» Tips for College Students » Time
Even if you’re new to UT, the practice of time management is not new to you. You were busy prior to UT, and did your best to squeeze everything—academics, family, financial, social, and recreation—into your limited calendar space. Then why is time management so much tougher at the university level?
It’s the academics.
Four Time Management Musts
1. Respect Your Classes!
Take your classes seriously. Over 90% of first-year students report having to work harder than expected to meet the demands of this instructors. Allow time in your schedule to fully prepare for tests and assignments.
2. Define and Chase Your Goals!
Narrow your sights, define your goals, and set specific steps toward reaching them. Then, chase them with everything you have!
3. Sacrifice Now, Rewards Later!
Instead of giving in to your present “wants,” pursue the things that you need to do for long term success. Of all the skills which college teaches you, the pursuit of delayed rewards is perhaps the most important.
4. Set Time & Social Boundaries!
Set time boundaries by placing walls around a specific block of time for a specific purpose. Set social boundaries by not allowing people to intrude upon those designated blocks of time.
While every form of adjustment requires energy, the big difference at UT is the considerable increase in your academic demands. On the surface, it’s not so demanding. You spend half the time in class that you did in high school. However, comb through your course syllabi and you will quickly appreciate the robust volume of outside work: required reading, taxing assignments, papers, and exams. The sheer quantity of work forces you to dedicate far more time on academics than you ever have before.
Beyond the quantity of required work, students are challenged by the demands for quality work. Remember the good old days when you could “wing it,” cranking out a paper in less than an hour, drawing upon your own opinions for its content? Here, instructors can easily identify a student’s attempt at an overnight miracle, and they grade it accordingly. The need for quality also applies to your daily study and test preparation. Students earning A’s and B’s at UT commonly retype their class notes within 24 hours of the lecture in order to review the fresh material, discover additional questions, and create a template for test preparation. Prior to UT, you may have excelled without having to review any material this thoroughly.
If you are struggling academically, you will almost certainly need to dedicate more time to your learning. Of course you will also be seeking efficiency, ways to save yourself time while maintaining a high level of comprehension and learning. However, it might prove impossible to resolve your time crunch simply by improving your time management techniques alone. You must put time into your classes. If your circumstances prevent you from freeing up additional study time, you should consider lightening your academic load or moving to part-time status.