April is a balancing act for most Campbell students, with so many different activities and requirements squeezed into the last full month before exams. It can be very difficult to balance friends and family with school, work, internships, and other responsibilities. We begin to really kick it into high gear with coffee in one hand and books in another. You cannot go back, but there is hope: you can learn to better manage your remaining time. Here are five tips for this particular balance act!
First things first: ask yourself why you want to do well in your classes. If the answer is to get the perfect A, to simply pass your class, or to do well so your parents will be proud of you, you should probably reevaluate your goals. It is good to want to do well and have your parents or friends be proud of you, but there are also more important goals for which to aim. Take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Why are you going to college? Hopefully it is to get a better education so that you can be more equipped for your career and to serve God with the knowledge that you have acquired in your four (or more/less) years at Campbell.
Second: After you have reclaimed your goals for your education, you should write a list of your responsibilities and maintain this list each day. This list will help you to manage your time by highlighting what is necessary for you to accomplish your academic goals. After you have written your list, start with the most difficult task first. It is healthy to be in the habit of accomplishing this task first in order for the remaining tasks to seem less stressful and less time-consuming.
Third: In addition to writing a list, take advantage of the 20-minute process. Allow yourself a small 20 minutes devoted to what seems an overwhelming task. What happens majority of the time in this situation is that after the first 20 minutes have gone by, you find that you have worked an additional 20 minutes because you are so enveloped in the task. This is due to the fact that getting started is usually the hardest part of an assignment.
Fourth: Give yourself something to look forward to. If you have a test in two days but have had a lot of classes today and are tired, instead of trying to study while watching the newest episode of Jersey Shore, plan ahead to study at least an hour in advance of Shore in a quiet area. Then the episode of fist pumping will be a treat to yourself for your hour of work.
Fifth: Never jeopardize your sleep to study for a test. It is extremely counterproductive when you take part in the favorite college past time of an “all-nighter,” but find that you cannot remember what you studied for the next day or you fall asleep while taking the test. In place of this college tradition, try taking a couple of small power naps throughout your day and make sure that you have at least a few hours of sleep to let your brain rest and recuperate. Of course the best option would be to study a little bit each day ahead of time—but we all know that is a near-impossible task with all there is to do at Campbell University.