College is a time for opportunity, discovery, and growth. But it can also yield feelings of stress, anxiety and apprehension. Whether you’re starting your freshman or senior year, these are some tips that are sure to help you excel!

Classes

Signing up for the right classes can be an overwhelming task without the right knowledge or help. You should always make sure you have a good understanding of the program in which your university provides to enroll in classes each semester. Waiting until the last minute to try to figure it out can cause unnecessary stress and decrease your chances of signing up for the right classes.

Every campus has advisors available to teach you how to enroll in classes as well as provide advice as to which ones will be best for your major and interests. Go to your school website and search for classes or advisors to find out how to make the best of each semester.

It can also be helpful to find mentors such as upperclassmen in your same area of study, to get advice on which classes and teachers are best to take!

Before you sign up for ANY class, be sure to check out the reviews of the instructor on www.ratemyprofessors.com!

Notes

Don’t be “that kid.” That kid is the one that sits in class with nothing on their desk (except maybe their phone) and thinks to themselves “I don’t need to take notes; I’ll totally remember this stuff.” Chances are, you won’t. Even when the current topic is making sense to you while you’re in class, it probably won’t be as clear in your mind when you’re trying to juggle preparing for three different exams a few weeks from now.

If your professor uses power point slides to lecture, it is extremely helpful to print them out prior to each class, and use them to follow along and highlight/take notes along with them in class. The way that I have seen work best for many people is printing the slides with three on each page, and lines for writing your own notes next to each slide.

Another important thing to keep in mind when it comes to taking notes, is often times the notes you take in one class can help you (or a friend) in another class, so you should always try to keep them, even when you finish the class. You’ll be surprised how many times a topic can be covered when you’re taking required classes for your major!

Oh, and ALWAYS keep track of your assignments, due dates, events, and responsibilities in a planner of some sort! THIS WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE

Planner

Most schools either give or offer a planner for purchase. If not, you can find one at Walmart, Target, Walgreens, or Amazon.com. Personally, I believe the “bigger is better” rule applies here. Since this is the one place you can count on to keep track of all of your important information, it can be helpful to have ample space!

Planners can be a life saver when it comes to keeping track of well, pretty much everything! They include monthly calendars which are awesome for keeping track of class schedules, work shifts, assignment due dates, sports/ club schedules, and personal activities. And they also include weekly calendars which are great for keeping track of all the tasks assigned in each class.

A super fun and easy way to keep yourself organized is to use highlighters or different color pens for each category. For example: pink: personal, yellow: school, blue: work, green: sports/clubs, orange: birthdays.

Phone

Contrary to popular belief (of parents & teachers), your phone can be a great tool to enhance your college experience. One of the most important features on your phone when it comes to school is the reminders app. The reminders app is basically an extension of your planner (or a substitute for it if you’re not into the written plan thing) and it can also save your life. I make a reminder for just about everything.

Picked up a shift at work next week? Set a reminder for that morning. Group meeting at 8pm in the library? Set a reminder for later that day. Forget to take your vitamin? Set a daily reminder for each morning when you wake up. Paper due next month? Set a reminder for 2 weeks prior to due date. Run out of an essential food item? Create a grocery list in the reminders app!

Another way in which your phone can help you out in the academic world is connecting with classmates and creating a platform for a group chat. While we still do frequently use emails, they are often not the most efficient way to communicate a message to multiple people quickly. On your smartphone, you can either simply create a group message through texting, download the Facebook Messenger app, or download an app specifically for group messaging such as “GroupMe”.

One more way to utilize your phone for academic purposes is through the camera application. You can use the camera to take pictures of flyers you see in the hallway that you’d like to look into later on, or quickly capture some notes on the board if the professor is going too fast for you to write everything down. Another helpful way to make use of the camera is to take and save a picture of your class schedule so you can easily check where and when your classes are without being judged for walking around campus with a paper map or schedule in your hand.