Between power-walking across campus, sifting through endless textbooks at the bookstore, and sitting through professors reading off their syllabi, my mind is spinning with deadlines, readings, and assignments. The upcoming months seem like a tangled web of tasks. Sound familiar? If so, you're not alone, and more importantly, you're in the right place. After four years of navigating this chaos, I've picked up a few strategies to help untangle this mess.
Planners
Look, I get it, planning isn’t everyone's cup of tea. Perhaps you're scarred from weekly agenda checks in grade school, or you have a distaste for the stationery sections of bookstores. But planning isn’t restrained to colourful highlighters or $20 agendas. Planning can be as simple as making a list of all your due dates in chronological order that you tape to your wall. Or it can be using an Apple/Google calendar or the reminders app on your phone. If you're tech-savvy—and are interested in a more creative planning approach—you can check out Notion, which is like bullet journaling (creating a planner from scratch) online.
If this list of options seems overwhelming, here’s what I do:
- I put all the due dates for tests and assignments in a physical planner.
- Then I keep a note on my computer home screen that lists all my upcoming due dates for the next two weeks. This step is key for keeping my stress levels in check. At the start of the semester, when assignments and readings hit all at once, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. You might already be stressing over that 30% essay that’s due in two months or a midterm five weeks away. But hyper-focusing on far-off deadlines can make the more immediate tasks feel exhausting—like trying to sprint a marathon. Instead, breaking things down into two-week chunks (or whatever time frame works for you) makes everything feel much more manageable.
- This applies to your daily to-do list too. Set realistic expectations for yourself. Starting the semester with a mindset that prioritizes your mental health can go a long way in preventing the burnout that tends to creep up around reading week.
Asynchronous classes
Dal offers many in-person classes, but some are fully online. When it comes to planning for those, I take a slightly different approach. For asynchronous courses (the ones without set meeting times), one of the best tips I can share is to make your due dates super visible. Since there aren't regular reminders (other than occasional Brightspace announcements) like with in-person or synchronous (scheduled online) classes, it’s up to you to stay on top of things. So, when you get your syllabus, make sure to write down all the key dates right away. Put them somewhere you’ll see them often—maybe on your mirror, next to your bed, or right on your desk. Pick a spot where those deadlines will be impossible to ignore, especially since it’s easy for them to slip by when you’re not in a regular routine.
Speaking of routine, one of the biggest challenges with asynchronous classes is the independence they demand. Without weekly meetings, it’s up to you to carve out time to work on the course. I’ll admit, I struggled with this at first. I was more focused on the freedom of having no scheduled class times, and before I knew it, I’d fallen behind. After a few late-night cram sessions, I realized the key was to treat it like any other class—by blocking off specific time slots each week to focus on it. When I started scheduling regular chunks of time, it made the course much easier to manage and kept me on track.
Weekly readings/tasks
Weekly readings and tasks can easily pile up if you’re not staying on top of them. Just like tracking due dates, writing down your weekly readings and pre-lecture work from the syllabus is a simple but effective way to avoid procrastination. I’ve noticed that my procrastination is fueled by even the smallest barriers—like having to dig through the syllabus for a to-do list. As ridiculous as it sounds, I’ve found the best way to get ahead of this is to sit down at the beginning of each week and write out all the readings and tasks in my planner or on a Post-it note so the information is ready when I need it.
I also recommend adding your professors’ office hours into your schedule so you know if you’re free to meet with them or need to schedule an appointment.
The key takeaway here is that there’s no perfect way to plan. You don’t need fancy highlighters or a Pinterest-worthy planner. Even a simple list on a scrap of paper taped to your wall can do the job—whatever helps you stay organized. And don't forget the amazing study resources that Dal provides, including the Managing Time & Avoiding Procrastination workshops (login required).