Study Hacks Blog Archive The Unsinkable Student Organization System

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The Unsinkable Student Organization System

Tips: Organization, Tips: Time Management, Scheduling, & Productivity Study Hacks August 25th. 2009, 1:56pm Back to Basics As the back to school season transitions from looming to present, its time I turned our attention back to the technical details of becoming an outstanding student. In this post, I want to tackle a topic thats relevant on the very first day of your new semester: staying organized. Heres the thing about student organization: what seems like a smart, comprehensive system to today you, will be later seen as a terrible prison that blackens your heart and steals your freedom by the future you mired in the middle of the semester. As you might have guessed, this future you will abandon your smart system and fall back into unorganized chaos. I want to help you avoid this fate. Below I describe a dead simple student organization system. Its a collection of the three basic rules that Ive used for the past nine years to keep on top of the information in my student life. Unsinkable Student Organization This organization system consists of the following three rules Rule #1: One Class = One Notebook + One Folder. Fans of the red book have heard this mantra before: The simplest way to organize your class materials is to have exactly one notebook and one folder for each subject. Every piece of paper handed out in class goes into the corresponding folder. All notes, study plans, administrative information, or any other original thought relevant to the course goes in the corresponding notebook. (Note: If the professor allows you to take notes on your laptop, you should still buy a physical notebook to capture study plans, etc. Also, a physical notebook allows you to use the notebook method, which is perhaps my favorite study techniques of all time.) Rule #2: Settle for Bare Naked Filing For everything that doesnt belong in a course folder from your cell phone contract to the research for a major project use the bare naked filing system that I introduced in this previous post. The core idea of this system to keep a big box of manila folders next to your desk. Every piece of paper you receive has to go into some folder. If an appropriate folder doesnt already exist for the paper in question, label a new folder and stick it in. Theres no need to file these folders with some fancy scheme. Instead, do what I do: keep them in a pile. Youre a student, not a dentists office you dont need complicated filing cabinets to find what you need. Rule #3: Use a Calendar Backup Notebook. As Ive pleaded many times before, you must keep a calendar that you check at the same time every day. (I like Googles calendar, but anything works.) This simple addition to your student life will save you significant stress. In addition to this calendar, however, my unsinkable organization system asks that you keep a small spiral-bound notebook with you at all times. When you encounter a date, appointment, or deadline, record it in this notebook. When you next review your calendar, add the dates from your notebook. (If you use a time management system like GTDCS, this can be the same notebook

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you use for task capture.) This ensures that youre never scratching your head to remember what youre responsible for and when.

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18 Responses to The Unsinkable Student Organization System

1 Jay Says:
August 25th, 2009 at 4:35 pm

I used to do the one class = on notebook, etc. but lately Ive switched to the SmartPen and to just putting all classes papers in one binder and tagging them with post it notes. Heres a true study hack Ive been using to reduce how many papers/books I carry around: I use my cell phone to quickly take pictures of my reading materials/books/handouts/whatever and then download them to my computer, and read them from there. It works for me, but of course your cameras resolution must be high enough to capture everything suitably for you. 2 Porter Says:
August 25th, 2009 at 8:05 pm

I absolutely love desk calendars as a physical means of recording dates. Anytime I get an e-mail, text, or phone call, the event can be transcribed immediately without any worry. Better yet, each date has enough room for me to write down appropriate time blocks when it comes to time-blocking the day. It is a convenience for desk rats such as myself. Building on that manila-folder idea, I adopted this system with a slight modification. Same general concept of putting the paper in and labeling the folder, but after labeling the outside of the folder, I have three trays labeled A-G, H-P, and Q-Z which I place the folders into. It is not too much of a complication, and if you are like me and have over 500 folders circulating at once (not an exaggeration), it beats running around the place or shuffling through a 500 folder file for one piece of paper. Plus, it keeps my desk cleaner and more organized, which just makes me less worrisome at my workplace for when I have to focus on work. I tend to keep all my notes in one physical notebook, due to a lack of confidence in my laptop not crashing on me. I did type faster than I write, but I remedied that with one quick fix, shorthand. Now, I actually transcribe key points in the lectures faster than I can type them, plus, I have no worry of formatting whatsoever. Im used to writing and reading in shorthand, so I do not have trouble reading my notes (I read them at the same speed I would read a book). It does require time to learn a shorthand system (I prefer Teeline), but once mastery is achieved, taking notes during lectures and keeping up with the professor is not an arduous task. It is a convenient physical alternative than a laptop. 3 vtamethodman Says:
August 25th, 2009 at 11:13 pm

