Digital Student Planner With Hyperlinked Tabs For iPad

What is a digital student planner?

A digital student planner is a digital diary that is designed to improve productivity and organisation of students. It is a PDF document that features a range of pages with hyperlinks throughout it to make navigation super easy! 

My digital daily planning student planner which you can find on my Etsy shop here is fantastic because it is an evergreen product! This means that you only need to make a one off purchase and then you can simply use this planner every single year for the rest of your life as it is undated! There are 365 daily planning pages but instead of them saying Monday the 1st of January they simply say the 1st of January, 2nd of January etc. And don’t be worried about not knowing what day corresponds to what date as there is a fill in the blank calendar on each month divider page which you can easily refer back to through the quick hyperlink tabs navigation!

Benefits Of Digital Planning As A Student

#1 It Significantly Improves Your Time Management

Daily planning significantly improves your time management as it forces you to think about how you are going to spend each half hour slot of the day and then maximise your time during those periods. If you are interested in improving your time management I suggest that you read my article on the best time management strategies for students here. 

#2 It Improves Your Productivity

By thinking about what you want to achieve in a day you will drastically improve your productivity as during the day you will know what to do at what time. Instead of sitting around for half an hour thinking about what you could do next and feeling unmotivated to start, you can look at your list of things to do and just get started! Planning acts as almost a challenge for yourself as you spend your time in the best possible way to get as much done as possible. 

#3 Planning Can Reduce Stress

The act of journaling and planning can be very calming but also just knowing what to do and when can significantly reduce your stress. Especially as a student having a mountain load of due dates and tasks to do for school, having it all planned out in front of you can make it a lot less overwhelming. A planner also gives you the confidence that you will get everything done in time. 

#4 You Will Never Miss A Due Date Again

Linking onto my last point, by having a digital student planner you will never miss a due date again because you will have a record of when everything is due. You can write due dates within your daily planning pages on your schedule or as a daily goal e.g. ‘hand in history essay’, or you can write your due dates on the monthly calendars located on the month divider sections so you have a fully monthly overview of what due dates are coming up.

#5 Planning Serves As A Way To Evaluate Your Progress 

Daily planning serves as a way to evaluate your progress. If you make a larger goal with the goal planner template that is included in my digital student planner  you can track your progress each day and work towards it through setting mini daily goals that work towards you achieving your larger goal. Furthermore, each daily planner page has a 10 star daily rating page where you can colour in the stars to reflect on how well your day went. 

These are some good daily reflective writing prompts that you could go through:

• What did I do well today?
• What positive things happened today?
• Did I over-schedule and set unrealistic goals?
• What can I improve on for tomorrow?
• What did I not manage to achieve today and when can I reschedule to do it?
• What worked well in my schedule today?

At the end of each month there is also a reflection template that you can fill out with questions similar to these. 

#6 It Is A Place For Records

A digital planner is a place for all of your records. If you ever need to check on a date in the past to see what you were doing you can go back through your digital planner and easily check it out. Also reading through old pages of a planner can be a really fun activity as it will spark a lot of forgotten memories in your mind of stuff that you did each day. I suggest writing extra notes about specifics of fun activities in the notes sections if you have time each day!

#7 There Are Heaps Of Extra Templates That Can Help You Become A Better Student

In the daily planning digital student planner that I designed there are so many bonus templates that can help you become a better student. I have them all listed at the bottom of the article and go into depth about them or you can simply click the link above to find out more with images!

How To Plan Your Ultimate Day With A Digital Student Planner

#1 Set Daily Goals

The first thing I do when filling out my daily planning template is set my 3 daily goals. These do not need to be giganormous goals but small things that I will feel satisfied with if I complete them today. Usually I like to look to my goals planner and make smaller goals for the day that correspond with my action plan for my larger goal. This will ensure that I am constantly working towards it. My goals can also be quick wins like “hand in your english assignment” or “do not eat any chocolate today.”

#2 Make A To Do List

My next step in daily planning is to make a to-do list that details everything that I want to do  today. The main difference between the to-do list and the daily goals section is that the to-dos are mindless activities or more specific steps that I need to take to achieve the goals. 

For example mindless activity to-dos include:

• Respond to emails 
• Walk the dog
• Organise my desk 

But more specific to-dos that lead towards the completion of a daily goal might be:

• Make a plan for english essay
• Write the introduction
• Write body paragraph 1, 2 and 3
• Do the conclusion
• Edit essay 

If you have an essay coming up you might find this printable essay planner pack helpful in getting you started! Or you can use the single essay planner in my digital student planner!

#3 Meal Plan

Next I like to do my meal plan which happens to be a really fun activity. There is a table located below the daily goals section where you can write what you are going to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

If you are a big fan of cooking, meal planning or just food in general I suggest that you check out my weekly meal planner printable pack and also my article where I explain how to create a great meal plan as a student!

