A high school schedule must be managed tightly to fit in all your commitments

High school students are curious, energetic people who naturally put a lot of demands on their time. Balancing school work, sports, activities, and time with friends and family can feel extremely challenging. With a small amount of effort, you can manage your high school schedule and never forget about a big test or miss out on important events.

Keeping track of a high school schedule is a basic matter of time management. This is a skill best learned with practice and it will benefit you throughout college and adulthood. If scheduling all of your commitments in one place seems like a chore, consider this: do you really want to store all of those dates in your head? Wouldn?t you rather think about more interesting things than trying to remember where you put that practice schedule?

High school is full of opportunities for you to learn, have fun and develop new interests. This is a time for you to grow and take responsibility for how you organize your time. Whether you?re a freshman or a senior, do yourself a favor and use a personal planner to help you prioritize your commitments.
It doesn’t matter whether you go low-tech with a traditional pocket planner or wall calendar, or you use the calendars and planners on your phone.  The key is find a tool that works for you, and get used to using it every day. For most people, a combination of a phone or online based calendar and a wall calendar you can see at a glance works best. 

Academics

On the first day of class, take every syllabus your teachers give you and transfer the dates of each test, quiz, presentation and report to your calendar or your smartphone planner app. You may want to color code your calendar so that a test date is not overlooked if it happens to fall on the same date as a big game. Mark when library books are due. Avoid last minute project-panic and note on your calendar when you need to begin research well in advance of the due date.

Seniors, use a specific color to track information related to college applications, and grant and scholarship application due dates. Also, record planned college visits and give yourself several reminders to ask your teachers for letters of recommendation as far in advance from due dates as possible.

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Family and Friends

While you may see your family and friends every day, once the year gets going it?s easy to lose track or forget about special dates. Mark everyone?s birthday and when you make a commitment, stick to it. While you?re thinking about family and friends, remember to share your schedule with them so they don?t miss your important high school events like prom, performances, games, days off and graduation.

Athletics

Record practice and game dates as soon as your coach hands out the schedule. If you play on multiple teams, mark the dates with different colors and address any scheduling conflict. Let your coach know in advance if you will need to miss any practices or games so he can prepare the team for your absence.

Creative Clubs

Many students who play sports also want to try out for the school play, newspaper or art society. Before you join a club or activity, ask what the schedule will be like so you know the time commitment involved. Will you have enough time to do both or do you see too many conflicts? If two activities conflict, you?ll have to prioritize which is more important to you.

Time Management Tips:

*Review your calendar at the beginning of every day and week. Having a clear idea of what?s ahead will best help you prepare and reduce stress.

*Make a daily to-do list

*Keep all of your homework and school supplies in the same place.

*Say ?no? to invites if you?re feeling overbooked. Your friends will understand, they?re busy just like you.

*Look for a planner that?s small enough to fit in your backpack and has a few blank pages for notes and to-do lists.

*Sleep. With a full night of sleep every night, you?ll be more productive, energetic and focused.

Keeping track of your high school schedule is not so difficult once you make it a habit. Perhaps the greatest benefit is that you?ll enjoy doing the things you love. Once you?re schedule is organized, your mind is free.

References:
College Board: Time Management Tips for High School Students
PBSKids.org: You VS. the Clock