Plan a schedule of
balanced activities. College life has many aspects which are
important to success. Some have fixed time requirements and some are
flexible. Some of the most common which you must consider are:
-
Fixed: eating,
organizations, classes, work.
-
Flexible:
sleeping, recreation, relaxation, personal.
Plan enough time in
studying to do justice to each subject. Most college classes are
planned to require about two hours of work per week per credit in the
course. By multiplying your credit load by two you can get a good idea
of the time you should provide for studying. Of course, if you are a
slow reader or have other study deficiencies, you may need to plan more
time in order to meet the competition of college classes.
Study at a regular time
and a regular place. Establishing habits of study is extremely
important. Knowing what you are going to study and when saves a lot of
time in making decisions and retracing your steps to get necessary
materials, etc. Avoid generalizations in your schedule such as "study."
Commit yourself more definitely to "study chemistry," for example, at
certain regular hours.
Study as soon after your
lecture class as possible. One hour spent soon after class will do
as much good in developing an understanding of materials as several
hours a few days later. Check over lecture notes while they are still
fresh in your mind. Start assignments while your memory of the
assignment is still accurate.
Utilize odd hours during
the day for studying. The scattered one or two hour free periods
between classes are easily wasted. Planning and establishing habits of
using them for studying for the class just finished will result in free
time for recreation or activities at other times in the week.
Limit your blocks of
study time. Study no more than 2 hours on any one course at one
time. After 1.5 or 2 hours study you begin to tire rapidly and your
ability to concentrate decreases rapidly. Taking a break and then
switching to studying some other course will provide the change
necessary to keep your efficiency.
Trade time -don't steal
it. When unexpected events arise that take up time you had planned
to study, decide immediately where you can find the time to make up the
study missed and adjust your schedule for that week. Note the free
weekend evenings. Most students can afford no more than two of them for
recreation, but may wish to use different evenings on different weeks.
This "trading agreement'. provides for committing one night to study,
but rotating it as recreational possibilities vary.
Provide for spaced
review. This is a regular weekly period when you will review the
work in each of your courses --and be sure you are up to date. This
review could be cumulative, covering briefly all work done this far in
the course.
