Students: get organized before crunch time
Lack of organization can lead to ineffective habits and low grades
We now have a month of school under our belts, which means the pressure is starting to mount for some students.
University students will soon be facing midterms and exams, whereas some high school students will write their first set of exams and maybe have their first real homework.
Staying on top of the work and organized is essential for academic success. Now is the time for youth to develop good habits. But where do you start?
Janet Macdonald has a few ideas. The Halifax woman is a former university admissions officer who helps Canadian high school students find and apply for university entrance scholarships. She started her company, mycampusgps, because many of the students she worked with didn’t know much about scholarships and were missing out on thousands of dollars in funding.
“The main way organization leads to academic success is because being organized reduces stress and feelings of being overwhelmed,” said Macdonald.
When we are stressed or overwhelmed, we can’t focus properly and it shakes our confidence, she explained. Also, when we’re in this state, we are more likely to give up.
As an academic advisor, Macdonald saw this happen a lot — students get so behind in their work they can’t see a way to get back on track and drop out.
“With a bit more instruction on time management, some basic prioritization and study skills, they could have gotten back on track quite easily,” said Macdonald.
General organizational skills have always been a problem for many students, continued Macdonald, and has been exacerbated by the pandemic. Many students didn’t have the same structures or supports in place as in years past, she said.
Most universities have study skills workshops students can take for free, including topics such as note-taking, time management, or how to take multiple choice tests.
FINDING A SYSTEM THAT WORKS
The first thing that should be made clear to anyone, especially students, is being disorganized or needing to learn study skills is normal, emphasized Macdonald.
Young people’s brains are still developing, until about age 25, and the part that deals with organization is the last part to develop, she explained.
This skill is important for high school students to learn now, though, especially if they intend to move on to postsecondary because the time crunch only gets more intense at the higher education levels when they will have more and varied responsibilities. In addition to the big academic transition, they will also be dealing with social and financial changes and challenges.
“Preparing now is key,” said Macdonald.
Finding a system that works for the student, she added, is also important.
“I know people want to hear a magic formula, but there isn’t one,” stressed Macdonald.
BEST ORGANIZATIONAL PRACTICES
Macdonald offers the following advice:
1. Learn how to use a calendar. Teach students how to add deadlines.
2. Find an online course. Macdonald signed her teenaged son up for an online course through Outschool, which she said was good and cheap. There are Youtube videos on how to get and stay organized.
3. Good notetaking is crucial. Macdonald offered some tips for recognizing the most important points in a lecture:
• Introductory remarks often include summaries of overviews of main points.
• Listen for signal words/ phrases like, “There are four main …” or “To sum up …” or “A major reason why …”
• Repeated words or concepts a re often important.
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• Non-verbal cues like pointing, gestures or a vocal emphasis on certain words, etc. can indicate important points.
• Final remarks often provide a summary of the important points of the lecture.
4. Read books on the topic. Macdonald recommended the book 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey.
5. Give up procrastination.
6. Forget perfectionism, a problem Macdonald sees a lot of.
Students are afraid of doing something that won’t be perfect, so they don’t do it all. This might be the root of the problem with procrastination for some students, she surmised.
Ultimately, said Macdonald, you can teach students everything about organization, but it’s up to them to implement it.
“We need to be supportive and understand that this is a learning process and it comes more easily to some than to others,” she said.