Scribba
In the first two weeks of a semester, you check your schedule constantly. Which building is Chem lab in? Is the discussion section Tuesday or Thursday? When are office hours? A good weekly schedule answers all of that on one page, and a great one also shows you where your study time lives.
This guide walks through building a weekly class schedule that's actually useful, what to put on it besides your classes, and how to make it on the Class Schedule template in Scribba.
Gather everything before you start
Your registration portal shows your classes, but rarely everything you need. Before you draw anything, collect:
- Every meeting of every class. Lectures, plus labs, discussion sections and recitations, which often meet at different times and places from the lecture.
- Rooms and buildings for each one. Look up anything unfamiliar on a campus map now, not five minutes before class.
- Professor and TA names, and how each prefers to be contacted.
- Office hours for each professor and TA, with locations or links.
- Fixed commitments outside class: a job, practice, rehearsals, a commute.
Most of this is on the syllabus, which is one more reason to read every syllabus in the first week.
Build the grid in layers
Fill the schedule in a set order, so the fixed things go in first and nothing gets double-booked.
- Classes. Block in every lecture, lab and section. Write the course name and room inside each block.
- Fixed commitments. Work shifts, practices, travel time between campuses.
- Meals. It sounds silly, but a schedule with no lunch on your longest day is a schedule you'll break.
- Study blocks. Now look at the gaps. An hour between classes is a great time to review the notes from the class that just ended, while it's fresh.
Give each class one color and use it everywhere: on the schedule, on that class's notebook cover, in your planner. Over time, your brain links the color with the class, and the week becomes readable at a glance.
Plan your study time on purpose
Many colleges expect several hours of work outside class for every hour spent in it, so the empty space on your schedule isn't free time by default. Assign some of it. Put a recurring study block for each class on the page, ideally soon after that class meets. Treat it like a class: same time, same place, every week.
Be realistic. A schedule packed from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. looks impressive and lasts about four days. Leave real breaks and at least one open evening.
What else to put on the page
A schedule page is the page you'll open most, so make it hold the things you'd otherwise go looking for:
- Office hours, listed by class, under the grid.
- Where each class posts slides and assignments.
- Exam dates from each syllabus, if you don't keep a separate planner.
- The add/drop and withdrawal deadlines for the term.
- A small campus map, if you're new.
Keep it to one page if you can. If it spills over, put the reference details on a second page right behind the grid.
The Class Schedule template in Scribba
Scribba's Class Schedule paper is in the Study section of the paper picker. It has a CLASS SCHEDULE header, a TERM field, and a grid of weekdays by hours. Nothing is filled in for you, so write the term at the top and your classes into the grid.
A few ways to make it clear and easy to update:
- Shade blocks with the highlighter. Scribba's highlighter strokes snap straight, so a few passes fill a time block neatly. Use one highlighter color per class.
- Save your class colors. Each tool keeps its own saved colors; tap the selected color to pick a new one. Set up your class colors once and reuse them all term.
- Box a block with a snapped rectangle. Hold the Pencil still at the end of a stroke and it snaps to a clean shape.
- Type the details in a text box if your handwriting gets cramped in small blocks, or add a sticky note for office hours.
- Add a photo of a campus map or a building directory to the page behind the grid.
Put the schedule where you'll see it. If you keep a dated planner, make the class schedule its first page and bookmark it, as described in how to set up an iPad planner for the school year. Keep that notebook open as a tab, so the schedule is one tap away from your class notes. See notebook tabs and the quick switcher.
Tip: share the schedule page as an image from the page sidebar. A copy in your photos is handy when you're on your phone between classes.
Scribba doesn't sync with your calendar
Scribba has no calendar sync and no connection to Canvas, Blackboard or other course sites. Your schedule page is something you write and update yourself. If you want reminders before each class, add the classes to your iPad's calendar app too, and use the Scribba page as your at-a-glance view with everything else on it.
When the schedule changes after add/drop, erase the old block with the pixel eraser and write in the new one. For a fresh start next term, add a new Class Schedule page with the new term at the top, so the old one stays as a record.
Frequently asked questions
Does Scribba sync my class schedule with Calendar or Canvas?
No. Scribba has no calendar or course-site sync. You write the schedule on the page yourself.
Can I make my class schedule in landscape?
Orientation is chosen per notebook when you create it. If you want a landscape schedule, create a landscape notebook for it, such as your planner.
Where should I keep my class schedule page?
At the front of your planner, bookmarked, so it's the first entry in the table of contents. If you don't use a planner, a small notebook just for semester reference works too.