PurpleTrail Student Planner Review

There are academic planners that simply follow an academic calendar, and then there are academic planners that actually have space for your class information. The Student Planners from PurpleTrail are in the latter category.

These planners come with all of the same customization options as PurpleTrail’s traditional planners and almost as many cover design options.

The Cover + Materials

For this student planner, I chose to go with the mandala cover because it was brightly colored and decorative—and I’m definitely happy with this decision. Simply looking at the cover gives me a carefree and bubbly feeling. This cover is only available in hardcover, but that’s fine by me. However, many of the other covers are available soft. It has silver wire-o binding and is 8.5×11. All of PurpleTrail’s student planners are available in 8.5×11 and 6×8, so you can choose the size that works best for you.

The paper inside the planner is still just as silky and wonderful as the regular planners from PurpleTrail, but now the paper is a thicker 80lb weight (Editor’s note, 80lb does not = 80 pounds; check out this handy little graphic if you don’t know the first thing about paper weight, like me). This makes it durable and prevents ink from running or bleeding through.

There are still thick, card stock dividers with tabs to signal the start of each month and bright colors carried throughout the planner. The Student Planner runs for a full 12 months, but you choose the start month and year. This makes it great if you need a new planner at an unconventional time of year.

The basic version of the Student Planner doesn’t come with stickers, a folder, or different themed sections. However, all of these things can be added on. You can add up to four different section add-ons and have a folder and stickers incorporated as well. Of course, each of these bonus features will add a little bit more to the price.

The Monthly Layout

After you flip to a new month, you’ll find a page dedicated to goal setting and planning the month. It’s a very clean, simple page. You have a box for four goals that month, four main events, and then an open, lined space where you write down the things you want to remember.

Then you get to move on to the monthly calendar, which has the usual features you expect and nothing you don’t need.

The Weekly Layout

Now, the really interesting thing about PurpleTrail’s student planner is the weekly layout. It has a vertical weekly layout, but instead of being broken into hours or morning/afternoon/evening, it’s divided by your classes. There are seven subject boxes on the far left side that cross over the vertical weekdays.

This allows you to use the space in a few different ways. The first would be to use it solely to write down that day’s class assignments and information. This would make it more difficult to write down your schedule outside of school, but if you really need more help keeping up with school work, then it’s ideal.

The second option is to write in your classes in the order they happen each day so everything goes in chronological order and use any extra subject boxes for your clubs or other extracurriculars.

College students will likely have the most trouble making this layout work for them. College classes typically alternate days, and when you add in club meetings, work, and social plans, they really need a formal weekly schedule so they know when to be somewhere. High school and junior high students, on the other hand, can really benefit from this student planner. There’s a subject box for each of the seven classes they typically take every day of the week, and the separate boxes for each one is incredibly useful in keeping track of due dates.

The color scheme and lined boxes are also helpful in organizing visually. Each day is a different color, which serves to break up the week into specific days and help students keep things in order. Each of the boxes in the daily columns is lined as well, which makes the space easier to use while also making it flexible. Students can write in times, different meeting locations, pages to read, and test days all in the same box. They don’t have to worry about making a weird time fit in a traditional hour schedule or anything like that.

The Verdict

Overall, I think this student planner is best suited to junior high and high school students. College students need something that spans both the student world and the adult world. For someone needing a specific place to keep their education in order, PurpleTrail’s student planner is one of the best student planners I’ve come across.

It’s well-made and durable (so backpacks won’t rip it to shreds), and can be made even more useful with the right add-ons. For the price, you receive a sturdy, beautiful planner with all of the organization a student could need or want.

We’re sorry to announce PurpleTrail has officially closed its doors!

Follow Terra on Instagram: @terrabrown3

Updated August 22, 2023.