By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. We all know that tests can be hard. Obviously. But for many students, the real reason school feels hard isn’t the work itself: it’s everything around the work that’s the real challenge. The things no one talks about. The invisible stuff. …
What’s a Personal Operating System (and Why Every Student Needs One)
By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. A personal operating system is a set of habits, routines, processes, tools and self-maintenance strategies that we use to manage our lives. Just like a computer needs an operating system (OS) to run programs and process information efficiently, students need a …
3 Quick Organization Tips for High School and College Students
By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. Disorganization can make everything around you feel out of control. You don’t know where things are, you don’t know when assignments are due, and your external environment signals chaos. The opposite is also true. When we’re at least somewhat organized, everything …
What College Students Need for Dorms: 11 Essentials to Make Learning Easier in College
By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. What college students need for dorms varies a lot and depends on a student’s preference, living situation, and personal needs. However, there are a few nonessentials I recommend all college students living on campus have in their dorm rooms to improve …
4 Summer Organization Tips for Students Who Want a Better School Year Start
By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. Summer break is for family, friends, part-time jobs and all the things you do when you’re not in school. But summer is also the perfect time to get a few areas of your life in order so you feel better about …
Digital Notes vs. Paper Notes: The Pros and Cons
By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. If you regularly take notes in class, you’re far ahead of students who don’t take notes in class. Even if you’re taking notes on a napkin, that puts you light years ahead of students who don’t take notes at all. So, …
5 Tips for Taking Digital Notes
By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. If you’re looking for tips for taking digital notes, and you’re a student or a working professional, this blog post is for you. Note-taking is both an art and a science. In other words, the best note-taking systems incorporate a few …
How to Get Organized for Final Exams
By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. In this blog post, I share strategies for how to get organized for final exams. But you can also use the strategies to get organized for midterms or any kind of exam that covers multiple units. I have plenty of tutorials …
How to choose school supplies based on your learning style
By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. Learning styles (or learning preferences) can influence the way we feel about and understand what we’re learning. I have many resources that teach tips for setting up your study space and using study methods based on your learning style. You can …
5 ways being a disorganized student makes school harder than it needs to be
By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed. Being a disorganized student makes school so much harder than it needs to be. School is hard enough, is it not? But it gets so much more difficult when you can’t find your notes to study from, you turn in your …