Ever find yourself just barely making your deadlines or studying for an exam last minute? Yeah, we have all been there! That is why I have put together this list of college productivity tips to help you master your to-do list and boost your GPA by never missing another deadline or study session. Use these tips to your advantage! Choose your favorite ones and implement them today for the best results.

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy for more information.

The Top College Productivity Tips:

Whether your a freshman, returning student, or even in graduate school, these college productivity tips will help you get more done and blast through your to-do list!

Related: Organize Your Life with the Only Student Printable Planner You’ll Ever Need in School

1. Pre-Class Online Portal Check-Ins

Each morning before class, check in with your online portal. Use this time to see if there have been any updates to your lecture and print out any relevant diagrams or class notes.

You can also use this time to quickly scan the lecture topic and look up any unknown subjects beforehand, either on the internet or in the textbook.

Related: The Ultimate Finals Week Survival Guide: 55 Secrets for Success

2. Utilize Your Class Syllabus

Many students will forget about their syllabus after the first week of classes. Don’t be that person! This document has some very important information!

Information to pay attention to:

• Class Objective: Ever wonder what large topics to study during midterms or finals? Check this area first! They make great starting points and subjects to hone in on. This will save you time and energy during study time!
• Grading Scale: You will notice that some professors will have a different grading scale than others. For example, you might find that an A in some classes is 93% or above, while others are 88% and others are 95%. This is especially useful when deciding how hard you need to study for finals 😉
• Class Calendar: Some professors attend conferences or family events and have to cancel class. Also, there will be those rare times when your lecture is given in a different room. These will all be on the syllabus, add them to your calendar so you will never show up on the wrong days!
• Lecture Calendar and Textbook Readings: You will often find that classes will have accompanying textbook readings for each section. However, there are many times when the professor will either get a little behind or ahead. Make sure to check in with your syllabus regularly to make sure your readings are matching the upcoming lecture topics.
• Deadlines: Finally, there is usually a list of assignments, exam dates, and sometimes rubrics as well! Pay attention to these guys so you never miss anything.

Related: The Ultimate Guide to Writing an A+ College Paper

3. Use a Student Planner

I cannot stress enough how effect student planners are at boosting your productivity! You will be able to organize all of your tasks, appointments, deadlines, events, and lists into one central location. This is a great way to reduce stress, plan out busy days, keep track of current routines, set goals, memory keep, and so much more!

Related: The Top Tips to use in Your Student Planner

4. Master the Art of Time Management

When it comes to productivity, the limiting factor is always time. There just never seems to be enough hours in the day! That is why we must continuously be practicing good time management skills. To learn how to better your time management, check out my post covering 13 surprising secrets to boost your time management!

Related: The Top Time Management Tips All Successful Students Use for Straight A’s

5. Write you Notes in Color

Colorful (and fun) notes will increase your productivity in two big ways. First, it will encourage you to spend more time taking notes and paying attention in class. When you are writing in different colors, you are forced to take in the information at a more advanced level. For example, you might choose to color code your notes based on note type (definition, equation, key topic, etc), or might challenge yourself to be creative by adding in more diagrams or sketches than before.

The second benefit is that colorful notes will motivate you to review your notes frequently, and in turn increase your study time and motivation. It is much more enjoyable to review notes that are already organized and pretty!

Related: The Ultimate Guide to Taking Notes in College 

6. Utilize Time Between Classes

It is incredibly common to have time between classes. This time is often too short to return to your dorm/apartment and too long to just sit around and do nothing. Use this time to your advantage! Get some studying done, run campus errands, or start working on your homework assignment.

