Top 5 Things to Focus On to have a Productive Semester!

Coming back to school after a long break can feel like such a drag. You’ve been enjoying your summer or winter, celebrating the holidays with family and friends, maybe getting lots of extra time with your pets, catching up on your favorite shows, and the list goes on and on. But now you’re back at school attending your classes and most likely, wishing you could be back at home doing whatever you wish.

During your first week of classes as you are getting situated is a good time to go through these few steps:

To start, it will help to write out your schedule and time block your days. As a college student, I find that it is so much easier to keep track of all the different office hours and my different activities by having a schedule written out that applies to every week and I can plan other activities and events around the things that are already set in stone.

I am taking 5 classes this semester and it helps to keep track of the times and locations of all my recurring things. This helps to see where your open time is so you can plan accordingly and organize your time for school work and free time in those open areas.

Along with time blocking, it helps to give yourself a sort of “workday” where you get all of your things done, and then at the end of your workday, you can focus on things outside of school/work. For example, I have early classes this semester so my workday is from 7 am to 7 pm and I try to get everything done in that window of time. Then, after 7 pm, I can do other things like video games, going out with my roommates and friends, or better yet, a nap.

Once you have all your classes figured out and what you’ll be doing each day, it would be smart for you to get all of your materials for the semester. You’ll need notebooks, pens, pencils, erasers, folders, you get the gist.

Most semesters, I can go shopping in my closet for materials for the semester. I will have partially used notebooks and folders in great shape that I just empty of all the old stuff and into the backpack it goes.

With my materials, I like to keep things organized by color coding based on the class. These two things go hand in hand, and I think it is so much easier to keep track of what notebook or folder I need for the day. 

I never give two classes the same color so, for example, this semester I have a software development class that is red, an operating systems class that is orange, a technical communication class that is purple, a leadership studies class that is blue, and a TA class that is green. 

Color coding helps a lot in keeping track of assignments and assessments throughout the semester. I like to keep track of all specifics for my classes in my planner and work through the assignments chronologically (in most cases). It makes it much easier if the color for my class on my school site matches in my notebook so I can find it faster and get straight to work.

Now I know the semester has probably already gotten moving and you’re now in the full swing of things but this next tip is good to keep in mind year-round. 

No one wants to be rushing to find their classroom/lecture hall on the first day of classes. I recommend you try walking through your schedule a day or two before classes start just so you aren’t scrambling to find your room when you only have 5 minutes until the class starts. 

This will remove a ton of stress when the first day rolls around and you are booking it between classrooms or running across campus from one class to another. 

With all this craziness of classes, you do also need to try to take care of yourself too. If you can, you want to try to take a few breaks throughout the day to let your mind chill out a bit and just slow down. 

Something that a lot of people take advantage of, and rightfully should, is their free time. The start of the semester will seem very relaxed especially after you have already completed a previous term and gone through the hectic process of finals and midterms and such. 

Be flexible with your time. While you have free time and should spend it with friends or do things to help you decompress, be prepared to use that time for other things as well. The classes you are taking technically require 3 hours of work for every credit the class is worth.

This is not meant to scare you but more to prepare you because school is already daunting and knowing that you might not have a ton of free time can add more stress itself. 

Manage your time; balance your free time and work time so that you can have time dedicated to each class as well as decompress time where you can be away from your computer and your textbooks.

There is a lot going on at the start of the semester and a lot to keep track of. It is important to stay organized with your materials and how you spend your time. Using even just a few of these tips is going to be so helpful for you and will definitely help to set you up for success throughout your semester. Set a goal for yourself and stick to it and you will see a drastic change from any previous semesters. 

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