Tips for time management

Most students can’t successfully make it through college, some don’t reach degrees

and some students don’t transfer whatever their goals are, and some students drop out. The

reasons are a lot, but the major ones have to do with students’ inability of managing time

properly. Based on the three videos on the three effective skills for organizing your time

management, the core of this essay will be about the main strategies and tactics students ought

to keep in mind while trying to do well at college.

Devoting much time to our daily activities tends to be the reason number one. Much of

students’ time is usually robbed by sleeping, eating, travelling, errands and hygiene. Students

should be aware of the idea that if the number of hours given to these everyday stuff exceeds

twelve, it means that the number is high and should be reduced so that they can have more

time to study in a safe way. Also, the second reason has to with the ability to set or reach the

goals. For the students to get the grade they are aiming for, they should not miss any of the

classes they are supposed to take unless there is an emergency. The goals, additionally, should

comply with the following acronym “SMART” which stands for specific, measurable, action

oriented, realistic, and time-based. Before thinking about any goal, we should bear in mind

whether it is specific, measurable …etc. and if not, it is advisable to ignore it.

On the other hand, other reasons are related to the idea that whether students know what

is coming or not; for example, homework, tests …etc. these future tasks are usually

understood from the syllabus suggested by the teachers, or through a website or a calendar. It

is clear that when students know the tasks that are waiting for them, it becomes beneficial to

the success of time management process. In addition to that, students should ask themselves if

they know how to set up a successful daily schedule. This depends on whether the student is a

morning person or an afternoon person or an evening person. For example, if the student is a

morning person, it would be great to start the day with the most important tasks and if reading

is one of your priorities, it should not be let till evening as it would be hard to get a great deal

of concentration. Another good trick for students is to revise the notes, taken during the

session, right after the class.

Along with the abovementioned tips about time management, the choice of the learning

environment can also have an impact on the schedule. How? Most students prefer to study at

home; others at libraries; others in public places like cafes …etc. whatever place students

choose, they should not let their schedule be affected by the temptations or distractions

surrounding that environment including mobile phone, facebook, TV …etc. Moreover, one of

the biggest problems that impact time management is to know how to avoid procrastination.

To attain this, students should make sure that their schedule includes deadlines. Yes, it is

obvious that sometime, it becomes hard for students to respect that schedule they made. One

way to do that is to divide the job into small pieces; for instance, if you have three chapters to

read for an exam, it would be good if you devote a number of days to each chapter so that you

avoid cramming for that exam; one motivational tool to remain faithful to that plan is to be

accountable to somebody; you can choose a friend of yours, asking him to call you by a

certain time to remind you of the your job. While waiting somebody to call you would

motivate you and make you feel responsible. Students may also use rewards to motivate

themselves. Finally, the last strategy is to adopt the ABC priority method, which means that

students should rank their tasks in order of importance.

To put it in a nutshell, for the students to exploit the time available and attain satisfactory

grades, they should bear in their mind many tactics; some of which are setting deadlines,

prioritizing the most important tasks, choosing the appropriate learning environment…etc. or

else, it would be hard to make it through college.