TIME MANAGEMENT IN REVISION AND EXAMS

1. Organise your time - Life improves when you decide to do things differently. In this case, the goal is to gain control over time, rather than letting it control you. It is about taking ownership of time, which is the essence of your life. The main objective of time management is for you to have a clear picture of your upcoming days, weeks, and months. It is a way for you to discover what time you have available to devote to study, recreation, or other activities. Make the decision to be the master of your life, rather than its suffering slave!

2. Assess your time - Many students genuinely believe that they study a lot. Some even protest that they study all the time! In reality, this is far from the truth. The only way you will discover how many hours of your busy day you actually study is by completing a personal time assessment. The method requires you to keep track of everything you do for an entire week; from the time you wake up to the time you fall asleep. That means recording every single detail. At the end of the week, add up the totals. For example, count the number of hours spent on eating, traveling, studying, talking on the phone, shopping, exercising, smoking, watching TV, being online, etc, until you have a complete picture of where your time goes. If you find you are losing a lot of time to activities other than studying, try to balance your schedule. Start eliminating the time bandits by making small adjustments in your habits and behaviour in order to get better control of your precious time.

3. Set your priorities - The objective of time management is to allocate time wisely, so you can achieve your goals. If you wanted to be an Olympic swimmer or ice skater, you would have to practice several hours a day for years. In the same way, to be a top student you must have a good idea of the study requirements. Even though each subject places different demands on you – reading, writing, research, experiments, assignments, essays, projects, papers, presentations, tests, and exams – by prioritizing, you will increase your chances of success. For each subject, decide how to complete all required tasks, over a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. This advance planning will increase your awareness, making it less likely for you to squander time away meaninglessly.

4. Make a schedule - After establishing your priorities, set up a schedule which respects your priorities. A wide variety of student organizers, diaries, planners, electronic tools and time management systems are available on the market. Choose or create whatever seems best for you. Many students select weekly planners that enable them to see the big picture more easily. Make sure your system is something you are very comfortable with as you will be referring to it often. Then, set up your schedule in this order:

• Mark in all your fixed commitments such as classes, seminars, tutorials, and part-time jobs. These are the givens, which you cannot change.

• Add in study time. Block off large sections of your day, reserved for studying alone, as well as shorter review periods. Organize your peak study times to coincide with the times of day when you are most awake and alert.

• Mark in other non-study activities. These are the important but lower priority items, such as exercise, recreational classes, or socializing, which you will fit in when possible.

5. Use a calendar - In addition to your weekly planner, invest in a large monthly wall calendar. Jot down all the important due dates, deadlines, exams, etc so they are in front of you as a visual reminder. This will make you more aware of important dates and allow you to adjust or rearrange plans if you are behind schedule.

6. Use review cards - Always keep some review cards with you to read over when you are waiting for something else to happen. This could include when you are traveling or waiting in line at the bus stop, bank, supermarket, and cafeteria and so on. You could also place review cards in common locations which you pass frequently in your house, such as on the fridge door, bathroom mirror, etc. Frequent repetition and review is one of the keys to remembering information easily and effectively.

7. Plan activities logically - Get to know your bodily cycle; then, schedule activities around it as much as possible. If you always feel sleepy after lunch, for example, use the time to get in your daily walk, instead of fighting to keep your eyes open over a history book.

8. Plan some down time - You are not a robot! Schedule some time to relax so you can rest and refresh your mind and body. This will enable you to study more effectively. Get enough sleep as well. A sleep-deprived student is not going to be able to perform at his or her best.

9. Exam timings – Do you know how long you should spend on each question in the exam? Is it a mark a minute? Are there essay questions which you will need to spend longer on? Speak to your teachers and ensure you are aware of the expectations for each question

10. Practice – Practice makes perfect – how do you become better at cooking? How do you improve your penalty kicks? How do you type quicker on the computer? Practice. Use the revision time to complete past papers. Make sure you time yourself and get into the mind set of writing in exam conditions

11. Mix things up – How long should you revise for? When should you have a break? What is the most suitable amount for you to revise effectively? Most people recommend taking a short break every 45 minutes – break-up your revision. 30 minutes of note-taking and then a 15 minute exam question or 15 minutes on SAM Learning.

12. Can you think of your own tips?