How To Study?

Your goal is to gain time. Studying is important, but it’s not your whole life.

School or college work is a series of tasks, from short weekly assignments to long-term projects to periodic exams. Why Schedule Your Time? helps you spread out the work so it’s more balanced.

A Schedule of Recurring Activities can be used to help you be aware of the regular activities in which you participate each week. Once you have scheduled your regular recurring activities, you can be realistic about the study time you have available. While working through that section, there are Helpful Hints for Scheduling your time.

Weekly Schedules and Prioritizing are filled with suggestions on how to divide those large tasks into smaller more manageable chunks. Controlling Procrastination is a major part of time management. You can learn many strategies for controlling this beast.

Wouldn’t it be nice to know about plan your time in advance rather than showing up for class and finding out you have a test.

1. School or college work is a series of tasks - from short weekly assignments to long term projects to periodic exams. NOT REGULAR

3. Being orderly and organized helps combat anxiety. You needn't feel that you're always on the run or have neglected something important. Earn the right to guilt free non-study time.

4. Study can become a habit. That removes the burden and waste of time of first deciding whether or not to study, then deciding what to study.

6. A schedule may help in avoiding interruptions by making it perfectly clear to friends, family and yourself that it's your time to study.

A ‘Schedule of Recurring Activities’ can be used to help you be aware of the regular, recurring activities in which you participate each week. Once you have scheduled your regular recurring activities, you can be realistic about the study time available to you and can organize your study time accordingly (eg. create study ‘to do’ lists). Some general guidelines in completing the Schedule of Recurring Activities include: 1) schedule fixed blocks of time first eg. class time, work time, time spent commuting, sleep time, and meal time; 2) include time for errands; 3) schedule time for fun; and 4) allow approximately 15 to 20 hours of study time each week.

SCHEDULE OF RECURRING ACTIVITIES

Once you have completed the Schedule of Recurring Activities and are aware of your regular, routine activities, you can now create a schedule for studying. This is generated from the free blocks of time in your day.

The following are some helpful hints for creating this schedule.

1. Make use of the half and full hours scattered throughout your recurring schedule. (Several short study sessions are better for concentration and retention than one long one.) Utilizing breaks during the day allows you to get homework out of the way and reduces study time during the evenings.

3. Set yourself a specific objective for each block of time. Reward yourself with a break when you have reached it. A specific treat at the end of the week can be great incentive for attaining the study hours which you had planned for yourself.

7. Vary the difficulty and the interest level for you in arranging the order of subjects to be studied.

8. Set work time spans that are reasonable for you. (50 minutes is generally optimal).

10. When scheduling review time for a test, remember that 6 one hour sessions are better than 1 six hour session.

The following weekly schedule can help you to create ‘to do’ lists for your week’s tasks (eg. readings, assignments, papers to research or write, tests to study for) and allow you to choose the time in which you will complete them. Use the above ‘Helpful Hints for Scheduling’ to remind yourself how to make the best use of your study time. It is important to start early, be aware of due dates, and develop a study schedule based upon the length of time required to complete your studying.

	M	TU	W	TH	F	SA	SU
6:30- 7:30
7:30- 8:30
8:30- 9:30
9:30-10:30
10:30-11:30
11:30-12:30
12:30- 1:30
1:30- 2:30
2:30- 3:30
3:30- 4:30
4:30- 5:30
5:30- 6:30
6:30- 7:30
7:30- 8:30
8:30- 9:30
9:30-10:30
10:30-11:30
11:30-12:30

Prioritizing tasks is the essence of time management. We all have 60 minutes in one hour, 24 hours in a day, and 168 hours in a week. The goal of time management is to use the time which you have in the most efficient manner. To do this, remember the goals which you have set for yourself. If you are unsure of these, spend some time defining your long-term goals as well as your short-term goals. The tasks which you do on a daily basis become steps towards achieving these goals.

1. Categorize your ‘to do’ lists into high, medium, and low priority. Focus on the high priority tasks first as these will give you the most satisfaction.

2. Use the ABC method of prioritization. Assign an ‘A’ to high priority tasks, a ‘B’ to medium priority tasks, etc. If you have more than one ‘A’ task, label these as A1, A2, A3, etc.

3. Remember the 80/20 rule. In general, 80% of satisfaction comes from only 20% of your tasks. Determine which 20% of these tasks will give you the most satisfaction. Resist doing small, easy to accomplish tasks at the expense of more meaningful tasks. (Hint: Likewise, 80% of your frustration can come from 20% of tasks which seem overwhelming or which you do not prioritize properly.)

