College Strategies

Lesson 4: ESS: Effective Study Strategies

Organizing Your Time

Time management is the most important skill you will learn in college, and if you don’t it is the skill you will miss the most in real life. You will have to balance classes, tests, assignments, homework, friends, sport, spare time and possibly work in a manner that will not drive you crazy.

You have to avoid procrastinating; it is the college student's disease! the real only way to avoid it is by starting right away and not waiting until the last minute or until you are tired late at night. If you start early promise yourself a reward when you are done; this can be either wathing your favorite show, a candy bar or going out and having fun. The best way to really tackle the problem is by setting clear goals for yourself: what do you want to have finished by tomorrow? If you put this down on paper, black and white, you are more likely to finish it!

Some people really like writing an hour-to-hour schedule of their day and stick to it. Others feel terribly restricted by that. I’d say just try and make somewhat of a schedule, because it does help a lot if you stick to it. Now the latter is a problem most of the time; a friend calls you up and you think “I’ll do my assignment later”, and you abandon your study time or present schedule. That is not a problem on occasion, but it becomes a serious problem if everything but your academics become a priority. That is not the reason you are taking this course; you are actually trying to make it through freshman year successfully, so I am doing my best to give you the pointers and strategies to do that.

However you are going to be the one who has to follow through on them. It is ok to tell someone you cannot join them for some fun because you have work to do. There will be plenty of times they can’t make it for those reasons either. It is your future you are working on, and you have to ask yourself how important that future is to you. Then act accordingly. You will find out that finally studying what you want and like is going to make matters a lot easier in later years. Right now it might all seem hard, but it does get easier as you grow and get used to the system. Generally what is the hardest part in first year is the fact that everything is quite general, and people feel like they are still not really doing what they want.

Back to scheduling your time: do not assume you can both shower, eat and meet with friends at the same time, so don’t schedule things like that because you will be driving yourself up the wall within a week. Get up early enough so you have time to have a good breakfast and do whatever; watch TV or review some material for your quiz that day. Give yourself plenty of time to get ready; if you shower in the morning factor in a time loss in case the bathroom is taken and you have to wait for a bit.

Be realistic above all; you know all too well that you are not going to study all evening without a single break. Breaks are vital for studying, during those breaks you refresh your mind and recharge to be able to go at it again. Breaks can be bad if you have a longer break than study time: for example you study half an hour, and your break lasts an hour. That way you will be too far from the material to be able to easily pick up again. Either study half an hour and have a five minute break (go to the washroom, walk around, get a drink, eat something.), or study for one hour intervals with a ten minute break. It will be long enough to walk around and give your mind a rest, yet not too long so you do not loose focus.

Look at your class schedule; how long does it take you to get home after class? Are you the kind of person who just wants to crash? Then you should consider staying in school for a few hours to do homework. That way you can go home and be free. Do take a break after classes; if you have a long day especially. At least half an hour or an hour to catch up with friends or go to the gym. Physical exercise does clear your mind and energizes you.

Have something to eat before you start; on an empty stomach you will not be able to focus, and if you are close to a cafeteria the smell of food will throw you off track completely. Either take something from home or get something, but definitely eat.

Find a quiet place to sit down and study. Once you start you do not want to be continuously interrupted, because then you will never get done. You will have to make a commitment to study, and once you make it stick to it. Next time will be easier and more natural and eventually this will become a routine for you.

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