• Schedule–Based Time Management– This type of time management is the broadest. It requires students to look at their job schedule, family obligations, class schedule etc. and develop a basic plan for when they will study. For example, every Tuesday, they will study from 1:00 to 3:00 before they work a 3:30 shift.  
• Project and Homework Time Management– It is one thing for a student to decide they will study from noon to four Tuesdays and Thursdays, from eight to noon on Fridays and all day on Sunday, but what should they actually do with that time? What decisions can they make about how to study that will get them to their goals? Project and homework time management focuses on what exactly students will do during the time they have set aside to study.

 

3.1 Beliefs and Challenges Students Might Have about Time Management

Below are beliefs students commonly hold that prevent them from successfully managing time:

• Students underestimate how much time reading, completing homework and studying for exams will take them. Often, they will say any academic task can be done “in an hour.”
• They set unrealistic expectations of academic time management that would be ridiculous in other settings. For example, they may not keep up with reading or lecture note reviewing but, they will clear their schedules the day before an exam so they can study. This is similar to an athlete missing a week of practice but clearing their schedule the day before the game in order to practice all day.
• They see jobs as their true obligation. Many students work part or even full-time jobs. Their expectation, or their families’ expectation is that schoolwork should fit “into the cracks” between their jobs and classes, but making money is more important that doing homework.
• Students are unaware of how much time they spend “wasting time.”  When they are asked to keep track of how much time they spend doing things like playing video games, checking social media, socializing, etc. they are often surprised by how much time these activities take up.
• Students don’t like to make schedules because they won’t stick to them. Students will often say making a schedule is pointless because something might come up and that will throw their schedule off.
• Students base college time management decisions on high school time management decisions. Everyone makes decisions about the future based on what they have learned in the past. It is not uncommon for high school students to study 20 minutes a day in high school and take weekends off and earn B’s and C’s. They think, reasonably, that doubling their study time to 40 minutes a day with weekends off is plenty of study time to earn A’s and B’s in college.

3.2 Discussion Points about Time Management and Planning

Creating a Schedule

Tell students that they are likely underestimate the number of hours it will take to complete academic tasks and explain that it will help them be better students if they pay attention to how long it takes them to do their homework. Over time, they will develop a better sense of how long tasks will take and will be able to plan their time much more effectively, but it is better to set aside more time than not enough.

If students work too much to have enough study time, talk to them about possibilities for cutting back work hours, or have a conversation with them about what they really value. If their expectation is that they will work full-time and go to school on the side, they may want to take fewer classes.

If students resist scheduling and planning because work or family events might come up to disrupt their plan, explain that making a plan is helpful anyway– it allows them to know exactly what they need to do when they do have time to study. It also might help students advocate for themselves. For example, if a friend wants to go out to eat during a time the student has set aside for studying, they can negotiate by saying “I’d like to meet you, but can we go after I get my homework done?”

Talk to students about the difference between high school and college expectations by using actual numbers. Simply saying, “You need to study more in college” or even “You need to double the amount of time you spend studying” isn’t useful advice to a student who has been successful in high school by studying 20 minutes a day.

Planning Homework Sessions

For many students, setting aside hours to study isn’t enough. The challenge might be deciding what to do with that study time. It can help your student if you have a conversation about structuring a homework session.

Sports practices and rehearsals often can be broken down into three basic parts—

• A warm up—for the first minutes of practice, athletes and musicians warm up bodies and voices so they have an effective practice.
• A work out—for most of the practice or rehearsal, athletes and musicians engage in activities that prepare them directly for the game or concert—i.e. they sing the exact songs they will sing at the concert.
• A cool down—At the end of a practice or rehearsal, coaches and directors often evaluate the practice and let athletes or musicians know what their strengths and weaknesses are. I.e. a coach might say, “We did really well today with plays X, Y and Z, but if we are going to win the game against team X next Thursday, we really need to strengthen our defense.”

Homework sessions can follow the same structure. The resource “Warm Up, Work Out, Cool Down” will address this issue.

