Make a Plan For Your Time | St. Clair College

Make a Plan For Your Time

Time management for successful college studying involves these factors:

  • Determining how much time you need to spend studying
  • Knowing how much time you actually have for studying and increasing that time if needed
  • Being aware of the times of day you are at your best and most focused
  • Using effective long- and short-term study strategies
  • Scheduling study activities in realistic segments
  • Using a system to plan ahead and set priorities
  • Staying motivated to follow your plan and avoid procrastination

For every hour in the classroom, college students should spend, on average, about two hours on that class, counting reading, studying, writing papers, and so on. If you’re a full-time student with fifteen hours a week in class, then you need another thirty hours for the rest of your academic work. That forty-five hours is about the same as a typical full-time job. If you work part time, time management skills are even more essential. These skills are still more important for part-time college students who work full time and commute or have a family. To succeed in college, virtually everyone has to develop effective strategies for dealing with time.

Do you have two hours of study time for every hour of scheduled class time? Many students begin college not knowing this much time is needed, so don’t be surprised if you underestimated this number of hours. Remember this is just an average amount of study time — you may need more or less for your own courses. To reserve this study time, you may need to adjust how much time you spend in other activities.

Now that you don’t necessarily have a specific time you will be meeting, managing your time is even more critical. You will need to make a commitment to invest the time needed to achieve the learning objectives of your courses.

Following are some strategies you can begin using immediately to make the most of your time:

  • Use a calendar planner, weekly schedule and daily to-do list. Check your email and Blackboard courses for information about how your professor plans for you to complete the learning objectives of your courses. Some professors may plan to meet with you online during your regular class times, others may allow you to work on your own schedule. Review the assignments and test dates provided to you by your instructors for the final four to five weeks of this semester. Jot these down on a paper calendar or add them to your mobile or online calendar. This will give you an overview of the rest of the semester and identify particularly busy weeks. Next prepare your ideal weekly schedule with class times (if your professor requires you to join a presentation online at a specific time) and study periods for each day and on the weekends. Add work and other fixed activities after classes and study periods. Consult your calendar and weekly schedule to help determine the tasks you need to complete each day and consider what study periods you have available that day. For each study period, plan out your activities based on course materials you need to review each week for your courses, due dates for assignments. preparation needed for next scheduled online meetings and general study to prepare for tests and exams.
  • Prepare to be successful. When planning ahead for studying, think yourself into the right mood. Focus on the positive. “When I get these chapters read tonight, I’ll be ahead in studying for the next test, and I’ll also have plenty of time tomorrow to do X.” Visualize yourself studying well!
  • Use your best—and most appropriate—time of day. Different tasks require different mental skills. Some kinds of studying you may be able to start first thing in the morning as you wake, while others need your most alert moments at another time.
  • Break up large projects into small pieces. Whether it’s writing a paper for class, studying for a final exam, or reading a long assignment or full book, students often feel daunted at the beginning of a large project. It’s easier to get going if you break it up into stages that you schedule at separate times—and then begin with the first section that requires only an hour or two.
  • Do the most important studying first. When two or more things require your attention, do the more crucial one first. If something happens and you can’t complete everything, you’ll suffer less if the most crucial work is done.
  • If you have trouble getting started, do an easier task first. Like large tasks, complex or difficult ones can be daunting. If you can’t get going, switch to an easier task you can accomplish quickly. That will give you momentum, and often you feel more confident tackling the difficult task after being successful in the first one.
  • If you’re feeling overwhelmed and stressed because you have too much to do, revisit your time planner. Sometimes it’s hard to get started if you keep thinking about other things you need to get done.
  • Review your schedule for the next few days and make sure everything important is scheduled, then relax and concentrate on the task at hand.
  • If you’re really floundering, talk to someone. Maybe you just don’t understand what you should be doing. Email with your professor or use the discussion tools with another student in the course to get back on track.
  • Take a break. We all need breaks to help us concentrate without becoming fatigued and burned out. As a rule, a short break every hour or so is effective in helping recharge your study energy. Get up and move around to get your blood flowing, clear your thoughts, and work off stress.
  • Use unscheduled times to work ahead. You’ve scheduled that hundred pages of reading for later today, but you have the textbook with you as you’re waiting for the bus. Start reading now, or flip through the chapter to get a sense of what you’ll be reading later. Either way, you’ll save time later. You may be amazed how much studying you can get done during downtimes throughout the day.
  • Keep your momentum. Prevent distractions, such as multitasking, that will only slow you down. Check for messages, for example, only at scheduled break times.
  • Reward yourself. It’s not easy to sit still for hours of studying. When you successfully complete the task, you should feel good and deserve a small reward. A healthy snack, a quick video game session, or social activity can help you feel even better about your successful use of time.
  • Just say no. Always tell others nearby when you’re studying, to reduce the chances of being interrupted. Still, interruptions happen, and if you are in a situation where you are frequently interrupted by a family member, spouse, roommate, or friend, it helps to have your “no” prepared in advance: “No, I really have to be ready for this test” or “That’s a great idea, but let’s do it tomorrow — I just can’t today.” You shouldn’t feel bad about saying no — especially if you told that person in advance that you needed to study.
  • Have a life. Never schedule your day or week so full of work and study that you have no time at all for yourself, your family and friends, and your larger life.

Want more? Review these resources from The Learning Portal:

Adapted from A Guide for Successful Students, Stewart and Maisonville, 2019, CC BY SA NC