Great post, a note on your third suggestion. On top of a daily calender I keep a four month semester white board. The VERY first day that I have all my major course dates together I put them all on the white board and put it in my office. It is an absolutely excellent way to see your semester snapshot. 4 Eddie Says:
August 26th, 2009 at 12:41 am

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Would you say that a regular school daily planner works as well as a calendar? It has a lot of lines per day for recording but you cant see all of your entries over a month. Also, I think a single sheet of paper for date jotting is better for most people (small pockets you know). But I think you said that in your red book. 5 Brian Says:
August 26th, 2009 at 1:34 pm

Some students might be interested in a slight variation on the disorganized pile of folders, called the Noguchi filing system. The heart of this: every time you add a new file or return a file to the pile, it goes on the left. That way your most used files drift to the left, least used drift to the right of the pile. For more detail, check http://www.askunclemark.com/2007/01/time-sort-noguchi-filing-system.html 6 Study Hacks Says:
August 26th, 2009 at 2:29 pm

Heres a true study hack Ive been using to reduce how many papers/books I carry around: I use my cell phone to quickly take pictures of my reading materials/books/handouts/whatever and then download them to my computer, and read them from there. Is this really easier than just carrying a few books with you to the library? Of course, Im quite the luddite when it comes to my study system it takes a mountain of advantages to pry me away from simple strategies to something more technologically savvy. I have three trays labeled A-G, H-P, and Q-Z which I place the folders into. It is not too much of a complication, and if you are like me and have over 500 folders circulating at once (not an exaggeration), it beats running around the place or shuffling through a 500 folder file for one piece of paper. This is a cool variation for people with a lot of information to organized. The heart of this: every time you add a new file or return a file to the pile, it goes on the left. This is also a cool variation. Would you say that a regular school daily planner works as well as a calendar? It has a lot of lines per day for recording but you cant see all of your entries over a month. Also, I think a single sheet of paper for date jotting is better for most people (small pockets you know). Sure, school planners work fine. Using sheets of paper as the calender backup is also fine. As you mentioned, its what I reoommended in the red book and what I had been doing until recently. The notebook I switched to is very small, and fits easily in my pocket. I found it slightly easier than using a new sheet of paper each day, but to each their own. 7 60naranja Says:
August 26th, 2009 at 4:15 pm

I thought I would share some quick experiences/cautionary tales about filing: At work, I have a system of hanging folders labeled A-Z. Since I mostly file research articles that Ive read for future reference (Im a graduate student), I have been filing them by the first authors last name. So, a paper by Quisp et al. would go under Q. Actually, this was a terrible idea! It turns out that I generally only remember the first author for papers Im already very familiar with. In contrast, if I want to do something useful, like look up all the papers Ive ever read about plant

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development, I basically have to re-find them on Google Scholar. Here, using bare-naked filing would probably have encouraged me to pick more natural groupings, such as by topic or project. At home, I have the same A-Z setup, but here it works much better: I have more diverse materials to file and they lend themselves well to alphabetization (e.g., Verizon bill goes under V; PSE&G bill goes under P). I have also evolved an extra detail where if I have a lot of related things, such as stuff for my taxes, they all get filed in a manila folder that then gets alphabetized. This is somewhat convergent to Porters three-tray system above. Plus, it allows me to use one of my favorite pieces of furniture, a bright yellow filing cabinet with wheels from IKEA. (Dont judge me.) I guess what I would recommend for someone just starting out is to just use bare-naked filing as you describe it. If he or she were to get annoyed at having to routinely rummage around for the one folder they needed, it might then be time to alphabetize the folders. This way, the system would keep pace with ones needs. It also saves one from having organized but actually useless files like the ones I described above. 8 Eric Says:
August 26th, 2009 at 6:14 pm

