Hey Jill!

I can so relate to you! I just finished my first two years of college to become a paramedic. I am planning on another four years starting this spring. I tried several things and many of them didn't work for me..lol. BUT, you have to keep trying until you find something, because eventaully something WILL work!

I tried using a PDA to keep track of eassignments, appointment, etc. This didn't work for me because I kept forgetting to charge it. it may work for you
I finally got into the habit of carrying a standard planner. Since I was carrying books all the time anyways, it worked for me. When an instructor gave an assignment due date, i immediately wrote it in the planner. I wrote dates of tests, etc. At the end of the day, I would go back and give myself little reminders of these due dates a few days or weeks before, to keep me on track. This worked out very well for me, especially having a husband, two kids, and two jobs towards the end of school. I can't believe I stayed on track, but I graduated on the dean's list. Kudos to organization!!!

Another thing I had to learn was what I needed to effectively study. If I am going to study on my own, I need complete silence. My husband threatened the kids with bolidy harm if they came near my bedroom door when I was in study mode..lol. You might find it helpful to go to a library. Other people need noice when they study, so you have to figure out what works for you. Be careful if you get together with a study group. Make sure you have someone there who will act as the responsible party and cut out the chit chat.
Following the typical "study 15 minutes every day" routine never worked for me. I went through spurts of not studying at all and spending an entire day engrossed in pharmacology. I strongly believe that doing whatever you have to to pay attention during lecture will get you farther than anything. Again, it's trial and error. Try sitting up front, bringing a tape recorder, asking questions, etc. I never took notes in class unless I had to. To me, it was more of a distraction than being helpful. I tried to actively listen as much as possible. See if you can team up with someone in class and go over their notes later.
I used those post-it type plastic page markers all the time to mark down certain pages in my textbook I wanted to refer to later. You can also write on them to remind yourself what you wanted to look up without writing all over your book.

Writing everything down and when it is due is crucial. Making a few friends in the class who would be willing to give you a call to remind you of things isn't a bad idea, either.
Are you on meds? Maybe you need to be or you need to switch meds, increase the dose, etc. Talk to your doctor about that.
That's all I can think of right now, but I'll add more if I think of them.
Good luck to you!

I'm in college right now too. A lot of it is trial and error. Somethings I've tried have worked and some haven't. I also use a paper planner to keep everything straight. I wish I had more suggestions, but I'm trying to figure it out too!

OMG, so am I! my concentration is very bad - I have to have several things on the go and concentrate better if I have several things, but put EVERYTHING I have to do down, or I get so my head is overwhelmed. If things I have to do are down, then I rest more easily and work better....I just have to get things out of my head..dont know whether this is understaable..