Chapter 3

Planning Your Study Time

Introduction

This chapter provides tips on how to plan and manage your study time. It emphasises the importance of being organised and using your time efficiently and effectively. In addition, it demonstrates why you need to be aware of and reflect on your approach to study, your habits and attitude to be able to take responsibility for your own learning.

Planning your study

Planning all aspects of your study is essential to meet the demands of coursework. Careful planning allows you to identify and monitor what needs to be done, what has been done and how well it has been done. Your study plan should encompass both formal classes and private study, as suggested below.

Plan a weekly timetable

Plan a 24-hour, 7-day a week timetable using your diary. This should include:

formal classes
private study
part-time work
regular chores
relaxation and socialising
travelling time

Plan your private study

When planning your private study time, you should:

allocate equal time to all subjects you are studying. You may need to adjust this later to reflect changing workloads, and the relative difficulty of topics/units.
include time for reviewing lecture notes and making summaries of reading/lecture notes.
allow a free block of time each day for unexpected things that come up, for example, computer problems.
be realistic. Do not make a timetable that is not practical in your situation.

Plan the semester

Using your Year Planner, you should:

mark in on-going assessment and the due dates for assignments
mark in key stages of assignments, for example, researching the topic or where a preliminary critical review is required
note dates for clinical/professional placements
note other significant dates, for example, job commitments

Managing your time

A carefully planned study timetable is only the starting point. How useful your study plan is will depend on your ability to manage your time and use your time efficiently. The following tips highlight the need to use your time efficiently, to be a reflective learner, and to take advantage of ‘incidental’ time, such as time between classes, travelling time, and time spent on daily chores.

Formal classes

Be an active learner: Do some preparatory reading for all lectures; do the required preparation for tutorials, pracs and clinics; come to class with questions; at the end of the class, think about which questions were answered, and which need follow-up.
Make summaries, for example in bullet points, tables or diagrams, of lecture notes and reading. These will assist your understanding and on-going revision.
Link: Make diagrams or flow charts to show how topics in the subject are connected to help you get the ‘big picture’.
Be organised: Arrive at classes on time; label clearly and file all handouts and notes for easy access during revision; start reading early for assignments.
Evaluate your learning: Think about how you can improve strategies, for example, in preparing for lectures or lecture note-taking.

Private study

Study environment: As far as possible, your study environment should be quiet, free from distractions, and comfortable, for example, have a good source of light.
Organise your time: Break up study time into blocks, for example, of one hour allocated to individual subjects; set a time limit for all tasks you want to complete.
Be focussed: Set objectives for all tasks you undertake; ask yourself what you want to achieve by the end of that time block.
Prioritise: Make a checklist of the main tasks you want to complete, with those at the top of the list being the most important.
Be an active learner: Think critically about what you are reading or writing; set problem-solving tasks; make summaries; formulate questions; practise explaining the material to yourself.
Maintain concentration: Vary tasks if possible; take short breaks at regular intervals, for example, every 50 minutes; move on to another task if you feel concentration is waning.
Evaluate your learning: To monitor your own learning, you should:
- check whether or not you have met your objectives for the session.
- evaluate how effective the objectives you set yourself were and whether the time you allocated to particular topics/subjects was appropriate.
- cross off tasks on the checklist you have completed.
- plan when and how you will complete outstanding tasks.
- make summaries of reading/lecture notes to check your understanding.
- ask yourself how you can improve strategies that do not work, for example, your approach to reading.

‘Incidental’ time

To be an efficient learner, you should take an advantage of ‘incidental’ time, or time that is not part of planned/structured study time. This may involve spending no more than several minutes thinking about and connecting aspects of your course. This is also a good time for making a mental check of how your study plan for the day/week is going. The following are some suggestions for good use of incidental time.

Link: Think about how the previous lecture connects with this lecture; how the tutorial/prac. reinforced concepts introduced in the lecture.
Re-prioritise: If necessary, make changes to your original list of priorities you set for the day/week; decide when and how you will do any outstanding tasks.
Evaluate your learning: Think about the learning strategies you use. Ask yourself which strategies work and which do not? Which strategies worked in one subject, but not in another? Which strategies did not work in Semester 1, but are working in Semester 2? Why?

Understanding yourself

To be able to plan and use your study time effectively, it is important that you are aware of your learning style, and your habits and attitude more generally. You need to take advantage of and build on your strengths, while at the same time you address your weaknesses and develop other ways of learning and doing. Some of the questions you might ask yourself are listed below.

Learning style

Do you work best in the morning/evening?
Do you have a short/long concentration span?
Are you a visual learner/aural learner?
Do you learn from examples (deductive learning) of from principles (inductive learning)?
How do you learn new material presented in class, for example, by re-organising the information, representing it diagrammatically, explaining it to someone, trying to memorise it, applying it to a real-world situation?

Attitude and approach

Do you do things at the last minute/plan ahead of time?
Are you organised/disorganised?
Are you fairly relaxed/easily stressed?
Are you a perfectionist?
Are your expectations of yourself high/not high enough?
Are you good at thinking on your feet and making quick decisions?
Do you procrastinate, especially when faced with a difficult task or decision?

Alternate Format

Chapter 3: Planning your study time (PDF 69KB)