Bullet Journaling Ideas for Students
It doesn’t matter if you are in middle school, high school, or college, begin organized is vital to your success as a student.
Did you know you can use a bullet journal to help you stay organized and feel more productive? If you are new to bullet journaling, learn about it here and checkout the supplies you’ll need to get started here.
Organization is a topic that’s not taught in schools, yet it’s a life skill that you need to learn for success.
If you take the time now to organize your schoolwork now, it will help you ten-fold in the future for your career, home life, and anything else you wish to pursue.
In this article, you’ll learn lots of bullet journal ideas for students such as taking notes, school schedule, study planner, and goal setting. In addition, you’ll get inspiration for daily, weekly, and monthly calendars so that you don’t miss a test or project deadline.
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What does it mean to be organized?
Up to this point, your parents have probably reminded you when to do your homework, clean your room, get ready for bed, get up in the morning, practice a musical instrument, and go to sports practice.
As you grow to be an adult, you will no longer have your parents to remind you of all these things. Eventually, it will be your job to manage these things.
Being organized mean taking responsibility for your schedule, homework assignments, grades, and extra-curricular activities. It also means taking pride in your personal appearance, grooming, and personal space (aka - your bedroom).
Reading this list of things you have to master on your own can be overwhelming but if you use an organizational tool, such as a bullet journal to keep these tasks organized, it can be both easy and fun.
Most of all, being organized is gratifying, clears your head, and builds self confidence.
How to be Organized?
get your life down on paper
Write down your class schedule.
Create a section to write down homework assignments for each subject.
Make a calendar for each month and week so that you can schedule all of your extra-curricular activities such as sports, clubs, group study times, and anything going on in your life outside of school.
Once you have your calendars setup, add upcoming tests and project due dates.
Create grade trackers so you know how you are doing throughout the semester.
Are you ready for some layout ideas for these things? Check out the videos and bullet journal ideas later in this article.
Set goals
Start by setting achievable goals for the semester and then create weekly and daily tasks you need to achieve each goal.
For example, if you want to get an A in Math, think about what it would take to achieve that goal. How often do you need to study? Plan it out the days of the week and times you plan on studying Math and put it on your calendar. Do you need extra help or to study with others? Block out those times as well and put them in your calendar.
Goals can be any area of your life you wish to improve.
Let’s say, you choose a goal of having a neat desk.
Rather than allowing stuff to pile up on your desk until it get so overwhelming you need to clean it before you sit down, set aside five minutes every day to clean up your desk after studying. You can add that task to your calendar or create a habit tracker to check off every day after you clean you desk.
You see, achieving goals are actually easier than you think. Achieving a goal is about setting habits that will help you move forward each day. You can achieve any goal you set your mind to.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.”
Read more about setting goals:
Bullet Journaling for Students - Page Spread and Layout Ideas!
Lauren Liz is a college student that wanted to start the semester off on the right foot.
Overview - She created an overview page complete with a key, and a semester-at-a-glance. The overview provides calendars for each month along with important tests and project due dates.
Weekly Calendar Template - Start by creating time a weekly calendar then fill in your class schedule and then create blocks of time for other important things in your life such as studying, workout, and work. Then you’ll be able to refer to that template when planning other things in your week like group study, special events, and parties.
Class Planner - Lauren Liz creates one spread per subject and then divides the page into rows for each week of class. She divides it into columns for topics and assignments so she’s prepared for each class. She also left a space to record supplies needed for the class.
Goals Page - Create a spread for all of the goals you’d like to achieve this semester. Lauren Liz divides hers to include personal, fitness, school, and work. How would you divide your goals for the semester?
Judy Marie creates a student section in her bullet journal that is full of fun and helpful ideas. She starts with a cover page to separate it from the rest of her bujo.
Time Table - This page was created to easily reference class schedule.
Overview Spread - Judy Marie uses this spread to record all four month of the semester, when assignments are due, and when there are tests. It looks like one really large calendar and types of assignments/tests are color coded for an easy at-a-glance view.
