Time Management
Making effective use of free time is fundamental to achieving academic success in college. Most new college students are used to a highly structured school day filled with classes and extracurricular activities.

When they begin college, however, they may only have two or three classes a day (and often fewer than that), and must decide how to use their remaining time.

Creating a plan is important
Many new students feel as though they have nothing to do when not in class, since most college courses base the final grade on a midterm and a final exam, and there are far fewer graded assignments than there were in high school.

• When that first exam is several months away, it is very easy to put off doing the hidden work (such as textbook reading, reviewing lecture notes, or working practice problems) that is so important to staying on top of the material in a course.
• As many students discover around the time of their first midterm exam, falling behind in a course is easier than catching up!

Develop a system
Students have to develop their own systems for making effective use of their time and prioritizing all the elements of their day, including classes, study time, meal times, involvement in campus organizations, and part-time jobs (if applicable), even time to relax, pause, and reflect!

• While there are many different time management strategies, it is wise to build a schedule around the blocks of time spent in class, and build in specific times to study, eat, work, and socialize.
• The important thing for students to realize is that no matter what strategy they use, they need to do what works best for them and stick with it, but be flexible enough to make changes to their organizational style if they don’t see good results.

Advice for parents
Here are some things you can do to help:

• Explain that a lot of the time that used to be spent in class between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. is now going to be free time. How is your student going to spend it?
  • Help your student create a time management plan for the week.
  • Students have academic course schedules, so it should be easy to create a time grid to identify large blocks of free time.
  • Standing commitments (like marching band or varsity athletics) should be blocked out on this weekly master calendar, so your student can visualize how to build in study time and other activities.

• Buy your student a daily planner or calendar as a gift, and as a means of talking about developing a time management plan and achieving balance between academic and other activities. New students need to learn that they can make very effective use of the time during their day that used to be spent in school.

• Of course, the natural inclination of many students is to do anything but study, but if they can stay focused on academics between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., this will free up time in the evening to exercise, pursue fun activities, or get involved in campus organizations.

• As a general rule, students should plan for up to two hours of study outside of class for each hour spent in class.
  • A 16 semester-hour course load would thus require up to 32 hours of study per week.
  • Spread out over seven days (not four or five) and broken down into 60-90 minute blocks of time at several different points during the day, this is much easier to handle.

• Check in with your student every once in a while during the semester, and ask if his or her time management techniques are working well.

• If your student is struggling, work together to identify positive changes to your student’s time management plan.