by Sara W.

Created on: August 04, 2009   Last Updated: August 06, 2009

Achieving academic excellence is more of an art than a science. But with that mile-high stack of books on your desk and hundreds of pages of writing assignments due in a semester, it sure doesn't feel like art! With a little patience and fine tuning of some skills you already possess, excelling in your academic life will be easier than you thought.

The Art of Planning

Every successful college student's best friend is her pocket planner. You will want to carry one of these with you everywhere you go and make sure to get one that has a lot of room to write for each day. Use your planner to block every hour of your day.

Obviously, you don't have to write your classes down, but if you have an hour of time between a couple of classes, don't let that hour go to waste. Schedule that hour to study for a quiz or to catch up on some reading. Or even schedule a much-needed nap! Don't think a plan will form itself. If you just wait to see what will happen, you won't be very productive. Be diligent, but be flexible as well. You don't have to get bent out of shape if your schedule doesn't always go as planned.

The point is to be as productive as possible, and the best way to do that is with a planner. Keeping a planner also alleviates a lot of unnecessary stress, as you don't have to try to remember every little thing to do. You just have to glance at your trusty planner and it's all right there.

The Art of Taking Notes

Every successful college student will tell you that good note-taking skills are key to academic excellence. Odds are, your high school education did little to no good teaching you how to take notes. But have no fear, if you apply yourself, you will acquire this skill in no time. You will need to keep a separate notebook for each class, or have one big notebook divided into subjects. Separate notebooks are better, because they're less weight to carry around, and they help you stay more organized. Why carry around one giant notebook that contains material from several classes that you don't even have today?

Professors lecture from an outline, so all you have to do is write down that outline as it is given. Don't fret about writing down every single word that the professor says, just write down the main points or ideas. If there is a word that is constantly repeated, like chemical or economics, use abbreviations like Ch. or Ec. Get creative! You don't have to take a shorthand class. Just create your own shorthand. If you fear forgetting what abbreviations

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