Goals - This spread is divided by subject with spaces to record midterm, final, and goal grades as well as areas to improve.
Monthly Budget Planner - When in college, it’s important to keep track of expenses and how much money you have to spend for each category. Judy Marie divides her expenses by groceries, food, social, shopping, work, textbooks, rent and internet.
Weekly Spread - Judy Marie includes a daily sections for each day of the week to record important events and daily tasks. She also creates a food tracker for the week to help her stay focused on choosing healthy options.
A Bullet Journal A Day created spread ideas for students. As a college freshman, she has a lot of great ideas! She starts off the spread with an intro page that is covered with back to school doodles such as a backpack, book, ruler, pen, notebook, and more.
Here’s a list of the layouts included:
Schedule Layout - It’s handy reference to know where she needs to be and when. It’s shown in block format.
Academic Future Log - This spread includes monthly calendars for Sept-December. Using the syllabus from each class, she records the upcoming tests and papers so that no major assignments or projects are forgotten.
Class Detail - Create a spread for each class to stay organized, up-to-date with grades, and on top of assignments. This bullet journalist records the class time, location, professor contact information, and teacher’s assistant’s information. She also records all of her assignments, the date, the weight of each, and the grade received. The final section is broken out into weeks with a place to record each assignment due.
Survival Guide - This page has lots of doodles as visual reminders to help the author calm down when stressed. Some of the ideas include listen to music, light a candle, and do yoga. There’s also a page with a favorite motivational quote.
Dorm Room Mood Board - The final spread is a page filled with photos of how she wants to style her college dorm room for the upcoming year.
Student Bullet Journal Examples
There are so many creative ways to use your bullet journal for school and for studying. Check out all of these examples from other student bullet journalists.
BujofromNorway created a “what’s in my backpack” spread. The backpack and contents have been drawn on the page using simple doodles. Each section of the backpack is labeled so that you can see what contents are in each section of the backpack.
Not only is this layout cute and fun to make, it is also a handy reference tool to make sure you don’t forget something important that is supposed to be in your backpack.
Izzy.i.ink used this bujo page spread for two purposes. On the left is a Study Tips page filled with helpful reminders how to study effectively. I’ve listed them out in case you want to create a study tips page as well.
Put your phone away.
Have a study schedule to avoid cramming.
Keep up with the small assignments, those points add up.
Have a study schedule for deadlines and complete assignments little by little.
If you need help, get it!
Stay focused.
Retake any tests or quizzes with low scores.
Revisit material throughout the semester.
Actively study, don’t just read over notes.
Use flashcards for vocab and equations.
Be able to explain the concepts to other people.
Wake up early to prepare for the day.
It’s okay to fail but don’t stay failed.
Take breaks: don’t scroll through social media, get off your butt, and eat a snack.
The opposite page features a colorful grades tracker with columns for tracking throughout the semester, a thoughts section at the bottom, and also section for final grades.
Mystudyhabits created a spread focused on study time. On the left are trackers for study hours and pre-lecture reading. On the right is an open page for writing down study plans.
Fancy.writing made a beautiful page for finals schedule. It lists the days in which there are finals, the exams to be taken on that day and the exam time. There’s also an encouraging quote, “you’ll be fine, just breathe,” to help get through a stressful week.
Thiscrazylife_curated also created a school-focused bullet journal spread. On the left are calendars for the entire semester as well as dates for assignments and tests for easy at-a-glance access.
On the right is a course requirements overview needed for graduation. For high school, college, and graduate students, I highly recommend making a page like this so you can stay focused on taking the classes needed. This page is broken down into foundation courses, required core courses, flexible core courses, capstone, and electives.
Applesandbujojos put four days on bullet journal page. The most important event or task is written in large letters and highlighted at the top of each day. Below that are other appointments for the day and tasks to be completed.
Do you have study tips or layouts that have worked in your bullet journal? Let me know in the comments below!
