Academic Skills Center

Study Skills: Time Management

Time Management is setting and following a schedule of study in order to organize and prioritize your studies in the context of competing activities of work, family, etc.

Guidelines:

• Monitor your time
• Reflect on how you spend your time
• Be aware of when you are wasting your time
• Know when you are productive

Knowing how you spend your time should aid you in planning and predicting project completion:

• Have a "To Do" list.
  Write down things you have to do, then decide what to do at the moment, what to schedule for later, what to get someone else to do, and what to put off for a later time period
• Have a daily/weekly planner.
  Write down appointments, classes, and meetings on a chronological log book or chart. Always know what is ahead for the day, always go to sleep knowing you're prepared for tomorrow
• Have a long term planner.
  Use a monthly chart so that you can always plan ahead. Long term planners also serve to remind you to plan your free time constructively

Planning for an effective study schedule:

• Allow sufficient time for sleep, a well-balanced diet, and leisure activities
• Prioritize assignments
• Prepare for discussion/recitation courses before class
• Schedule time to go over lecture material immediately after class; Remember: Forgetting is greatest within 24 hours without review
• Schedule fifty minute blocks of study
• Choose a place free from distractions to study
• Plan to use "dead time"
• Schedule as much study time as possible during daylight hours
• Schedule a weekly review
• Be careful not to become a slave to your schedule