#4 Schedule Your To-Dos

After meal planning I like to schedule all of my to-dos for the day. On the left hand side of the page there is a full schedule from 6am to 10pm (these hours were chosen because you probably won’t be working in the middle of the night!). Firstly fill in any activities that occur regularly or are already planned e.g. your school hours, sport hours or something like a coffee catch up with friends. Then fill in the gaps in your schedule with all of your to dos. I like to make my schedule look extra pretty by using colour with the pen or highlighting tool!

Here is a screenshot of a daily plan page from my personal digital student planner:

As you can see I have used highlighter in my daily schedule to colour code activities e.g. studying. 

#5 Write Notes

Located at the bottom of the page there is a small box where you can write any miscellaneous notes for the day. You can also do the reflection activity that I talked about above under the heading ‘Planning Serves As A Way To Evaluate Your Progress’ in the notes box. 

#6 Rate Your Day 

The final step at the end of the day is to rate your day. At the top right hand corner there are ten stars which you can colour in to indicate how good your day was. 

A guide for star rating your day is:

• One star = horrible day
• Five stars = average day
• Ten stars = fantastic day 

Bonus Templates Of This Student Digital Planner

#1 Birthday Tracker

This template is very self explanatory but as a quick run down you pretty much write down your friends and families birthdays in the correct month section so you never forget them again!

#2 Course Overview

The course overview template is very handy for students in college or at university but can also be used by high school students. On this page you write down your class names, your professors names, their office hours, their contact information and location. This page is very handy as it summarises all the important information in one place. 

#3 Timetable

This is a fill in the blank timetable for your school timetable or recurring activities that happen every week like sport training or a club. I suggest that you colour code certain activities and classes to make it easier to read and also more aesthetic! 

#4 Vision Board

In this template you can insert images and text in each box for each category. The categories are education, self, family, career, health, finances, hobbies, relationships, travel, habits, goals and misc. Put images on this page that reflect what you want for each of these categories. It’s like a goal page but visual! 

#5 Key Dates

The key dates page is just like the birthday tracker however it is for all the very important dates for each month. These might be assignment due dates, assessments or other important things happening in your life. 

#6 Year In Pixels Mood Tracker

The year in pixels mood tracker is like one you would find in a bullet journal. You need to use the colour key and assign a colour to every mood you are going to track. Then everyday you choose the dominating mood for the day and colour in the little square that corresponds to the date. By the end of the year you will have a very colourful page!

#7 Monthly Budget Trackers

Each month has its own monthly budget tracker where you can track your finances. You can keep track in a big list of all your expenses, how much you budgeted for each item and how much you actually spent. 

#8 Monthly Habit Trackers

Each month also has a monthly habit tracker. On this template you write down habits that you would like to track and then colour in the corresponding day that you did it the habit to keep a track of it. If you need more inspiration for habits to track, you should read my article 61 habits to track in your habit tracker  to get some great ideas that are organised by category.

#9 Month In Review

The final page that is in every month is the month in review template. This template has a few questions that you can answer for self improvement at the end of each month as a reflection activity. 

#10 Goals Planner

The goals planner is a template so you can set SMART goals. 

This stands for: 

• S – specific
• M – measurable
• A – attainable
• R – realistic
• T – time bound 

#11 Homework Tracker

The homework tracker is a template where you can keep a long list of all the homework tasks you need to complete! You can also write the due dates, an estimation of how long you think the task will take you to complete and once you are finished, how long it actually took you. 

#12 Exam Preparation Tracker

The exam preparation tracker helps you keep on track for your studying for your exams. You can write down all the topics you need to study, colour in the circle trackers each time you revise the content and also indicate your level of understanding. 

#13 Grade Tracker

This template is where you can track your grades for a specific subject. As with any template in this planner you can duplicate this page for each subject you want to track your grades for and all the hyperlinks will still work! 

#14 Pomodoro Study Tracker

This is a tracker for your pomodoro study sessions. If you haven’t heard of it before, the pomodoro technique is a study technique that improves your concentration and focus. The technique uses a timer to break down tasks into smaller study sessions of 25 minute. Between each session there is a study break of 3-5minutes and after 4x 25 minute sessions you get a longer break of 20-25 minutes. You can find out more by reading the ultimate guide to the pomodoro technique!

#15 Assessment Action Plan

This is one of my favourite templates for staying organised as a student, especially for assignments and hand-in tasks. On the left hand table you write down every single thing that you can think of that you need to do to complete the task. These should be things you can achieve in a relatively short amount of time, around 10-15 minutes. You then rate each task by importance and re-order the list in the right hand table by importance. You then assign each task a due date or a to-do date. It’s really handy for managing your time well. 

#16 Essay Planner

This is a template where you can plan out your essays for any subject. You can write your ideas for your introduction, body paragraph 1, body paragraph 2 and body paragraph 3 and your conclusion. At the bottom of the page there is a progress tracker to fill out as you write your essay. 

#17 4x Types Of Note Taking Pages

In this digital student planner there are four types of note taking pages: lined, grid, blank and cornell style notes. If you want to learn how to take great notes for school I suggest that you read my article about the 5 best note taking strategies.