School recently started up again here in Australia! I realised I’ve done plenty of posts about color coding planners but only 1 that was specifically on how to color code your notes for school, college or university so thought I better change that!

How to color code your planner for school

To enlarge the screen of the video, click the square icon in the bottom right hand corner of the video (it will say ‘full screen’ when you hover your mouse over the icon).

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I use the Plum Paper Student Planner as an example in the video but you can apply the same method to any planner for school.

Related: Plum Paper Planners Haul & Review (better than the Erin Condren?)

Ways to color code your planner for school using pens

I’m not in school or university anymore (yay!) but these are some of the methods I tried to color code my planner:

1. By due dates

Different colors for each of these:

• Things due this week
• Things due next week
• To work on this week (but not due this week)
• Things that can be put off to next week

2. By subject

Once you pick a color, stick with it. For whatever reason I chose blue for maths when I started high school. All through high school I use blue folders, blue pens, blue binder covers etc. for anything related to maths. I now use blue for the accounting spreadsheets for my business (my code is blue = numbers!)

3. By type e.g. homework, assignments, exams

One method that works well when dividing up where to spend your time and make sure you’re maintaining a balance, is to color code by type. So different colors for:

• Homework
• Assignments
• Exams

If you wanted to go really detailed you could pick a color for a subject e.g. blue and then use different shades of blue for homework, assignments, exams. This might work ok if you only have a few subjects. But I’ve tried it before in the past and it ended up being too confusing and I needed a lot of whiteout.

Highlighters versus pens:

If you want to speed up the planning process or are prone to using the wrong color when color coding using pens, highlighters are a quick method:

Before:

After:

If you’re going to color code using highlighters I recommend erasable highlighters such as Frixion, Typo or ooly.

Some of my favorite pens for color coding:

• Papermate Inkjoy Gel 0.7mm (they write so smooth)
• Frixion (they have an erasable end the rubs out the ink)
• Staedtler Triplus Color (if you need a lot of colors!)

Related: Ultimate list of the best planner pen brands and how to choose colors for color coding 

More ways to customise your planner for school:

• Use header stickers if you don’t want to pay extra to customise the planner
• Sticky notes
• I recommend color coding your notes too! See this post for how I used to color code mine: How to organize and color code your notes for school, college or university 
• Colored folders & binder covers – with different colors for each school subject (that correspond with the colors you use in your planner)

Related: 5 Ways to use sticky notes for school or college

More color coding tips

• Planner Organization: How to color-code your planner (so you’ll actually use it effectively)
• Favorite color coding planner supplies for less than $5
• Ultimate list of the best planner pen brands and how to choose colors for color coding 
• 50 Category Ideas for Color Coding Your Planner
• How to organize and color code your notes for school, college or university 
• Color coded monthly meal planning using sticky notes 
• 6 Ways to color code your planner to increase productivity
• Color coding your planner: how to choose which colors to use 

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