Guide on Reducing your Backpack's Load.
Hello. It has been a while since I made a guide. I hope that you will find it useful for your upcoming semester.
Guide on Reducing your Backpack’s Load:
Laptops. Unless you actual need them for class(your prof. strictly said, bring laptops to class) leave them at home. Even if you own a Macbook Air or some light netbooks/laptops, they do add weight to your school bag.
Alternative: Carrying a tablet, or just using the computers provided at school for work.
Textbooks. Similar issue as with the laptops. When the professor is lecturing, you do not need to bring them to class unless you need it for class work. Store them in your locker or leave them at home. For some classes, you are required to purchase the textbook for the mandatory readings… However for some classes, they will just be supplementary reads. *Check with your prof or see if it is indicated on the syllabus*
Alternative: Check the school’s library and see if they have a copy of it if you are in need of it. You can get an epub/pdf version of it as well.
Dictionaries. Unless you have an examination or no internet at school, you do not necessarily need it. Some professors will request that you buy a dictionary to use in class when writing compositions since they do not allow electronics… Most of the time, you are fine without it.
Stationeries. To be honest, you do not need to carry as many pens/pencils and whatnot as you are carrying.
Three pens? (Blue, Black, Red)
A Highlighter
An Eraser & Corrector Tape/White-Out..
Two Mechanical Pencils (in case one breaks/runs out of lead…)
A Calculator? (Maybe if you need it..)
** This is sufficient for me at least… If you like using highlighters more, you can switch the quantity you carry with the pens… I use my pens more than highlighters.
Binders. Good for organisation… Just not for your backpack. They are just heavy. If you need to carry some assignments from the binder, take them out and use a pocket-folder to protect them.
Alternative: Pocket-folders to carry required papers. You can organise those papers afterwards.
Notebooks. Depending on the number of classes you have in a day, you might be carrying quite a handful of them. The 5-subject notebooks are heavy. You might not have all those classes each day so carrying it might be a pain. In this case, having an individual notebook for each subject would be better so you can leave the ones you do not need at home.
Best of Luck.
** I am planning on writing some more tips/guides in the near future. Let me know if you have any topic suggestions.
