In every class you take, you will have a lot of materials. These include, but are not limited to:

• Handouts from the teacher
• Graded tests
• Graded homework
• Your class notes
• Study materials you might have developed and/or study guides
• Printouts of lecture slides
• Writing Assignment Papers
• Lab Materials

The challenge that you will face is how to organize the materials so that you don’t lose something that could be important to you in the future.

Here are some examples of why you need to develop a good organizational system.

• Homework – There may be a dispute as to whether you did an assignment. Having an actual copy of a returned assignment could save you from losing points. Also, you can go back to your homework and look how you did the problems.
• Graded Tests – Often the final exam will contain questions just like what was covered on the hourly tests. Thus, you really need these tests for final exam preparation.
• Homework – These are excellent study guides to prepare for tests and your final exam.
• Class Notes – Since most of the exam questions will come from the course notes, you need to have these for test preparation. When taking notes in class, remember to date each paper, label note pages in order of first page to last page and place the notes in order by dates in your notebook before leaving class. Doing this will allow you to easily find what materials you need with no hassle. When you put your work in folders to save with different sections, put everything in order. Either from the most recent to beginning of the semester, or from the beginning of the semester to the most recent. Whichever suits you best.
• Handouts – Often the teacher will give out study guides for tests and other information you need to know. Obviously, if you lose these handouts you aren’t going to be prepared.
• Print outs of lecture slides – Many classes will post slides online that were used in the presentation during class. These are an excellent study resource. If available, print out the sides before each class. Bring them to that class and take notes on the slides themselves rather than in a notebook.

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