{"id":787,"date":"2014-11-04T09:00:15","date_gmt":"2014-11-04T17:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?p=787"},"modified":"2014-10-31T13:13:43","modified_gmt":"2014-10-31T20:13:43","slug":"staying-organized","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/staying-organized\/","title":{"rendered":"Staying Organized"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have a designated place for your stuff<\/h2>\n

One of the classic tenets of studying is to always study in the same place. It’s not a bad tip\u2014not only can you tap into environment-related memories, but this also makes organization a whole lot easier and reduces your set-up and break-down time. But for some people, myself included, this simply isn’t a practical rule. I’m a study nomad. I migrate from room to to park to cafe to different cafe. If you’re the same way, then try to create a portable study \u201coffice\u201d that you can carry with you. Keep all your books, markers, pens, headphones, and whatever else you need to work in one bag (or box, or saddlebag on a donkey, or whatever floats your boat). Have a set organization system to minimize the amount of time you spend looking for things and unpacking.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Get everything you need ready before you start studying<\/h2>\n

Don’t you hate having worked all day without accomplishing anything? A lot of the time we waste (other than on social networks) is spent doing seemingly productive things: sharpening pencils, for instance, or finding good study music, or frantically looking for an outlet to plug in your computer. When you first get to your study place, try to get all of this out of the way. In your free time, create a study playlist or Pandora station, so all you have to do is click \u201cplay.\u201d Sharpen your pencils, stack your books, and go ahead and make a pot of tea and grab some snacks so you don’t find yourself scurrying back to the kitchen every 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

On a somewhat related note, here’s a great tip I learned from a friend of mine: if your studying is technology-dependent, carry an extension cord and a splitter<\/span><\/a> so you’re not in a lurch if there’s a shortage of outlets.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Stick to your schedule (or at least don’t binge)<\/h2>\n

We’ve talked about the physical organization of your study space, so now I want to touch on one important aspect of mental organization. Everyone gets a little over-zealous sometimes. Usually it’s at the beginning or right when you break out of a study plateau. You know the feeling\u2014when it’s one in the morning, and suddenly all you want to do is read your entire Official Guide<\/i> in one sitting? Or maybe you do listening practice for four hours straight. As admirable as it is, try to curb your enthusiasm just a little bit. Cramming, as I’ve said over and over, isn’t as useful as slow and steady studying\u2014particularly when it comes to skill development (as opposed to the learning of discrete facts). Plus, if you do so much of the same thing, you’ll burn out. And you’ll try to justify it–\u201dI don’t need to do any more listening this week\u2014look at everything I did last night!\u201d But the actual benefit of \u201ceverything\u201d in that situation is pretty small. So keep taking your small bites, and if you get the urge to study extra, stick to materials that fall outside of your regular study plan.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have a designated place for your stuff One of the classic tenets of studying is to always study in the same place. It’s not a bad tip\u2014not only can you tap into environment-related memories, but this also makes organization a whole lot easier and reduces your set-up and break-down time. But for some people, myself […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13600],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[13632],"class_list":["post-787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-resources"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nStaying Organized - Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/staying-organized\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Staying Organized\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Have a designated place for your stuff One of the classic tenets of studying is to always study in the same place. It’s not a bad tip\u2014not only can you tap into environment-related memories, but this also makes organization a whole lot easier and reduces your set-up and break-down time. But for some people, myself […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/staying-organized\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/MagooshTOEFL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-11-04T17:00:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-10-31T20:13:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/files\/2016\/09\/Facebook-SEO-Default.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kate Hardin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@MagooshTOEFL\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@MagooshTOEFL\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kate Hardin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/staying-organized\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/staying-organized\/\",\"name\":\"Staying Organized - Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-11-04T17:00:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/83c4cb93b4b527f8404029efa19cf318\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/staying-organized\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/staying-organized\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/staying-organized\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Staying Organized\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/\",\"name\":\"Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test\",\"description\":\"Online TOEFL Preparation\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/83c4cb93b4b527f8404029efa19cf318\",\"name\":\"Kate Hardin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/f695eb57ce131bb657ee5d3203ed66f9\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b8502df78e82e1b38fd3b3ef66174425ec804827b7270a78ea571396a998ee25?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b8502df78e82e1b38fd3b3ef66174425ec804827b7270a78ea571396a998ee25?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kate Hardin\"},\"description\":\"Kate has 6 years of experience in teaching foreign language. She graduated from Sewanee in 2012, where she studied and taught German, and recently returned from a year spent teaching English in a northern Russian university. Follow Kate on Google+!\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/author\/kate\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Staying Organized - Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/staying-organized\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Staying Organized","og_description":"Have a designated place for your stuff One of the classic tenets of studying is to always study in the same place. It’s not a bad tip\u2014not only can you tap into environment-related memories, but this also makes organization a whole lot easier and reduces your set-up and break-down time. But for some people, myself […]","og_url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/staying-organized\/","og_site_name":"Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test","article_publisher":"https:\/\/facebook.com\/MagooshTOEFL","article_published_time":"2014-11-04T17:00:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-10-31T20:13:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/files\/2016\/09\/Facebook-SEO-Default.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Kate Hardin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@MagooshTOEFL","twitter_site":"@MagooshTOEFL","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kate Hardin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/staying-organized\/","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/staying-organized\/","name":"Staying Organized - Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-11-04T17:00:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/83c4cb93b4b527f8404029efa19cf318"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/staying-organized\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/staying-organized\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/staying-organized\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Staying Organized"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#website","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/","name":"Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test","description":"Online TOEFL Preparation","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/83c4cb93b4b527f8404029efa19cf318","name":"Kate Hardin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/f695eb57ce131bb657ee5d3203ed66f9","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b8502df78e82e1b38fd3b3ef66174425ec804827b7270a78ea571396a998ee25?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b8502df78e82e1b38fd3b3ef66174425ec804827b7270a78ea571396a998ee25?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kate Hardin"},"description":"Kate has 6 years of experience in teaching foreign language. She graduated from Sewanee in 2012, where she studied and taught German, and recently returned from a year spent teaching English in a northern Russian university. Follow Kate on Google+!","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/author\/kate\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":13632,"user_id":47,"is_guest":0,"slug":"kate","display_name":"Kate Hardin","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b8502df78e82e1b38fd3b3ef66174425ec804827b7270a78ea571396a998ee25?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"Hardin","first_name":"Kate","description":"Kate has 6 years of experience in teaching foreign language. She graduated from Sewanee in 2012, where she studied and taught German, and recently returned from a year spent teaching English in a northern Russian university. Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/plus.google.com\/+KateHardin123?rel=author\">Kate on Google+<\/a>!"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}