Time Management
How much time should I set aside for social or leisure activities?
When you're at University, you need to consider not only your studies as part of your time management, but also socializing and your hobbies. So when you start thinking about how much time you need to spend on one or the other, it will depend on where you are in the course. So you may find right at the beginning in year one, you'll socialize a lot more than if you're at the end of the course in year four or year three. So you really need to know what are the demands made on me for my studies at a particular time and balance that out with your socializing. It's always a balance and you need to know how much time you can spend on one or the other.
How much time should I dedicate to each module?
Now each of these modules, units, or courses, have a number of credits attached to them. So if you're on a ten credit unit, that would mean you'd have to spend, or you're expected to spend, around about 100 hours of learning. And that's the rough guide for working out how much time you need to spend. And only a small proportion of that 100 hours or learning will be face-to-face with your tutors, the rest of it will be for you alone.
Should I spend more time studying for difficult subjects?
You probably want to know if you need to spend more time on difficult subjects. And the answer would be: Yes, you will. However, you shouldn't neglect the other subjects. If you are having problems with a particular subjects, the best thing to do is to talk to friends. Because if you are having problems and they are having problems too, it might be worth forming a group and just working through sort of problems or issues. If you can't really solve it that way, then you really need to go to tutor and ask for some help. And the tutor can also have an assistant, a post-graduate assistant that you can ask as well. So find out where the help is, but first try your friends.
Should I change topics during a study period?
Changing topics during a study period will depend on how you learn. If you are a multi-tasker and you like having lot of balls in the air and switching to different things all the time, then changing topics is fine because it actually keeps you on your toes and keeps you active. You may be the opposite of that, what I call a linear-tasker, when you need to start something and finish it before you start the next thing. You need to know what kind of learner you are. Are you a multi-tasker or are you a linear-tasker? And once again if you like to look at the book “effective study skills” by Pearson, there is a chapter on that and you can start to identify how you can work on these areas.
When should I do background reading?
Students have to do background reading and you will need to do this in between your lectures, or your lab work, or your field courses, and in between your part-time work because more than likely you will have part-time work as well. So you need to find a time, a dedicated time, where you sit down and either catch up on your notes, do some extra reading from that seminar, or prepare something for your group work. But you've got to allocate time for this, not to forget this. It's easy to forget this but don't.
