1. TIME TO GET
ORGANIZED
Russell Conwell Center
Office of the Senior Vice Provost for Undergraduate
Studies

2. Presentation by Briana Chang
 Student Services
Counselor
 StudentSupport
Services - STEM

3. So you need some help getting
organized?
 Let’s figure out what we’re working with first…
 Take a few minutes to answer the following 8
questions.
 Remember:
 Choose the answer that is MOST like you
 Be truthful
 Record your answers
Lets get started!

4. How Organized Are You?
1. The big test is tomorrow. You and your
friends have planned a study session at
your house. When they come, you:
a) Quickly push aside all the junk on the table and
chairs, order pizza, turn the radio on full blast,
and start to jam with your buddies.
b) Move some mail onto the ground and have
some TV dinners with your friends, and take
some time to study before watching the horror
flick you rented.
c) You sit down to a couple hours of organized
studying.

5. How Organized Are You?
2. A big paper is due in your Gen Ed course.
When your professor asks for your
paper, you:
a) Fumble through your
binder, desk, notebook, books, etc., trying to
stall.
b) Take it out as quickly as possible...trying to
remember where you put it.
c) Give it to your professor, you already had it out.

6. How Organized Are You?
1. You have a cleaning schedule with your
roommate (or family) and its your turn to
clean. But your best friend just surprised
you and wants to go out. You:
a) Run up to your room and start to push all the
junk under you bed, in drawers, and into your
closet.
b) Put your dirty laundry in the hamper, make your
bed, and just straighten up your room a little.
c) Both of you go straight out, your room is already
spotless from last months cleaning.

7. How Organized Are You?
4. Tonight is your big club softball game. Your
team told you to be there an hour early. It is
about 10 minutes before you have to be at
the field. You:
a) Look everywhere for your uniform. You could have
sworn you had put on your desk chair the night
before! Or, was it the dresser you put it on?
b) Slip your shoes on, make your water bottle, grab all
of your extra equipment, and when your ready to
walk out of the door, you realize you have to go to
the bathroom!
c) Grab your extra equipment and walk out the door.

8. How Organized Are You?
5. You need to go to the grocery store to
pick up a few things after class. In your
rush to class, you make your grocery
list, and:
a) You keep it in your hand as you are running out
of the door and accidentally drop it in your rush
to school.
b) Stuff it in your backpack along with the rest of
your life.
c) Fold it nice and neatly and stick it into your
zipper up pocket so you won't loose it.

9. How Organized Are You?
6. You have 5 minutes to get to your next
class. You:
a) Are still in your messy room trying to find the
book you need and trying to think up a
reasonable excuse to tell the most strict
professor at Temple why you’re late.
b) Are running down Broad Street trying to dodge
everybody who is in your way.
c) Are already seated in your seat, waiting for the
class to begin.

10. How Organized Are You?
7. When you’re done class for the day, you:
a) Go straight to facebook after you make yourself
a quick snack.
b) Make a snack, watch TV for an hour, and then
do your homework.
c) Start your homework right away.

11. How Organized Are You?
8. You have a big research paper due
tomorrow. It was assigned 2 weeks ago.
You work on it:
a) The night before it is due.
b) A few days before it is due.
c) In chunks over the 2 weeks you were given. A
couple days before its due, you review what
you’ve done and add your finishing touches.

12. Time to tally your results…
 Count up the number of As, Bs, and Cs you
had, respectively.

13. Results
 Mostly As
 Youneed some major organizational practice, pay
close attention to this workshop!
 Mostly Bs
 You’re
a little unorganized so review this
workshop and see where you could make
improvements!
 Mostly Cs
 You’rea pretty organized student – but no one’s
perfect. See if this workshops helps you inch
even closer to organizational bliss!

14. Any Perfect Scores of all
Cs??
I didn’t think so, lets get to it…

15. Why should you care about being
organized?
 It will make your life
easier in the long run
by making you more
efficient
 It could increase
your grades
 It can relieve stress
 It is a marketable
skill that employers
look for

16. Goals of this Workshop
 By the end of this workshop, you should be
able to:
 Organize your class materials to reduce your
stress and increase academic achievement
 Use to-do lists and planners to organize your
time commitments
 Establish routines to increase productivity

17. Let’s break it down to 3 simple
rules:
1. Keep school stuff
neat.
2. Have a plan.
3. Establish
routines.

18. What is wrong with this picture?

19. Or even worse…

20. Rule #1: Keep school stuff
neat.
 Remember your work is a reflection of the
type of person you are.
 Hopefullythat person is responsible, hard-
working, and ORGANIZED!!!
 To keep your schoolwork neat, follow these
tips…

21. Organize Your School Supplies
 Get a big, dorky
school bag with
plenty of
compartments
 Establish
compartments for:
 Pens/pencils
 Books
 Personal items
 Other items:
 Calculator
 My Pick – mini-stapler
& staples

22. Organize Your Notebooks
 Get a SEPARATE
notebook for each
class
 If you can, splurge
and get one that has
a folder inside it
 Keep your syllabus
in that folder as well
as your handouts

23. Why SEPARATE notebooks?
 You don’t want to lug around unnecessary
materials for class
 You don’t want to mix up course materials
Remember to get a
notebook big
enough for the
entire semester!

