As we near the end of the fall semester, a feeling of panic settles over most college campuses. Finals week looms over us, and a sort of mad chaos ensues in our lives. "What am I bringing home for winter break?," "Can I afford to buy anyone Christmas presents?," "Am I even ready for next semester?" Preparing for finals brings on loads of stress and worry -- not being able to find your long-lost textbook that you now desperately need to study for your philosophy exam doesn't help much with that stress.
There seems to be a commonality amongst college students -- we're all horribly unorganized. This tendency to be unorganized can work for a while, finding things only when you need them, but when crunch-time rolls around and you really need those study guides you shoved in a drawer, it would help if you knew exactly where they were.
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For me, I'm an incredibly Type A person. Everything I own is in a separate folder based on subject, everything is color coded, and I have and use six different planners. In summary, and without creating an endless list of the tiny details of my overly-neat notebooks, I am an organized person. And I know that not everyone is, and that's not a bad thing. People function amongst chaos all the time, and it works for a lot of people. I commend those people, actually. Maybe I would be less overwhelmed with my schoolwork if I didn't have to color code my notebooks, but that's what works for me.
But, my main point here is for the people who are sitting amongst a huge pile of papers and sobbing because finals are in, like, a week and they can't find anything. There are ways to prevent this from happening, and they can start from the first week of school (so three days before finals you can finally remember where you stuck that stats textbook).
Something that really worked for me was that very first week of school, I put all my syllabi in a very specific place on my desk so that I could find them easily. I also had all the electronic copies saved on my laptop in case I needed it when I didn't have my hard copies. This was really helpful, especially when I wasn't quite sure if that sociology paper was due at 4:00 PM or 7:00 PM. I did this with anything I was handed back, really. Hard copies of essays all went into one specific folder for future reference. In summary: find a place for your papers and keep them there at all times. This really helps prevent that pile at the end of the semester that's just a mess of everything, and you really only need that one calculus worksheet.
Another thing that really, really works well for me is keeping a planner. I said previously that I have six... don't do that unless you really think it works for you; I'm just a really excessive organizer. I have one that's an overview of my entire life, due dates of all assignments, dates of exams, and my personal life, meetings, club activities. Then I have five spreadsheets for my different classes that go into detail of exact dates and times of all tests, assignments, essays, and everything related to that class. Maybe the spreadsheets aren't necessary to a lot of people, but the planner definitely is. At the beginning of the semester, I went through all my syllabi and just jotted down the dates that things were due, and it only takes a quick glance to see what I have due that week. It comes in really handy on Sunday afternoon when I'm sitting on my bed watching Netflix and the fear takes over me about the potential assignments I haven't done yet.
In speaking of my planners, I have to mention the detail in my planners that I'm obsessive over -- color coding. I color code everything. I have a set color for readings/assignments, essays, and exams for my planners. But I don't stop there. All of my study guides for every single class are color coded by which section the term/question comes from. All of my nursing flashcards are color coded based on what aspect of nursing it belongs to. Basically, my entire life is color coded. This doesn't work for everyone, and it probably sounds exhausting to some people, but hey. It works for me.
Before I try to sit here and tell you all of the different things that I do and you get real sick of me talking about staples and binder clips, I'll give one last piece of advice, one that may be the most important of all.
Keep. Your. Room. Clean.
I cannot count the amount of times I would be sitting at my desk color coding my sociology exam study guide and then look over to see a pile of shoes and my comforter on the floor. At that point, all of my organization on my specific school work feels pointless. I can't even make my bed in the morning, I'm a fake organized person. So, above all, just try to keep your room tidy. Make your bed, put your shoes away, keep your desk clear. Put your textbooks away before you lose them. I can guarantee you, if you do this one thing, you'll have a much easier time locating things come finals. As a bonus, when your room is clean, you just feel a little more productive and organized.
So, in total: I'm an organization freak. Not all of us are. But there are ways to help maintain a little bit of organized chaos. So while you don't have to color code your closet, find something that works for you. Just make sure you can find everything during finals!
