There are approximately 52 weeks in a year. Each week contains seven days. Each day contains 24 hours. But students are expected to put 30-45 hours of studying outside of class into their week. That means up to six hours is spent on homework per day, two to four hours of class time and let’s not forget that the average amount of sleep a college student should be getting is roughly seven hours.
Now, just to put this into perspective,
6 + 4 + 7 = 17 and 24 – 17 = 7.
A typical college student would most likely also have a job of various working hours and other extracurricular activities, on top of friendships, relationships and family responsibilities.
Starting to feel overwhelmed just thinking about it? Me, too.
One of the very first pieces of advice incoming college freshmen receive from the administration is to learn how to manage time. But, after doing the math it doesn’t seem at all possible to maintain a semblance of a social life while doing well in classes. Often times, this leads to new students making a choice between their education and their other activities. However, it is entirely possible for students to live their best social life and keep their grades up.
Here are some tips and tricks I picked up from my first semester of college to maximize my study time:
Start long-term projects ahead of time.
- Will this be easy? No. Even the most motivated of college students procrastinate and tell themselves that they have plenty of time to write that five-page history report… right up until it’s 3:00A.M. and they’re chugging their third cup of coffee mixed with Red Bull. (Don’t ever do that.)
- So how can we make this manageable? Well, start small. Don’t feel pressured to finish a long-term project it in one sitting. Break down the project into tiny parts and when you can spare five or ten minutes, read another page of that Shakespearean play or write a few more sentences about the importance of the Industrial Revolution.
Put the phone down.
- Let’s say this together, “My name is______, and I am addicted to my phone/social media.” The first step to recovery is admitting that there is a problem and I will be the first person to admit that I am addicted to scrolling through Instagram feeds. But wasting countless hours going down a YouTube rabbit hole is neither helping your grades nor allowing you to maintain your relationships with other people.
- When studying or working on homework, give yourself at least an hour without your phone to just concentrate on the task in front of you. After the hour, or whatever goal you set for yourself, indulge in a quick peek at what Jan and Amanda are posting on Instagram but allow no more than ten minutes to pass before getting back to work. Again, the hardest part is not habitually going through your social media route every five minutes. But by cutting back phone use during study time, your concentration and productivity will increase which will ultimately lead to finishing homework a lot earlier than you normally would.
Make a list of priorities.
- Whether you are listing which homework assignments need completed first or which activity—a club event or a party— you should go to, thinking briefly about the priority of what needs to get done and when will help to organize the order of your day and will lead to a more efficient use of your precious time.
Go somewhere else to study.
- The dorm is full of distractions. For me personally, my favorite distractions are snacks and Netflix. I will justify not doing my homework as I snack because it takes two hands to eat Cheezits—one hand on the box, the other shoving Cheezits into my mouth—and so the only solution then is to watch The Office on Netflix.
- When I go to places like the library, the computer lab, or even outside on a nice day, the distractions are minimal, and I find that my focus improves. (Mostly because as soon as I get my homework done, I can head back to the dorm, eat snacks, and watch Netflix.)
By efficiently managing your study time and working to the fullest potential, it is possible to make room for the additional important subjects in your life, mainly, relationships with other people, whether it be a significant other, a family member, or a best friend. It is okay not to have a strict schedule and to spend a little more time than you meant to watching your favorite shows on occasion, but just be sure to adapt your priorities so that you can fit everything into your packed day.
HCXO,
Samantha