Ways to utilize the time between classes:

1. Create flashcards for an upcoming exam (either paper cards or on a flashcard app)
2. Study flashcards for an upcoming exam (easily done anywhere!)
3. Begin brainstorming an upcoming class project
4. Work on a homework assignment
5. Type out an upcoming essay (if you have your laptop with you)
6. Get a textbook reading done (tip: try to get an online version of your textbook and add it to your phone, tablet, or computer to avoid carrying your textbooks)
7. Plan out your next day
8. Clean out your email inbox
9. Search for scholarships (check out my top scholarship tips HERE)
10. Practice an upcoming speech, presentation, or interview

Related: The Top 12 Tips I Used to Fully Fund my College Education with Scholarships

7. Utilize the Time Directly Before Lecture

Ever arrive to class and you have a few minutes where people are just sitting around waiting for the professor to begin? This is the perfect time to review the previous day’s notes, check your syllabus, or even get your notes set up for what is about to come (adding your date, lecture subject, etc.).

Related: How to Set up Your College Binder for Success

8. Come Prepared to Campus

Coming to campus with everything you might need for the day will help you avoid wasting time tracking down any of the essentials (such as food or random school supplies). Make sure you always leave your place with the college essentials in your bag everyday!

Related: College Backpack Essentials – the 21 items you must carry with you to campus! 

9. Quit Procrastinating

I know, college is hard. But it is harder when you continue to procrastinate and just build up your to-do list! The number one tip to quit procrastinating is to create your own deadlines before the actual deadline! Even better, add a reward to them! This will allow you to plan out when the best time is to complete any given assignments or projects and decrease your workload over the semester.

Related: Discover 17 Surprising Ways to Avoid College Burnout

10. Incorporate Life-Productivity Hacks

There are countless other productivity hacks that will better your overall life, not just help you in school. As we all well know, college is not just about class, homework, and getting good grades. It is about the overall experience and transition between high school and the real world! Check out my blog post on the top productivity tips that will help you succeed in life.

Related: Blast Through Your Task List with the top 18 Life-Changing Productivity Tips

BONUS: Productivity must-read books:

A great way to increase your productivity is to routinely change up your systems and learn new time-saving tips. I have found that the best way to do this is to read! I challenge myself once a month to read a book related to productivity and have seen some amazing results. Here are my top productivity reads:

1. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen: If you read any book, read this one. Allen packs this best seller with countless productivity tips as well as an entire productivity system you can implement today. It truly is a must-read for everyone!
2. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey: This is another amazing and must-read book. In fact, this book paired with Allen’s Getting Things Done is often seen on popular career book lists, and for good reason! Covey covers the life-changing habits that you can incorporate into your everyday life that has been proven time and time again to increase productivity and better your overall wellbeing.
3. The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod: This book has been growing in popularity over the last year or so. It is a detailed account of how your morning routine can truly change the way you live your life, and what exact things you can do to start your day strong.
4. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do In Life and Business by Charles Duhigg: This bestseller is another great read! It covers the science of habit formation, how to create new habits, how to cut out unhealthy ones, and what habits you should consider adding. He argues that the true key to productivity and living a healthy lifestyle is understanding how habits work.
5. Smarter, Faster, Better: The Transformative Power of Real Productivity by Charles Duhigg: Another bestseller and great book by Duhigg. It covers eight key productivity concepts including goal setting and decision making, that set productive individuals and companies apart from the pack. All of his arguments, like The Power of Habit, are backed by science-based evidence. Incredibly enlightening!
6. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman: This book, written by a world-renowned psychologist, goes over the two main ways in which humans think: quickly and slowly. Our quicker instincts are more emotional and intuitive while our slower thoughts are more logical. Having a better understanding of the way we think makes it easier to understand processes, such as decision making, that are vital to productivity.
7. Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy: Eating the frog is a metaphor for taking care of your most challenging tasks first. This principle is the basis of this great book, exploring many ways in which you can learn how to not get everything done all at once, but instead getting the most important things done first. Learning how to prioritize is one of the best ways to master productivity and this book is a great way to explore this concept.

Related: 21 Life-Changing Books for 20-Something’s (that will teach you everything school didn’t!)

There you have it, my top ten secrets (plus my favorite books) to master productivity in college and get things done! I swear by all of these tips and am continuously using them. I hope you have found a couple of tips you enjoy and can use today!

Looking for more productivity tips? Check out my 18 Life-Changing Productivity Tips to Blast Through Your Task List and Better Your Life!