3.3 Time Management Resources

This chapter features seven resources: 

• Student Weekly Schedule
• Warm Up Work Out Cool Down
• Class by Class Time Management Document
• Timeline for a Paper or Project
• Tasks and Checklists
• Thought Process Worksheet- Developmental
• Finals Organization Document

 

The Student Weekly Schedule

Below is an example of a typical student schedule. Note that the student schedules in class, lab, and homework time. They also schedule work, extra curriculars, and personal time. Be sure to include these categories in your schedule, also! Create your weekly schedule with the blank one below. It can be helpful to color-code so it is easier to see how much time you devote to the different parts of your life. For example, work hours can be coded in red, classes in blue, homework time in grey, etc.

 

	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat	Sun
8:00
9:00
10:00
11:00
Noon
1:00
2:00
3:00
4:00
5:00
6:00
7:00
8:00
9:00
10:00

 

Warmup, Workout, Cool Down

If you have ever played a sport, or been in a band, a choir or a play, you would likely agree that most practices and rehearsals have three distinct parts:

• A warm up to get the body, voice or instrument ready to work
• A Work Out which is designed to practice the exact things you need to do in a game, concert or play
• A Cool Down, which often has three purposes– one, to cool down the body and two, to evaluate that practice (for example a coach might tell the team what they did well and what they still need to work on) and three, to make a plan for the future based on how that practice went. (The coach might say, “Since we are doing well on this skill, we’ll focus our next practice on this other one)

Homework sessions can be like practices and rehearsals– they can have a warm-up, a workout and a cool-down. The chart below defines warmups, workouts and cool-downs for studying and suggests activities that might be appropriate for your class. Read the chart and think about your classes. Make a study plan based on what you know about your tests and assignments. Give your study plan a try– if it works, great. If it needs to be adjusted, use the suggestions below to select different study activities. 

	Description	Possible Activities
Warm ups	A home work session warm up’s purpose is to set goals for that specific homework session. A warm up could take between 10 and 20 minutes.	Review lecture notes to see what is confusing Page through a textbook chapter before reading it Review practice problems Re-read an assignment description Make a reading schedule Check D2L for updates
Work outs	During the workout, your job is to practice what you will have to do on an upcoming graded event– like a test, presentation or paper.  If you have a class that involves taking tests over the reading, your workout will focus on reading. The work out could take 30-90 minutes.	Read and take notes on a textbook chapter or other reading. Write an essay, paper or report. Work problems. Write and practice a speech. Complete assignments.
Cool downs	The purpose of a cooldown is to do two things: Determine how well you learned the material you covered in the workout. During the cool down, create conditions that are as close to the test or other graded event as possible. For example, if you know you will only be able to bring a calculator to your math test, then spend your cool-down time doing problems just using a calculator. Making a plan for future studying based on what went well and what was difficult or confusing. A cool down could take 10-30 minutes.	Re-read an assignment description to make sure you completed it thoroughly and accurately. Answer review questions in a textbook to make sure you understood the reading. Summarize major concepts you read or learned by pretending you will be tested on them. Determine what was confusing and plan to resolve the confusion Generate a list of possible test questions Work a problem from start to finish with no help.

 

Class by Class Time Management Document

Get in the habit of sitting down at the same day and time each week to look through the D2L sites for each of your classes. Note what is due in the coming week, what you need to read and when major tasks, tests or papers are due. Complete the chart below for each class each week. 

Week ___ Dates ______________________________________

Class:
Things I need to Read: Reading: Date Due Reading: Date Due: Reading: Date Due:	Assignment/ test/ quiz/ event dates: What is due: Date: What is due: Date: What is due:
Looking Ahead: Are there big tests, papers or assignments due in the next two week? Write them below:   Planning: At what dates and times will I complete this work?   How many hours will I spend studying for this class this week? Are there any resources I should use to help me? (Faculty office hours, meetings with tutors, review sessions, study groups, etc.) If so, list them below along with times and locations.

