boxes freehand (as opposed to using a note-taking app)

The charting method is a great way to organize different items or concepts that all share several properties.

For example, if you were studying up on chemical elements, each row would be a different element, and columns would list out their properties, such as atomic mass, melting point, color, etc.

Here is a summary of this article in a note written with the charting note-taking method:

When to use this note-taking method

Charts are useful when comparing items across a certain set of characteristics.
Pros:

Great for comparison

Summarize a series of items in a systematic way

Cons:
Not effective for more linear note-taking or notes that follow a story/progression of information

Another visual note-taking style is the Mapping Method.

It allows you to organize your notes by dividing them into branches, enabling you to establish relationships between the topics.

Start with writing the main topic at the top of the map. Keep dividing it into subtopics on the left and right as you go down. You can also try a mind map format, where you start in the middle and branch outward.

When to use this note-taking method:

This method is perfect for when individual points require a lot of explanation. It also works for when your notes follow a linear progression or a story.

Pros:

Easy to create and follow ideas

Easily demonstrate relationships between information

Elaborate on points without cluttering your page

Cons:

You may run out of space on the page if you have many branches of information

GoodNotes Tip: If you run out of space while writing in GoodNotes, just switch to a larger paper template, or lasso tool all your writing and shrink it.

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Which is the best note-taking method for you? There are hundreds of different ways you can take notes - but not all are created equal. The most effective note-taking methods will help you not only understand the concepts you're learning better, but help you easily revisit and revise the material easily when exams roll around.