The Assisted study approach to getting organized*

"Many struggle at school not because they lack intelligence or drive
but just because they’re disorganized.”

Disorganization creates a drag on success by wasting your time and energy. It can also lead to discouragement when you don’t seem to get as much out of your work as you put into it. Sometimes it can even lead to academic failure.

Even the brightest person can’t get good grades if deadline after deadline is missed, and even the most motivated student can’t succeed if work is misplaced before it’s turned in. On the other hand, good organization can make the difference between “just getting by" and truly succeeding.

Assisted study uses a system to keep important materials together so your work is completed on time and easily found when you need it. These materials are provided to assisted study students, on loan, at no charge:

 How it works

There are two parts to the organizing system:

Part 1: The 7-pocket Expansion Folder with tabs, organized by subject

• During each day, all new papers, completed homework and any graded work that is returned to you are placed in this folder.
• Each day also, the saved materials are examined.
• Those that require completion or project activity are used to complete the assignment.
• Those remaining are examined to decide if they should be kept or thrown away.
• You will want to keep everything that may be used to study for quizzes, tests and exams at a later time

Part 2: The file box with hanging folders and tabs, organized by subject

• Every few days material from the 7-pocket Expansion Folder is transferred to The file box
• Only items useful to study for quizzes, tests and exams at a later time are kept. This will include:
  • Study guides
  • Definition sheets
  • Graded work (with answers)
  • Returned tests and quizzes (Note that you should correct them during class review time to include the right answers)
  • Notes
  • Outlines
• Gradually you will collect all the information you need to study before tests, and exams

Daily Activities:

Keeping class materials together, by subject:

On a day to day basis, chapter outlines, handouts, assignment sheets and other written materials are kept in the expansion folder, filed by subject.

Completed assignments are also placed in the expansion folder so they can be found at the start of each class.

Cleaning out the expansion folder:

Materials are transferred to the storage box if they will be useful later in preparing for quizzes, tests or exams. 

Everything else should be discarded to avoid clutter and confusion

Preparing for Quizzes, Tests and Exams

For quizzes:  Materials for the lesson in progress may be in the expansion file to be reviewed for for daily quizzes.

For tests and exams:  Materials extracted from the expansion folder and file box can be used to produce a study guide or create a “cheat sheet”, if permitted by your teacher. Once produced, these guides are saved back into the file box to become the main source of review for mid-term and final exams.

*Acknowledgment: This organizational approach is based on the one developed by Diane Newton, “How to give help and hope to disorganized students”. See: http://www.resourceroom.net/older/ida_studyskills.asp for complete text