How to Use Your Planner at University

Monthly planner

Our brains are fed with information every minute—especially if you’re a student. Understandably, it can be hard to retain important information such as deadlines and upcoming tests. This is where a planner comes in.

As a student, you can use a planner to map out, organize, and monitor your academic progress and performance. A planner improves your commitment to your goals, besides providing you with a roadmap for success.

Here’s why students should use a planner at university:

  • It boosts productivity
  • It improves time management
  • It allows you to become more organized
  • It helps you track your achievements
  • It promotes responsibility.

Now that we have skimmed over some of the benefits of planners, here’s a simple guide on how to use them at university.

1. Find the Right Planner

You have an assortment of planners to choose from, but you must find the one that suits your requirements. Choose your preferred planner depending on your needs and schedule. For example, you could choose a planner created specifically to track progress on coursework, project, and assignments.

2. Fill in Deadlines

Once you’ve made your selection, start by filling in any permanent due dates in your planner, like the deadlines of your finals, assignments, and more. If you don’t have access to your syllabus, just ask your teacher about any important dates and then enter them in your planner. If you know something ahead of time, be sure to put it in your planner.

3. Mark Your Assignments Everyday

You get multiple assignments in university, and it can be challenging to remember all of them every time. As such, it is a good idea to mark your planner as soon as the teacher announces the assignments. If you do not have anything due on a certain date, write down “none” to be 100% sure.

4. Weekly Goals and Action Plan

Use your planner to boost your overall productivity! It starts with setting weekly goals and a plan of action or milestones to achieve your goals.

Ask yourself what you want and what you must do each week to get it. Don’t skip over any minor details because a detailed action plan is more effective. And as you complete each milestone, you can check it off in your planner.

5. Keep Track of Forthcoming Tasks

You can use your planner to keep track of your upcoming tasks for the weeks or months ahead. Don’t let your assignments and other tasks make a surprise cameo appearance in your life when you are well into the week. Instead, use your planner to prepare for them ahead of time. To that end, it may be helpful to glance at your planner every Sunday so you know what’s coming for the week ahead.

6. Manage Your Time

Time management and organization go hand-in-hand. If you’re organized, you’ll manage your time better, and vice versa. The practice of putting down your daily and weekly goals will help you manage your time more effectively as you will have a set schedule to follow.

Make sure to create smart goals regardless of whether or not they’re school-related. For example, your goals could be related to improving your grade in a specific class. Or it could be an associated goal like decorating your University of Waterloo residence. This will help you stay on track with every aspect of university life.

7. Make It Interesting

Your planners also serve as gentle reminders to appreciate yourself and your work. They keep track of your small and big achievements. With every completed task, there is a feeling of accomplishment that motivates you to do better. As such, you must make your planner enjoyable, so you can appreciate your achievements and give yourself a pat on the back from time to time.

Also, you can make your planner more exciting and fun by making it bright and colourful. Or you could add extra elements like quotes, jokes, pictures, notes, and more to make your planner more attractive.

Final Thoughts

Planners may seem like a lot of work initially. But once you get into the habit, you will start to enjoy the process. The purpose of a planner is to help minimize stress in your life. When things get in order, you’ll complete more tasks with little to no stress. This post is your guide to making the most of your planner!

Student taking notes

Ready to apply?

Tell us your apartment preferences and we will do everything we can to place you in the unit that’s best for you.

Apply Now