Study Skills For Dummies
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As a student trying to study, you can get carried away by planning. Some people turn it into an art form, and a substitute for action. However, practical planning your study, doing things at the best and most useful time, saves you not only time but a lot of worry.

Certain things are planned on your behalf, and you can’t change – class timetables, when coursework is due and when exams take place – but these can be very useful as a framework.

Start from what is fixed so you can then see what time gaps there are between activities and so make the best use of that time. Start with daily, routine activities like class preparation and then move on to find time gaps for weekly, monthly or once a term activities.

In the timetable below, there is a class first thing on Monday and then nothing till 4 p. m. Preparation for the 4 p. m. class could fit into some of the space between the two Monday classes.

Preparation for Tuesday’s class could fit into the morning of Tuesday, and later on Tuesday could be used for Wednesday’s class, leaving time on Wednesday morning for Thursday’s classes, as the afternoon is for sports.

There is some time on Thursday morning for preparation for Friday, as well as Friday morning, which also leaves time to prepare for Mondays’ class, leaving the weekend free for other things.

9–11.00 11–1.00 2–4.00 4–6.00 Evening
Mon class class
Tues class
Wed class sports sports
Thur class class
Fri class class
Sat
Sun

Activities tend to expand into the time available, so using fixed time gaps helps you use time well and save time for other things.

You get an idea fairly quickly of how long you need to prepare for different classes (the amount of reading you have to do, for example) and how far that can help you with other tasks. There is likely to be a fair amount of overlap, so class preparation is likely to save you time later as well as help you get the most out of classes.

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