A good weekly planner for students has five parts: fixed commitments, deadlines for the week, a top three, daily work blocks and a short end-of-day check. Fill it in during a 20-minute plan every Sunday and review the week before starting the next one. The layout below works on paper or in any calendar app.
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This planner is built for high school and college students, but parents and counselors can use it to coach a student through the routine. Print one copy for each week, or copy the headings into a notebook.
How to use this planner
- Use one page per week. Keep it somewhere you see daily, such as a desk or the front of a binder.
- Fill it in on the same day and time each week. Sunday afternoon or evening works well for most students.
- Write in pencil, or leave room to move things. Plans change midweek, and that is fine.
- Keep last week’s page. The weekly review uses it.
The Sunday 20-minute plan
Set a timer. The goal is a realistic plan, not a perfect one.
- Minutes 1 to 3: Clear your head. Write down every task, worry and errand on scrap paper.
- Minutes 4 to 8: Gather deadlines. Check your school portal, syllabus, email and texts. List every due date for the next seven to ten days.
- Minutes 9 to 12: Block fixed commitments. Classes, work shifts, practice, appointments and family plans.
- Minutes 13 to 16: Choose your top three. The three tasks that would make the week a success if they were done.
- Minutes 17 to 20: Place work blocks. Put each top three task and big assignment into a specific open time on a specific day.
The printable weekly plan
Week of: ______
Fixed commitments
- Classes and labs: ______
- Work shifts: ______
- Practices, rehearsals and clubs: ______
- Appointments: ______
- Family or social plans: ______
Deadlines this week
- Assignment, class, due day: ______
- Tests or quizzes, day: ______
- Forms, payments or applications, day: ______
- Big project milestones, day: ______
Top three for the week
- ______
- ______
- ______
Daily blocks
For each day, Monday through Sunday, fill in these lines:
- Morning block (task and time): ______
- Afternoon block (task and time): ______
- Evening block (task and time): ______
- One small thing to get done today: ______
- Free time and rest: ______
Keep study blocks to about 25 to 50 minutes with a short break between them. Two focused blocks usually beat one long session with a phone nearby. Our guides to time management for teens and time management for college students go deeper.
End-of-day check (two minutes)
- Did I do today’s blocks? Yes, partly, or no: ______
- What moved, and where did I put it: ______
- First thing tomorrow: ______
- Bag packed, alarm set, phone charging away from the bed: ______
The weekly review
Do this right before your next Sunday plan. It takes about five minutes and makes each week’s plan better than the last.
- Which of my top three got done?
- What got pushed back, and why? Too big, not scheduled, or avoided?
- Did any deadline surprise me? Where should I have seen it?
- Which day or time block worked best for focused work?
- What is one change I will make this week?
When the week falls apart
Every student has weeks where a test moves, a shift gets added or they get sick. The planner still helps, as long as you adjust it instead of abandoning it.
- Stop and spend five minutes re-planning the rest of the week, starting from today.
- Keep the top three, but cut each one down to the part that truly has to be done.
- Email a teacher or professor early if a deadline is at risk. Asking before the due date goes much better than explaining after.
- Drop optional tasks to next week and write them on next week’s page so they are not lost.
Tips for different students
- High school students: sports and activities eat most weekday afternoons, so protect a weeknight evening block and one weekend block. Parents can do the Sunday plan alongside at first, then step back.
- College students: with fewer class hours, the open time is the danger. Treat daytime gaps between classes as work blocks. See study habits for college.
- Students who work: put shifts in first, then plan school blocks around them. Working while in college has more on balancing both.
- Students who procrastinate: make the first block of each task tiny, such as opening the document and writing the title. Read how to stop procrastinating.
Where a mentor helps
Most students can fill in a planner once. Doing it every Sunday for a full semester is the hard part, especially when the week goes sideways. A mentor walks through the plan and review with the student each week, adjusts it when it is not working and checks in by text between sessions. For high school students, a parent is always involved and gets regular progress updates. See mentoring for high school students and mentoring for college students.
Related
- Time management for teens
- Time management for college students
- Helping a disorganized teenager
- Executive function skills
Common questions
Is a paper planner or an app better for students?
Either works if it is used daily. Paper is easier to see at a glance; an app is better for reminders. Some students plan on paper on Sunday and copy deadlines into their phone.
Why plan on Sunday?
It sets up the whole week before Monday starts. Any day works, as long as it is the same day each week.
What if I never stick to the plan?
Shrink it. Plan only your top three and one block per day for two weeks, then add more once that feels routine.
Can parents use this with a teen?
Yes. Sit together for the first few Sunday plans, then let the teen run it while you only ask about the top three.
Get started
Want weekly support sticking to a plan? Call (888) 305 5422, email contact@blackburnmentoring.com or start with a short assessment. A member of our team reviews every assessment personally and sets up a free intro call.