Let me further clarify the title.

After my freshman year of college, I wrote a post highlighting key takeaways from my very first year. Soon after (the next year, to be exact), I became overwhelmed and let my grades slip. And truth be told, it was just a matter of not knowing how to effectively prioritize. It wasn't until the first summer session of this year that I finally found a way to keep up with my note-taking skills. This past semester, I found a way to keep up with my assignments for multiple classes, because that was one of my hugest problems. It only took four years, but hey! Better late than never, amirite? After all, I went from feeling so low that I wanted to drop out of school almost two years ago, to making the Dean's List AND being granted full-major status this semester. So I'm going to share my new school organization method!


Firstly, I started taking good (okay, decent) notes! In the summer and fall semesters, I brought my trusty laptop along and took notes using Microsoft OneNote. Yes, yes, I've heard about those studies that show that taking notes by hand is better for your long-term memory and stuff, but I guess I'm just one of those people that is an exception. It's from my personal experience that if I try to take notes by hand, I get distracted more easily than if I take them on my computer. Whatever side of the debate you stand on, you can download OneNote if that is what you wish.

There are several "how to use OneNote" tutorials online, but it's honestly not all that difficult to use since it retains the polished design of the other Microsoft Office applications. Once you open your "notebook", you may add sections, kind of like dividers in a physical binder. Within the sections, you may add pages, which serve as loose-leaf paper on which you write your notes!

For example: