50 Time Management Tips for Students

Time Management Essentials

1. First things first – While it may look like you’re doing a lot of work when you are working on a lot of things at once, the fact remains that you could be doing more if you focused on one task. Multitasking is nice, but remember to do more “tasking” than “multi.”

2. Don’t bite off more than you can chew – If you’re an ambitious student looking to build a bulletproof transcript, it might be tempting to take all advanced classes, join every club, take some hours at the soup kitchen and maybe volunteer at the hospital. The problem is, you might be doing yourself a disservice. Few colleges will look at a 4.0 on your transcript and say “Sure, but did she save any puppies at the animal hospital?”

3. Write it down – Whether you use a notebook, an agenda, some Post-Its, or a bunch of napkins, find a system that works for you and write down what you need to do each day. It may seem like a pain, and the list might be long, but you’ll end up staying up all night if you didn’t write down “study for test” and you remember at midnight.

4. Organize – Part of this is writing things down, but no matter if your system is color-coded piles of papers or every paper you have received since kindergarten organized by what the weather was like that day, find a system that works for you and stick to it. You never know when that kindergarten paper might come in handy.

5. Don’t read this later (procrastination) – Do you know what’s worse than missing that dramatic part of your favorite show? Having to miss it again next year when you’re taking the same course again. Might seem dramatic, but if you put off class long enough, next year comes quickly.

6. Start early – The best part about a term project is that it’s due at the end of the term? Right? Only if you stay on top of things. It’s easy to put off long-term projects until it’s too late, so set yourself a schedule and save yourself some heartache.

7. First time’s the charm – The only thing more difficult than learning difficult material is relearning it after you’ve learned it wrong. If you don’t understand something when it’s taught to you, ask a question. Chances are you’re not the only one confused.

8. Go to your happy place – Remember, the key to reducing stress in school is time management. Do the most you can in the shortest amount of time. Do you really work better with music? Would the world end if you turned off your phone? Is YouTube going anywhere? These are some questions to ask when sitting down to study.

9. Don’t think you can… know it – No matter what you do, even if you take on just the right amount of work, things will get stressful. Inevitably life happens and it’s nothing you can schedule for. Managing your time every day ensures that you know you can handle life’s speed bumps.

10.  No passing notes (or texting) in class – Stay focused in class, and remember why you’re there. Even if it’s that one class you hate, even if it’s that one teacher you can’t stand, the only thing worse than being in that class during the school day is being there for detention. Not to mention it might help your grades too.

11. Prioritize – Whether your goal is to be the best in class or just do enough to make it through, know what your goals are and get there by knowing what must be done versus what you’d like to get done.

Study Skills

1. You can tell the future – The syllabus. The Great Prognosticator. This beautiful piece of paper will tell you when that big project’s due and what the homework was, not that you weren’t paying attention.

2. Make downtime uptime – Watching the varsity team play after your basketball game? Waiting in the wings for your scene three scenes from now? Take out that textbook. Save yourself time later.

3. Find a way to study – Just like everyone else, you’re unique. What works as a study technique for one person might not work for you. The only way you can mess this up is by deciding the study skill which works for you is procrastination.

4. Set realistic goals – Anyone can set the goal of perfection. The trouble is, no one’s perfect. Set realistic goals for yourself. Remember to push yourself!

5. Remember to exercise your memory – Eating healthy, reading often, doing brain exercises (look them up online) and playing games can keep your memory healthy, reducing the amount of work you have to do to memorize your material.

6. Save the best for last – While it is tempting to put off your least favorite subject until last, it doesn’t make much sense. Why wait until you’re tired to do the toughest work?

7. Get to class – So you have that one class you hate, and it’s so tempting to skip it once in a while. The problem is, the less time you spend in class, the more time you spend catching up. You never know when that one vital piece of information will be announced, so why miss it?

8. Take a break – There are studies proving that if you do short stints of work and give yourself short breaks, you’ll learn more. The people who did these studies probably took a few breaks, and they do studies!

9. Strategize – Do yourself a favor and plan out how your evening of studying is going to go. Write it down and stick to it, that way you won’t multitask too much, which can have negative effects. It will keep you focused and give you an idea of how long things will take.

10. Study groups are for studying – Study groups are a great way for some students to learn material. Note: some. If they work for you and all involved, use them as much as you can. Be honest, though. If they aren’t working for you, find yourself a quiet place.

Managing Homework

1. Set a schedule – Know how long certain things are going to take and make a schedule from there. Give yourself extra time. If something should take a half-hour, schedule forty-five minutes. It’ll help you later.

2. Know when you work best – Some students do the most amount of work right after school while the material is fresh. Others need to have dinner, refuel, and then tackle homework. Find out what works best for you and stick to that.

3. Make molehills out of mountains – The large projects usually assigned at the end of the year are meant to be taken on a little at a time. Break up these big projects into smaller ones and make them more manageable.

4. Set your own due dates – Without due dates, many of us would procrastinate, and in turn would never get done what we needed. Sometimes, though, just one due date won’t due. If you have a book report due at the end of the month, set deadlines for yourself so you don’t put it off.

5. Maximize your time – While multi-tasking is not always the best course of action, it is important to make sure you are efficient.

6. Let your teacher teach – If you don’t understand a lesson, ask questions. Also, stay after class – it’ll save you lots of time later. Even getting a tutor might be a good idea. Falling behind is the worst thing you can do.

7. Be a glutton for punishment – Those projects you’ve been dreading aren’t going anywhere. In fact, it’s a lot like walking toward something looming on the horizon. Let enough time slip by and as it gets nearer it grows into something unmanageable.

Establishing and Maintaining your Schedule

1. You aren’t superhuman – There’s so much temptation to do everything possible, to fill every hour of your day with something constructive. This can fracture your attention though, and wind up hurting you in the end.

2. Have a plan – This applies for the day, the week, and the semester. Have a plan and stick to it… it’ll give you more spare time than you plan for.

3. Work out a schedule for the week – You don’t have to plan out every minute of every day, but having a plan for your productive time can help you reduce the amount of your week you spend being so productive.

4. Life’s going to happen – Plan for the unplannable. Impossible, sure, but give yourself time in your schedule to deal with the unexpected.

5. A calendar’s your BFF – It always helps to be able to not just plan your week or month, but to have it there in front of you a few times a day. Color-code your test days and study group appointments. It will serve as a reminder when you forget you need reminders.

6. Know thyself – Here’s the thing: Only you know how long things will take you. Is that book report going to take you twenty minutes longer because you won’t be able to resist spending time on Facebook? Schedule for the realistic you.

7. Write down your tests – Write down reminders to study for your tests, not necessarily the dates of your tests. By the time the day of your test comes, it’s usually a little late to start studying. Linked in this tip is a great way to do this. Just write it down!

8. To-do lists should be able to be done – Be realistic when it comes to your to-do lists. We would all love to be able to study and see that movie with our friends, but can they both be done?

9. Be open minded – Whether you have a 4.0 or 0.4, keep trying new study methods such as the pomodor technique, speed reading of the phoenix method. You never know what might work, especially if you’re the one with the 0.4.

10. It’s 5 o’clock; do you know where your books are? – Set up a time every day to study. Have nothing to study? Find something. It’ll save you time studying later and raise your grades.

Managing Time for Work

1. Work close to home – Reduce your commute by finding something you can walk to or drive to quickly. It will save you time not studying, and studying will help you not have to work at that job one day.

2. Whistle (or study) while you work – If the job allows it, try to squeeze in a little studying while you’re at work. Even if it’s just a half hour during your break, it will save you time later.

3. Know your availability – Give yourself an availability at work that allows you all the time you need to study, and try to find a place with enough employees to grant you flexibility in your schedule.

4. Get credit for your hard work – Find out what work-study programs your school offers and try for one of those. You might as well get some school credit for what you’re doing.

5. Freelance isn’t free – Find that one thing you do well and find someone willing to pay for it. Be a tutor, a writer, an artist, something worth money on your free time.

Personal Time

1. Reward yourself. It’s not always easy to motivate yourself with the thought of good grades, so why not television, sports, or anything else you like to do?

2. Make time for your rewards. If you plan to reward yourself, make sure you give yourself enough time to enjoy the reward, rather than feel guilty for it.

3. Just say no. Being ambitious is one thing, but it can lead to being too willing to do what everyone asks of you. This can leave you little time to do your actual work.

4. School isn’t all there is. The great thing about school is that it offers you more than just class and grades. Clubs, sports, and other activities make you look better on your transcript, and you might have a little fun on the way.

5. An apple a day… Staying healthy is vital to keeping your grades up, mostly because you’ll stay up during class. It’ll help you focus as well.

6. Set boundaries for yourself. Focusing on one thing at a time is good, but focusing on only one thing ever isn’t. Don’t let one thing take over your life or you won’t get anything done.

7. Your time is valuable. Understand that all your time is valuable, that time spent studying is no more important than the time you spend relaxing, that relaxing and working both have a place in your life.