Time Management

Time management in college is important. You may not be thinking about that now or think that time won’t be an issue when you’re in college, but it is a huge issue and here’s why: you’re on your own for the first time. College is a time of independence- your parents can’t remind you to do your homework and your teachers surely won’t. There are no free periods or study halls built into your schedule in college like there was in high school to make sure you got your work done.

The first thing you need to do to get by in college is invest in a planner, and not a small one that offers just a tiny amount of space for each day. You need a good sized planner because even if you think right now that you won’t use all that space, trust me you will. You will have to write down pages of books to read, your homework assignment, when it’s due and if there are any special directions for your assignment. Don’t think that you can get away with just writing the assignment on the pages of your notes for that day. You may have 10 pages or more of notes from that 1 hour class (it is possible, trust me). You definitely don’t want to hunt through 10 pages of handwriting to find your assignment. Doing that wastes your precious time and remember- this is all about time management.

You may have time in between your classes. It may be a half hour, it may be an hour or longer. This time between your classes is a perfect time to study, read, or go to the computer lab and get a head start on your homework. You may want to relax and hang out with friends, but doing your work while between classes allows you more time to hang out with your friends later without the stress of knowing you have to go back to your room and write your paper. Plus, you’re already in your class building- since you’re there, use your resources while you have a chunk of time carved out!

Your teachers will provide you with a syllabus at the start of the semester and your homework may be outlined in it. If you have a light work load one week, it’s not bad to try to get ahead a little bit if you can. Not too far ahead- you don’t want to forget what you learned or get lost. But if you’re really into a book you’re reading for English, it is okay to continue reading and have less work the next week when you may really have a pile up of homework.

Speaking of that English book- make sure you are reading the amount you are supposed to when you are supposed to. There’s nothing worse than putting it off until the last minute and finding at the end of that unit that you have to read the entire book in two days so you can write your essay. You really don’t want to read a 400 page classic in two days and then write a 5 page essay on what you just read. Nothing will stress you out more.

When you manage your time for when you do your homework and studying, you will find you have more chunks of quality time to spend with your friends. Of course college is about learning and earning the degree for the field you want to go into, but you need to break that up a bit and see your friends. Of course that also means you can’t abandon your homework and studying to go out at night.

It’s all about balance- you need to find a balance between when you do homework and when you can see friends. When you first start college, it is going to be hard to find that balance because you will have to get used to your schedule and then you may add or drop classes and your schedule could change a couple times in the first two weeks. Once you get into the swing of things, it will get easier and then in your sophomore year or even your second semester of freshman year, time management will come naturally.