How to Get Organized for High School Classes

By eHow Education Editor

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Succeeding in High School classes involves a great deal of organization and planning - much more so than required in Elementary or Middle School. Choose an organizational method that works for you and stick with it!

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Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Miniature tape recorder
Notebooks

Step1

Take care when creating your class schedule that you commit to a comfortable balance of 'artistic' and 'scientific' classes to insure a wide variety of experiences. If you are having trouble finding a good balance, meet with your school counselor before you choose your classes.

Step2

Think about how you tend to organize yourself outside of school. Do charts help you to keep things orderly? If so, make a chart for each class, which can be filled in with relevant details as the year progresses.

Step3

Buy a miniature tape recorder to bring to class, especially if you are an 'audio' learner. You can study your notes from each class by replaying the tape.

Step4

Devise a sample plan for doing homework. Will you study right after school, or wait until dinner ends? Finding a comfortable study time will insure more balanced and successful sessions.

Step5

Buy your books ahead of time and read the first chapter to familiarize yourself with the topics you'll be learning.

Step6

Dedicate one full notebook to each subject or class. Choose different colors for each class so you can find the right notebook easily.

Tips & Warnings

Learn to concentrate on one thing at a time. Close your eyes, relax and focus on a single thought. This skill will help you to pay attention to the important lessons with maximum focus.

Comments

JustMe7 said

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on 7/16/2007 continuing my comment...after quickly returning to your locker you return the binder from the previous class to it's shelf and remove the tools and binder for the next class. Keep a table of contents also to make sure you have a good amount of notes(all the notes) and assignments to study from. Tests and quizzes are usually based on in class notes or work not homework but try to study all of it anyway. Make sure that in your binder there is a seperate area for notes, assignments, tests and quizzes, and homework(each having their own table of contents).It is also a good idea to type all work and notes each day after arriving home.

JustMe7 said

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on 7/16/2007 Personally i have a hard time staying organized. I start out with a good organizational plan and eventually get lazy and stuff everything into my bag. that means all assignments from each subject combine into one massive pile of things i can't find when i need them. I have started a new system that seems to work. Anybody could do it too because it is rather easy. All you need to do is have a notebook and extra lined paper for each class. A different binder for each subject and a routine between the classes. Take this as an example: your first class is french, so you prepare for the class and arrive early with only that binder and the tools you will need but nothing else. you arrange it so that everything is handy. While the teacher is explaining a note, you write down their comments on it in the margin to help with studying later on. The class ends, you quickly return to your locker.

smarties said

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on 2/1/2007 Also keep in mind that you may not have many options regarding what classes you take. Each school holds standards for each grade level, and it is becoming common that there is little if any preference in class options, at least until usually the 11th grade. Also, if you do have class selection options, make sure to submit your choices right away! Rosters fill up very quickly, especially electives.

Anonymous said

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on 9/19/2006 Everyone's not the same. I, personally, use only one binder for all of my classes, and it works out fine. It all depends on how neat you want your bag to be. What sounds better, one binder and 4 textbooks, or 4 binders and 4 textbooks?