1. You suggested having one notebook and one folder for each course. But what if a course is entirely based on handouts (i.e. The prof posts powerpoint lecture notes and thats all that we go through in every lecture)? Then would the notebook not be necessary? 2. By notebook and folder, do you mean the ones without rings? Do you recommend any specific brands? 3. You said to record study plans, etc. on the notebook. But if lecture notes are based entirely on writing down from the overhead, then how do you organize your notebook (How do you separate the study plans, etc. from the lecture notes in the notebook)? Also, would a folder still be necessary for this type of course (even if there is almost no handout given)? 4. During the school year, I normally use one big binder (3-ringed) and use it for all my courses, which are separated by dividers inside the one binder. I found this convenient because it brings together all the course materials. But do you think one notebook+one folder method is superior to one 3-ringed binder? I havent tried your suggestion, but Im willing to experiment this method next semester. 9 Jay Says:
August 26th, 2009 at 6:55 pm

Is this really easier than just carrying a few books with you to the library? Of course, Im quite the luddite when it comes to my study system it takes a mountain of advantages to pry me away from simple strategies to something more technologically savvy. It sounds a little ridiculous but I have a much easier time reading from the computer screen. It feels like so much less reading and seems to go so much faster if I dont have to lug the whole book around. I cant bring myself to clip out the pages (cant sell them back that way), so the next best thing I could think of was to digitize them, that way I can always have them with me to read anywhere (Thats why I go for the e-textbooks whenever I can get them.) Its not much different from photocopying or scanning, except its a bit faster and cheaper. BTW Im definitely one of the most hi-tech dudes I know for miles and miles around, so that might have something to do with why I do it 10 jinap Says:
August 27th, 2009 at 1:46 am

This is just what I needed! I want to get organised for the new school year and this is really helpful. I have a question for you Cal from what I remember the first two to three weeks of the new year are pretty slow, content wise. Most of the course content covered during this time doesnt show up on tests, assignments arent due yet and things move pretty slowly.

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What can I do during this point of the school year that will really pay off once things start to pile up later (apart from being organised)? Study-strategy wise that is. All I can think of is building up a good automatic schedule to manage my time well, but I wanted to know if theres any tips you could offer with regards to course content and studying during this time. Im an Economics Major with Minors in Math and Stats, if that helps. Ill also be taking a fun course unrelated to my program. 11 tony arkles blog Back to School! (Pingback) Says:
September 3rd, 2009 at 2:28 pm

[...] some of the principles from the excellent Study Hacks blog; in particular, Im going to do The Unsinkable Student Organization System. For time management, I think Im going to give The Pomodoro Technique a shot, especially for [...] 12 Mary Says:
November 25th, 2009 at 3:37 am

It is much better to leave the unimportant papers floating around your room. This creates a sense of freedom and inspires you when you happen upon something by chance. Tip: Throw away everything but the essentials. Keep happy, interesting documents, poems, photos around in random places. 13 Audrey Says:
August 2nd, 2010 at 8:15 pm

Question. In humanities grad seminars, I have professors who send whole books as .pdfs: my print outs for one course for one semester would require two four-inch binders, not one folder. How would you adjust this system to handle a huge volume of paper or .pdfs? 14 Audrey Says:
August 2nd, 2010 at 8:19 pm

Maybe Porters tray system would be a good solution to my question, above: print off the article or book, throw it in a manila file, shove it in a tray labeled by course. 15 Matt Says:
August 19th, 2010 at 3:45 am

Thanks; this will come in handy. I have a question: what do you think about using an iPod Touch for recording homework assignments? 16 Open Development Blog Archive Back-to-School Tech Essentials (Pingback) Says:
August 28th, 2010 at 1:58 pm

[...] person. Be willing to keep what works, throw out what doesnt, and go old-school (i.e., with manila folders and notebooks) where it works better for you. The best solution is likely a happy medium between new and [...] 17

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Iqra Says:
June 26th, 2011 at 8:35 pm

i have recently started reading ur blogs, next year i will be a senior, i need to pull my socks and start working efficiently.the problem is i dont know where to start 18 Cassie Says:
December 5th, 2011 at 1:01 pm

For powerpoint slides I usually keep them in display folders in lecture order, with only one subject per folder. For subjects with minimal handouts I keep those in a flat file. Its smaller and easier than a folder. The only annoying problem is when water leaks through my bag.

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I'm a 29-year-old computer scientist interested in why some people lead successful, enjoyable, meaningful lives, while so many others do not. Being a geek, I'm not satisfied with simplistic slogans (e.g., "follow your passion!") or conventional wisdom (e.g., student success requires stress). Instead, I dive deeper, looking to decode underlying patterns of success, in all their nuanced glory. Subscribe to the Study Hacks feed.

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