4. Divide large tasks into smaller, more manageable chunks. A large, overwhelming task often leads to procrastination.

LACK OF PLANNING

INDECISION

INTERRUPTIONS

OVER SCHEDULING

FATIGUE

ENTERTAINMENT/REST BREAKS

An ancient proverb states: “It is not the size of the tree but the depth of its roots that make it strong.” Procrastination usually has very deep roots.

1. Use daylight hours: research shows that 60 minutes of study during the day is the equivalent of 90 minutes of study at night.

2. Survey required readings before lectures: skim over the title, headings, summary and figures before reading for detail. Surveying is a reading technique.

3. Study soon after lectures: retention and understanding are aided by reviewing your notes immediately after class. 80% retention with review, 20% retention without review.

4. Do tasks according to priorities: remember Parkinson’s law that “work expands to fill the time available for its completion.” If you allot 2 hours to read 10 pages, it will probably take you 2 hours to complete this 30-minute task.

6. Be realistic: don’t plan study periods during the week if you won’t follow through. Gradually increase your commitment to study periods.

7. Discover how long to study: as a rough starting guide, for every hour in class, you should plan to study for a couple of hours outside class. Adjust as necessary.

8. Plan blocks of time: optimum efficiency is reached by planning study blocks of 50 minutes followed by a 10-minute break. Longer periods are required for problem solving tasks and for writing papers.

9. Have an agenda for each study period: be specific about the task that you wish to accomplish during that period.

Time management is about making things happen, rather than having them happen to you. You need to take control! Now more than ever!

1. Prepare a weekly study plan. Fill in fixed commitments like lectures, labs and things that you must attend. Work and play don’t mix; when you are supposed to be working, then work! When you are supposed to be enjoying yourself, do just that and don’t spend time worrying about all the work you have to do. Don’t waste your time.

2. Use the periods between classes effectively, rather than just hanging around. Save background work or reading for this time, as it may be too short to get involved in large projects.

3. Spread your time evenly between your courses. It’s very hard to get 90% on every assignment, but if you get 10% on another, that averages out to only a 50.

4. Math, Physics, Chemistry etc. are conceptual subjects. Study in short, concentrated periods of no more than 30 minutes then have a break. 5 minutes of real concentration is worth more than 2 hours reading and not understanding.

5. Change the topic. If you really get stuck, changing the topic can help. If an assignment is going well then don’t stop until you have finished.

6. Set a specific task for each period. At the end of the period, ask yourself if you achieved your task.

7. Make a plan for the semester. Mark tests, final exams and deadlines for assignments in red on your calendar. Try to finalize your work a couple of days in advance of the deadline. You will not fail due to unforeseen circumstances like printer or computer crashes. HAND IN YOUR ASSIGNMENTS ON TIME. Don’t wait until they are perfect – they may never be!

8. Are you spending too long on the computer, messing around with email and surfing the Web? This is not work and should be kept as a leisure activity.

9. Don’t waste spring break. Now is a great time to get a jump on reading and any assignments that are coming.

Time management is about making things happen, rather than having them happen to you.

	M	T	W	T	F	S	S
7:30-8:30
8:30-9:30
9:30-10:30
10:30-11:30
11:30-12:30
12:30-1:30
1:30-2:30
2:30-3:30
3:30-4:30
4:30-5:30
5:30-6:30
6:30-7:30
7:30-8:30
8:30-9:30
9:30-10:30

Fill in regular commitments like lectures, labs, workshops, work, then block of some time for social and leisure activities. Your blocks of study time will become visible.

2. Use the time between classes wisely for things like reading, researching, and reviewing, not just hanging around.

3. For every hour you spend in a classroom, expect to spend 2 hours outside the classroom on things like homework, studying, assignments, and reading before the next class.

4. Make out a month-at-a-glance plan for the semester. Mark tests, finals and assignment due dates. You can see the whole month at a glance and can prepare for those busy weeks in advance.

5. Monitor the time you are spending on the computer. Are you messing around with emails and surfing the Web? Keep this activity for leisure time, not study time.

WEEKLY PLANNER - allows you to see a week at a glance

This document should be prepared on a weekly basis. Try and pick the same time each week to review your planner. This document is a must! A weekly planner will assist you to be on time and on schedule.