24. Organize Your Notes
 ALWAYS date your
notes
 Start a new page for
each new class
 Only write on one
side of the page
 Keep your notes as
neat as possible
 Leave spaces
between different
ideas
 Use pencil or
erasable pen (avoid

25. Why all the picky rules?
 It will keep your notes neat and easy to study
from
 If you want to become an organizational
guru, check out these sites below that can help
you in organizing your note-taking:
 http://www.notetakinghelp.com/
 http://www.muskingum.edu/~cal/database/general
/notetaking1.html

26. Organize Your Handouts
 DATE every
handout you get
 Put all new
handouts you
receive in the front
of your built-in folder
 This is a simple way
to keep them
chronologically
organized with your
more recent work in
the front

27. Organize Your Workspace
 Don’t let this be you!

28. Organize Your Workspace
 Clear your desk or room before you start
studying or homework
 You don’t want any important materials getting
lost in the shuffle
 Organize materials you use to do work
 Have your calculator, pencils/pens, and other
supplies ready for use!

29. Rule #2: Have a Plan.
 You’ve heard it before…
Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail.
 It’s actually true – even if you don’t always
stick to your plan, it should always be there to
fall back on
 There are 2 essentials to planning:
 The planner/calendar
 The to-do list

30. The Planner/Calendar
 If you want to kick it old school, go to the
bookstore and get a weekly planner.

31. Google Calendar
 Or just use your TUmail account to access
your Google Calendar
 Just like a paper planner, you can add in:
 tasks
 due dates & test dates
 appointments
 birthdays
 Whatever you can think of!

33. Google Calendar is great
because…
 You can plan daily, weekly, or monthly
 You can color-code important events to make
them stand out
 You can have Google Calendar send you
reminders about important events
 If you sync your TUmail account to your
smartphone, you can access your calendar
from just about anywhere!

34. Google Calendar Resources
 For help syncing your smartphone to your
TUmail, go to
 http://www.temple.edu/cs/email/google/faqs.html#setu
p_smartphone
 For a Google Calendar tutorial go to
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIZmruQdhG0
 For some fun tricks go to
 http://www.hackcollege.com/2007/03/09/the-3-best-
ways-to-use-google-calendar-as-a-college-student/

35. To-Do Lists
 Make daily to-do lists
based off your TUmail
Google Calendar
 Use whatever works –
post-its, list pads, scrap
paper, electronic
apps, etc
 Do the ugliest and
most important things
first
 Take pleasure in

36. Rule #3: Establish Routines.
 You want to make your academic life so
integrated into your daily life that it runs itself.
 The more routines you can develop for things
like studying, doing homework, reading, going
to class, etc. the better!
 Must have routines:
 Homework
 Studying
 Sleeping

37. Homework Routine
 When are you
going to do it?
 After class?
 After dinner?
 In between
classes?
 Where are you
going to do it?
 In your room?
 In the library?
 With classmates?

38. Studying Routines
 Where is your best
study place?
 At
home or at
school?
 What is your study
schedule?
 What times are best
for studying?
 What is your style
of studying?
 Memorization?
Reviewing?
Practice tests?

39. Tips for Establishing Routines
 Take advantage of time in between classes
 Go to a quiet place and get stuff done!
 Even if its just an hour between classes, multiple
small efforts will add up
 Be honest with yourself
 If
you know working with classmates will result in
more goofing off than work getting done, find a
quiet place ALONE to complete your work

40. More tips…
 For long-term projects and major tests
 Create a schedule to get the work done in
increments
 Start working on it (or studying for it) as soon as
possible
 Earplugs could be your friend
 Go to a drug store and buy a pack of foam ear
plugs
 They can help you concentrate when working
around others
 Please use responsibly!

41. Sleep Routine
 College students need 7-8 hours of sleep a
night
 And there is no such thing as “making up” for lost
sleep
 Sleep will keep you healthy, alert, and ready to
kill your classes
 Create a sleep schedule and stick to it!
Don’t let this be
you!

42. Let’s Review
 Rule #1: Keep  Rule #2: Have a
school stuff neat. plan.
 Supplies  Planner/Google
 Notebooks Calendar
 Notes/handouts  To-do lists
 Workspace
 Rule #3: Establish
Routines.
 Homework
 Study
 Sleep

43. Remember, I’m not just a
counselor…
…I’m a also a STUDENT and USER of
these techniques.

44. My big, dorky bag…
School books
Supplies
Cell Phone
Personal Items
Tokens

45. My Notebook…

46. My Workspace…
With to-do lists!

47. My Google Calendar

48. My Routines…
 Study
 Make study guides
 Study best during the
day
 Study alone w/ear plugs
 Homework
 Complete alone the
weekend BEFORE the
next class
 Complete during
Sat/Sun morning/day
hours
 Sleep
 Bedtime: 11pm
 Wake-up: 6am

49. If I can do it…
…you can do it too!

50. For more help organizing…
Contact me:
 By phone: 215-204-7889
 By email: briana.chang@temple.edu
 In person: RA Rm 607

51. Go forth and organize…
 Have fun creating
your new, organized
self and reap the
benefits!
 Use the following
link to complete
your participation
in this workshop.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Y29JRT
S

52. Thank you…
…THE END.