 

Timeline for a Project or a Paper

Completing a multi-week project can feel overwhelming! But if you break the project into smaller tasks, you can do each week, it seems less overwhelming. When you are done with a task, check it off so you can see your progress. You can customize this timeline in whatever way you want to. For example, if you have four weeks to complete your project, make a four-week chart to fill out.

The last three columns will help you be realistic about how much time the project will take you. In the “Estimated time” column, write down how many hours you think the task will take you. Once you complete it, write how many hours it actually took in the “actual time” column. Finally, when you have completed a task, write down the date you completed it.

Week 1

Dates	Tasks to Complete	Estimated Time	Actual Time	Date Completed

Week 2

Dates	Tasks to Complete	Estimated Time	Actual Time	Date Completed

Tasks and Checklist

If you have a project with multiple due dates, this chart might help you stay on track. List tasks you need to do to complete your project in the left column, then in the “estimated hours” column, guess how long it will take you to complete the task. Always be generous with your estimate; it’s better to add more time than not add enough. Then record when exactly you will do this work. Finally, write in each task’s due date.  Cross off tasks once they are complete.

Task	Estimated Hours to Complete Task	When I plan to do this task	Due Date
Example: Write outline for essay	2	Mon, 6-7 PM, Weds from 9-10 PM	Thus at Noon

 

Thought Process Worksheet

Note for Instructors and Tutors:

If this resource seems like it a good fit for your student(s), here are suggestions:

• Complete the section “Questions to Answer Before I Begin Studying” together.
• Ask your student to complete the “Questions to Ask While I am Studying” section at home.
• Next time you see them, discuss their answers to the “While I’m Studying” section and work on the last section “Questions to Answer After I’m done Studying.”
• Repeat the process with other classes and assignments and help the student understand that they shouldn’t study the same way for each class and assignment.
• If this assignment seems like too many questions, re-work the assignment to focus on one or two skills at a time.

Name____________________________________

Class you are doing homework for ___________________________

Date__________________________

	Questions to answer before I begin studying
Goal	What am I supposed to get done at this study session? Why do I think my instructor is having me do this assignment?
Equipment and skills	What equipment do I need or what do I need to have read or done to complete this work? What skills do I need? (i.e. I need to know how to upload something to D2L)
Space	Do I have a place where I can focus?
Understanding	Do I understand what I’m supposed to do on this assignment? Below, write down in a few sentence what you are supposed to do
Time	How long do I think this assignment will take me to do?

	Questions to Ask While I am Studying
Evaluate	Am I struggling with any part of this assignment? If so, what can I do to help myself? Is this assignment taking more time, less time, or about as much time as I thought it would?

	Questions to ask when I’m done studying
Assess	In this study session, did I achieve the goal I set before I began studying?
Time	Did this assignment take me less time, more time, or the amount of time I estimated? How much time did it take?
Quality	Do I think I did a good job with this assignment? Why or why not?
Reflect	How do I feel about this study session? What worked and what did not work? Before studying, I decided what my instructor wants me to learn by doing this assignment. Did I learn what my instructor would like me to learn?
Change	If I didn’t achieve my goals, what do I still need to do? What should I do differently next time I study?

3.4 Ideas for Use: Time Management Resources

If You Are a Tutor . . . .

• If you show students these time management resources, they might quickly select a favorite or select one they think they can adapt for their use. Helping students think through which resources might be helpful to them and why might be a useful activity.
• Unless you have a high-achieving student who has demonstrated success in the past, avoid sending students home with a time management resource to complete on their own. Students who are new to college, or are developmental would benefit from completing one of these resources with your guidance.
• The Warmup, Workout, Cool Down Resource can facilitate useful conversations about how to spend study time. One way to do this is to start at the end– i.e. what do students need to DO after studying? Take a test? What kind of test? Write a paper? Participate in discussion? Complete a project? After you identify what students need to do, you can develop a list of skills/ knowledge they need to have in order to successfully complete the test, paper, etc. From there, you can help the student decide what study activities will help them achieve their goals.
• Remember that developing time management skills take time and experimentation, so encourage students to keep trying different strategies and adapting what works for them.

If You Are Faculty . . . . 

In Practice