Advice needed on how to improve my time management

Hello fellow CCers. Recently, I have started my freshman year of college and I have been having difficulty being productive on finishing homework assignments and completing my responsibilities. In high school I had a consistent class schedule (7-2:40), therefore I was able to develop a plan to maximize my productivity after school finished. However, this year my classes are from 10 AM-2 PM on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and 1 PM-7 PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which makes it difficult for me to form a plan that would work everyday. I am more concerned about my Tuesdays and Thursdays since it’s very challenging for me to remain focused in the morning in order to complete my assignments, and by the time I commute back to my home at 7 PM I’m already too exhausted to work on anything. Although my Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are not as bad because I finish school at 2 PM and I’m more alert, I’m still not as productive as I could be. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to resolve this dilemma? I would greatly appreciate it.

Stay on campus on MWF until you finish your homework for that day and the next. Go to the library and sit on one of the quiet floors. Also, my students really life the app mystudylife for organizing all their due dates and coursework.

Yes, stay on campus on M and W until the evenings and see how much work you can get done. Then you could sleep in later on T Th if you get a lot done the night before

Go to school early on Tuesday and Thursday and go to the library. When you stop for lunch, you’ll have 2-3 hours of work behind you.

Pay attention to when you feel the most alert and energetic and plan to do the work that requires the most from you then.

You will need to figure out what works best for you. Breaking your work into smaller bits can help a lot – both in terms of not feeling overwhelmed and being able to make the most of the odd hour here or there.

@gardenstategal Thank you for your response. I agree with you, I actually find myself being more productive when I work in smaller bits of time with complete focus instead of longer periods of time. I do believe I am most productive during the afternoon because that’s when I usually did my homework in high school. Unfortunately, my MWF days are already busy since I have tutoring from 3 PM- 4:30PM on Wednesday and 9 AM- 10:30 AM for Friday in addition to class. Staying any longer on campus on those days would be difficult since by then I’ll be tempted to go home, especially on Fridays. I will try going to school early on my Tuesdays and Thursdays and see what works best.

@ccprofandmomof2 @CheddarcheeseMN Thank you both for your replies. I will definitely try out the mystudylife app and completing my assignments in the library where I can focus. Sleeping in on Tuesdays and Thursdays after working on my assignments on M and W is also a viable option.

Many colleges offer time management seminars and/or individual coaching. Look into this at yours.

Look at:

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-life/1920853-college-is-a-step-up-from-hs-16-tips-on-doing-well-in-college.html

Particularly:

I would highly recommend the book by Cal Newport: “How To Become a Straight-A Student:
The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less”
It will help you with time management and how to be more efficient.

@psycholing @bopper Thank you both. If my unproductivity worsens I will try doing both of those things.

The advice my daughter got from upperclassmen was different than above and was to treat school as if it was your job. Get up at the same time every day, have breakfast, and then get to campus (for my daughter it’s for 8:30). Once on campus, stay there until 6 pm or your last class, which ever is later. In between classes, do your work and study. Do not go back to your dorm room as there are too many distractions. Go to bed at a reasonable hour and again, at a consistent time so you are getting enough sleep.

So far my daughter is following that for school work and in the evenings focuses on the non academic stuff that still needs to get done -right now it’s career center stuff ahead of the first job fair for summer internships and researching profs to see if there may be a match for a research opportunity. It’s working for her so far but she definitely has project based work on the weekends.

You should have a comfortable place where you work. Whether that is in the library at campus or at home will depend upon what you have available to you and where you are comfortable. However, you should sit down and plan to work until you are done.

Try to do your homework as close as possible to when it is assigned. That way you pick stuff up earlier, which might make the next class that you attend a bit easier to follow. Also, if something ends up being harder than anticipated, you will still have time.

Stay off of social media until you are done with all of the homework that you would like to get done today. Don’t let yourself read or post to social media unless you are congratulating yourself for getting your work completed.

Go to the tutors, even if it is just for time management. They can help redirect your time.

Do you have a planner? I just bought an hourly academic planner and so far, it’s changed my life. I’m going into my fourth year of college but I’ve never used one before. This way, I know what I’m supposed to do and when I’m going to do it ahead of time. It keeps me accountable to budget my time and stick to a routine as much as possible.

Otherwise, I agree with the above on treating it like a full time 9-5 job and studying in the library. You’ve got this.

How do you commute? I commuted by bus and subway and always read my assignments while traveling. If you drive, perhaps you can get your reading materials on tape and listen while you drive.

Planner as stated. My daughter uses the planner and adjusts it daily. She also has a white board from like 3m and makes a large calendar in her dorm for the week/month with due dates, times, assignments etc. You can do this on your smart phone calendar… She prefers paper though… Set notifications for what to study and when. Also yes… Break it all down to 30 minutes - 1 hour segments. Much easier to learn small amounts at a time but be careful… It shouldn’t take another 15 - 30 minutes to refocus either… Get help with the focusing issue… Schools usually have great learning centers and seems like your taking advantage of it which is great to hear.

@ccprofandmomof2 just looked at the Mystudylife application… Thx looks great. Sending links to both my college kids. Nice to have it all in one location.