Friday 3 November 2017

How To: Use a Planner for Study

People generally have the perception that I am a really organised person who has her shit together. And that’s partly true; I am really organised (in the day to day planning, though not so much in physical objects and messiness) but there is no way that I have my shit together. I am a metaphorical mess. However, the one thing I can do is organize my workload.
I swear by my planner. I use it for absolutely anything: college work, deadlines, blog posts, my job and any babysitting I may be doing, social events, birthdays and everyday tasks and ... All sorts! There’s nothing that is too small or insignificant to go in a planner.

My planner is the ban.do I AM VERY BUSY planner, which you’ll see used by many different bloggers (that’s certainly how I became aware of it), and I love it. It did cost me 20, so definitely more on the pricey side, but I think it was worth it and I understand that I am coming from a place of privilege that I am able to afford this planner, but it’s not necessary, I just wanted to say how much I love mine. My planner lasts for 18 months, which is annoying in some respects as it leaves a 6-month gap in between (I need to buy a new cheap planner son for that gap), but it does mean there is better value for money. However, this planner is suited to me in its layout – it may be completely wrong for you. Once you find your perfect planner, you’re on the right track.

So, you’ve got your planner. Great. But how do you actually use it? Well...

As I said before, WRITE DOWN EVERYTHING!!

With each of your subjects, write down every bit of work you are set – whether it’s a long essay or something you need to print off or bring in to a lesson. This way you are a lot less likely to forget something, which will make your life a lot easier. I bullet point my work according to what subject it is. So I’ll do a heart bullet point (and colour it in with a pink highlighter because I’m cool), write the subject on the right and the due day on the left. Then, I’ll use an arrow for the different piece of work I have to do within the subject in lines. And so on for the next subject if I have homework for it. On the due dates for any work, I also write down in the bottom right-hand corner of the day ‘Politics due’ or whichever subject it is, so that I have a reminder on both days. This way, if a piece of work is due on a different week than it was set (as they often are) then I am reminded by that the week that it is due and won’t forget about the notes I made of it before.

Use your planner to prioritise your work: do the more urgent things first – and by this, I mean the stuff that is due in first. Of course, if you have coursework due in in a month, still keep doing your coursework so you don’t have a mad rush at the last minute.

A planner is also a great place to write down your daily to-do lists. I make a to-do list every day, sometimes for individual frees. Say I have 2 frees in a day, I’ll use the arrow system (except listing horizontally) so that I get what I need to be done, even if they’re little jobs like typing up some notes.


So, that’s how I use my planner for study. But, as I said, this may not work for you – you may prefer a completely different system, but as long as that system works for you and helps you keep up with your workload, that’s completely fine.

If you liked this post you might like: My Advice to New A Level Students

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