John Maxwell once said “Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential.” As a student, you need some items to assist you in school.
The vision of every purposeful student is to complete or graduate school with success. However, it takes proper planning and discipline to achieve it.
Items That Every Student Needs
Every student who aims for success in school must have some items to aid him or her to excel. In this article, we will look at some five items that every student needs. They are;
- Academic diary / Student planner book
- Wristwatch
- Dictionary
- Notebook/ Pen
- Laptop
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Academic Diary/ A study planner
An academic diary or study planner book is a journal that is designed to assist students to plan their academic term or semester. It serves as a guide to students’ studies.
As a student, it is advisable for you to be conversant with the academic calendar which lays down what to expect in the academic year or term. Being able to schedule your time especially your lecture hours and leisure hours will help out your strive for success.
As a purposeful student, you should be interested in knowing what to expect in the academic year which will serve as a preparation ground to plan and to achieve excellence. It is preferable to write down the number of weeks in the academic year or semester, the courses or subjects you will be studying, and all interim assessment and examination time to be able to draw your personal timetable towards academic work. By so doing, you will consciously manage your time and work hard towards achieving success in school.
Aside from writing down the academic calendar for the academic term, you can also plan your day by writing down what you will do, enabling you to consciously manage your time judiciously throughout the day.
An academic diary is a must recommended item for every student.
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Dictionary
A dictionary is a book or an electronic resource that lists the words of a language and gives their meaning or gives the equivalent words in a different language, often also providing information about pronunciation, origin, and usage. (Definitions from oxford language.)
A dictionary is a must-have item for every student. As a student, you will attend classes or go for lectures, you will sometimes come across some words or vocabulary that sounds unfamiliar, in this case, a dictionary will assist you to look up the meaning and better understand it.
As a student, you are expected to familiarize yourself with searching for words in the dictionary. Aside from that, one advantage of using the dictionary as a student is that it will teach you to better pronounce words rightly and to also improve your vocabulary. It will guide you to know how to use words in your daily interactions because you know the meaning of the words and you are able to use them in the right context when speaking or writing essays.
Dictionaries are in different sizes. There are smaller and bigger dictionaries but preferably, I will recommend that you buy a smaller dictionary that you can carry around all the time to search for the meaning of unfamiliar words.
Notebook/ Pen
A notebook is a book with blank pages for recording notes or memoranda. ( thefreedictionary.com)
A notebook is an essential item every student needs and must have. You cannot be a student and not have a personal notebook or notepad with you as it is a requirement for every student. As a student, you may come across some words or phrases during your class lessons or lecture hours which sound unfamiliar to you, it is advisable you write down those keywords in your notebook or notepad for reference during your personal studies.
Not only must you write keywords from your classroom lessons but also expressions used by your colleagues which you consider relevant and must-read further about.
In as much as you need a notebook, you also need a pen to write in the notebook. Though sometimes most students do not carry pens with them all the time, it is always preferable that you have a pen with you just in case you must write down a keyword you have come across or have heard from a colleague or teacher which sounds news to you.
A wristwatch
Time is required for students to achieve success in every task. A wristwatch is a vital item for every student. If you are a student, you need to be conscious of your time. Time guides you to organise your task effectively. In school, everything works under time, and as a student, you need time to plan.
You are advised to buy a wristwatch to monitor your time as a student. This will enable you to consciously follow your timetable or schedule for the months, weeks, and days.
Laptop / Smartphone
A Laptop is an essential item for you especially if you are a student in a tertiary institution. Tertiary education demands a lot of research work, a lot of typing especially when assignments and project works are given. The very reason why you need a laptop as a student to aid you in completing such academic tasks.
Lecturers mostly ask their students to write a number of pages for assignments or project work with a time frame for submission. Having a laptop will save you the stress of going to a cafe to type your work or borrowing one from a friend who may also need it to complete his or her assignment.
Aside from that, having a laptop will enable you to save your lecture slides for personal reading. Having a laptop can even help you type your lecture notes and print them for studies.
Microsoft Office suites such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft Powerpoint enable you to complete your assignments and presentation work with ease. As a tertiary student, you should be conversant with how to use Microsoft Word and Excel because most academic work requires that you use these applications to complete them.
A smartphone can also be used in place of a laptop especially if you can not afford one. In our world today, smartphones have unique apps and features that could help you ease your academic activities such as research, typing assignments, saving your lecture slides for personal reading, sending emails, etc.
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Some smartphones like iPhone, Infinix, Tecno, Samsung, and other phone brands have apps that can perform almost all the functions of a computer. Not only do they have apps but also a large storage memory for saving files that are relevant to your academic activities.
As a student, your years spent in school are made easy with the help of these gadgets. They are designed to enable you to work towards academic excellence.
All the above-mentioned items are key and a must-have for students who desire academic excellence. As a student, you need these items to ease your academic life on campus.
As a student, you need the above-mentioned items to ease your academic life in school and to work towards achieving excellence in your course of study. Academic excellence is possible and achievable only if you will learn to plan and be conscious of your time always.