Lack of time is the main problem of any student. And during the midterms, you feel the extreme lack of an extra hour in a day.
By the middle of the course, many students think that proper sleep and finished assignments are incompatible things.
We just need to make sure we don’t fall asleep while studying. We are making a huge pot of coffee while writing a term paper till dawn, which will still have to be reworked later.
In fact, it is possible to study well, to have a personal life and hobbies without much trouble. The main thing is to organize your time properly. And the basic rules of time management will help you to do it.
The Importance of Lists
If you organize all the tasks for the upcoming day in a single list, it will be much easier to see the whole picture of what is happening.
Based on this data, you will be able to make a plan for its implementation. Focusing on the list of tasks makes it much easier to highlight priorities and not to forget anything.
Another advantage of the list is that it can be constantly adjusted. When you complete one of the tasks, it is a big pleasure to cross it off.
Moreover, your to-do list will always be at your fingertips because you can take it wherever you want or use one of the numerous apps.
Once the list of tasks is ready, try to plan them for the coming day. If you are guided by a predetermined plan, you will be much faster to get things sorted out and get even more time for other things apart from studying.
Get used to planning every day, week, and month. To do this, start an electronic calendar or a regular day planner. At each period, define the important key tasks and smaller ones.
If you write by hand, use markers of different colors. For example, red – for the most important tasks, green – for tasks of medium importance, and blue – for small ones.
Do not assign too many tasks for a day.
Ideally, you should have one key task in your diary (for example to write the first few pages of your midterm paper), 2-3 medium importance tasks (to order a graduate school essay writing service, learn 20 new words in Spanish, work out a little bit) and 3-4 small tasks (to go to the grocery store, to give your coat to the dry-cleaner, to grab a tumbler with coffee on the go).
Stay Agile Through the Day
If you are doing the same thing for several hours in a row (for example, preparing for the exam), the brain gets tired very quickly, and productivity drops.
Get used to alternating formats and activities. Let’s imagine that you are preparing for an exam. You don’t have to sit and study intensively for three hours with the same textbook.
Instead, consider spending 20 minutes reading the textbook, then watch the video lecture, read it again, try to say out loud what you already remember, create a cognitive map of the topic.
Then distract and take a break, warm-up a little bit, drink a cup of herbal tea. This approach will be less tiring and will help to maintain performance and concentration longer.
Follow the Routine
If you are used to going to bed with the first rays of the sun and getting up in the middle of the day, most probably your body is suffering.
To be effective, you need to have a daily routine. It is boring, but important to save time. At least during the midterms, make sure that you sleep for at least 7-8 hours, and go to bed until midnight.
Start the morning with sport and breakfast rich in proteins. Drink a lot of fresh water and eat versatile food. You should give up soda, fast food, and lots of sandwiches during the exams to make sure you are healthy and concentrated.
Stay Committed
You can plan your day, finish some planned tasks, and with a sense of fulfillment watch 10 episodes of your favorite series. Each task should have its own deadline. This is the only way you will learn to objectively assess your capabilities and manage your time.
Also, the power of will is a big part of success. Nothing will work without it. To train it, create a system to keep you responsible, for example: if you don’t write an essay in time, you stay away from social media for a day.
You can ask your friends to keep you accountable, they will make sure that you are finished with your key tasks prior to binge-watching another season on Netflix.
Consider Online Courses as a Time-Saving Solution
Study anywhere at any time. Online courses are good because they can be tailored to your workload. On average, one course takes three or four hours of intensive work per week.
However, some courses require only listening to lectures, some include assignments with the lectures or require taking tests afterward.
Choose which regime and workload will fit into your schedule. The main advantage of online education is that you can study anywhere and anytime.
Listening to lectures or taking tests is possible even on the way from work – in transport, almost all educational online platforms work on mobile devices.
