Set yourself specific and realistic goals. Remember to prioritize assessments according to their percentage of your grade. For example, an assessment worth 30% should be prioritized over an assessment worth 10%.  

Use a semester planner (scroll down to Further resources) to mark all your activities over the entire semester. Note all important dates for each assessment on the semester planner. Include other commitments relating to paid work, family and friends. This gives you the ‘big picture’ of all your commitments. Identify the busy periods so that you can spread out your workload across the semester. 

• What to include:
  • Deadlines for special projects, reports, writing/lab assignments
  • Scheduled tests, midterms, and final exams
  • Special events, meetings, workshops, or conferences
  • Holidays
  • Scheduled time for tutors, study groups, or other support services
  • Personal appointments
  • Important social engagements
• Where to begin:
  • Gather the campus calendar, your syllabi, and your personal calendar
  • Write the dates for all of the items on each. (color coding can be helpful, aka Red for English, Blue for History, etc.)
  • Put your term schedule somewhere you can easily access it to create your weekly schedule.
  • Update your term schedule throughout the semester as new assignments or events pop up.

Weekly Planner

Use the weekly planner to mark all your activities over each week of the semester. This will identify time available for planning outside class study or any group work that is required.

• What to include:
  • Events big and small.  
  • Plan out your days in time blocks. Remember: This is a guide to your day, not a firm commitment.  Things can change!
• Where to begin:
  • Write all of your fixed activities first.  This includes class times, work schedules, meal times, special appointments, commute times, and sleep.
  • Next focus on fixed study times.  These are high priority.  Keep in mind that you can dedicate blocks of time to specific courses so be strategic in their placement. (aka you don’t want to study math on the same day you have math).
  • Add flexible study times.  These are safety nets that can help you out if you’ve hit a difficult subject area or just need more time to grasp a concept.  When you finish early these can be converted to free time.
  • Add time for personal goals and responsibilities.  Whether it is doing laundry, spending time with family, or anything else important to your life, it is important to remember that time management is designed to help you balance your life.  That means that personal time is balanced with work and school.
  • Leisure time.  Going to the movies, playing a game, checking on what’s trending, whatever you do in your free time.  Its important to schedule it, especially for a perfectionist mindset.  You don’t want to feel guilty about having “me” time.  

Use a daily planner or ‘To-do’ list to identify and keep track of what you must do each day. Write the tasks as a list of dot points and rank them in order of importance. Cross them off as you complete each task and reward yourself at the end of the day.

• What to include:
  • Tasks you complete over a single day.  This is pulled from your weekly schedule.
• Where to begin:
  • The day before (or in the morning) write down what you have planned to do the next day.
  • Keep that list in a convenient location throughout the day.

Use the Assignment Planner to create a schedule for completing your assignment on time.