This document provides information and strategies for effective time management for college students. It discusses the importance of time management skills, analyzing how time is currently spent, and setting goals for an ideal schedule. Specific strategies are outlined, such as using a weekly schedule, studying in focused hour-long blocks with short breaks, switching subjects to maintain focus, tackling difficult assignments first, planning rewards, and working ahead on long-term projects. Mastering time management is presented as an essential skill for academic success.

1. Schedule your
TIME MANAGEMENT Study Time
…avoid
Procrastination

2. WHAT IS TIME MANAGEMENT?
 Time management is the way a student controls or schedules
his or her time.
 Time management and goal setting are perhaps the most
essential of all study skills .
 Learning good time management is an accrued skill and takes
practice.
 Learning to use time management to balance your academic,
work, and leisure time leads to greater productivity, more
successes, and less stress.
 This is a lifelong skill that will benefit a student not only in
college but in their professional and personal life after
college.

3. WHY IS TIME MANAGEMENT IMPORTANT?
 Being able to accomplish your goals depends, in part,
on your ability to make the most ef ficient use of the
time that you have available for study. In college, most
of your work must be completed outside of class.
 In high school, your study time was fairly well defined or
structured…you had study hall during the day, hours before
or after supper were set aside for homework, and parents
and teachers may have been their to make sure you
completed your work. In high school the amount of time that
you were in class was set from early morning to mid or late
afternoon
 In college, you do not have the kind of structure or
monitoring and the amount of time that you are in class is
much more variable.
 Learning to schedule your time is a complicated task
but ultimately good time management skills can
actually save you time.

4. ANALYZE YOUR USE OF TIME:
PIE OF LIFE
 The Pie of Life is a graphic representation that shows how
much time you dedicate to each of the three areas of your
life: school, work, and leisure.
 A balanced Pie of Life is not necessarily divided into three
equal parts; the amount of time dedicated to school, work,
and leisure vary according to an individual’s circumstances,
goals, and values. A student who is not employed while
attending school will have a dif ferent Pie of Life than a
student who works a graveyard shift and attends college full -
time. Likewise, a student who lives at home and attends
school full-time while playing a sport will have a dif ferent Pie
of Life than a single parent who is enrolled in college part -
time.

5. PIE OF LIFE (CONTINUED)
School Work
Leisure
Pie of Life Your Current Pie Your Ideal Pie
 The first circle shows a Pie of Life divided into three equal
segments. Divide the second circle into a pie that shows the
estimated amount of time you currently spend per week in each
of the three areas. In the last circle, adjust the lines to show
your ideal Pie of Life that reflects the balance that you wish to
obtain.
 Achieving your ideal Pie of Life requires a willingness to examine
the ways you currently use time and to commit to exploring new
strategies that will improve your time -management and goal -
setting skills.

6. ANALYZE YOUR USE OF TIME:
HOW YOU USE TIME
 Creating a more effective balance of time in your
life begins with an awareness of your daily
patterns, habits, and priorities for using time.
This can help you fill in your Current Pie of Life
 Try this activity to analyze how you currently use your
time:
1. Keep a log of how you spend your time for three complete
days. Be sure to be specific and honest.
2. After completing your three day log, count the number of
hours spent each day in the areas shown on the final chart.
3. Investigate how the results reveal where you are wasting
time or where you need to focus more time?

7. THE INCREASE-DECREASE METHOD
 The Increase-Decrease Method involves increasing or
decreasing time used in one area of life in order to
make more time for another area of life so that you
can achieve your Ideal Pie of Life.
 Begin by identifying the section of your Pie of Life that needs
more time in order to create a better balance in your life.
 As you increase time in this section, you will need to decrease
time allocated to one or both of the remaining sections of your
pie.
 Using the increase-decrease method will bring you closer to
achieving an ideal balance but will require you to learn new
skills to change your old behaviors and routines and will
require you to be more disciplined.

8. WAYS TO ORGANIZE YOUR TIME MORE
EFFECTIVELY:
1. Use a schedule or schedules to manage your
time.
Well-designed schedules serve as road maps to
guide you
 through the months of a term,
 through the weeks,
 and through each day

9. WAYS TO ORGANIZE YOUR TIME MORE
EFFECTIVELY
2. Study in one-hour blocks
 As you schedule your study tasks, break them down
so that they can be accomplished in one-hour
blocks of time.
 Study, write, read, or do problems for fifty minutes.
 After fifty minutes, take a ten minute break.

10. WAYS TO ORGANIZE YOUR TIME MORE
EFFECTIVELY
3. Take breaks
 After each study block, plan a ten-minute break,
but be realistic about the kind of activity that
you plan for a study break.
 Taking a ten-minute nap will NOT work or doing an
activity that could lead to the “just one more”
syndrome (like playing a video game) will NOT
work.

11. WAYS TO ORGANIZE YOUR TIME MORE
EFFECTIVELY
4. Switch subjects to maintain your motivation
to study.
 For example, by alternating between reading
psychology and working algebra problems you can
get more done without becoming bored and tired
 If you have a large block of time to study, you
should switch subjects every hour

12. WAYS TO ORGANIZE YOUR TIME MORE
EFFECTIVELY
5. Tackle difficult assignments first
 Think about the courses you are taking this
semester. Is there one class that you really like? Is
there one course that you dislike? Do you have a
class that is really easy? Do you have a class that is
really hard?
 It is very common for students to first do the coursework
for the classes they love or the classes they think are easy.
 However, this isn’t the best strategy. Do the assignments
you dislike first and get them out of the way.
 By leaving the assignments that you enjoy for last it is
easier to complete your “to do” list.

13. WAYS TO ORGANIZE YOUR TIME MORE
EFFECTIVELY
6. Plan rewards…like:
 ordering a pizza after finishing a tough assignment,
 work hard to complete your studying to watch a
favorite television show,
 going to a party can be a reward for completing one
or two specific study goals.

14. WAYS TO ORGANIZE YOUR TIME MORE
EFFECTIVELY
7. Work until you finish scheduled tasks.
 In high school, you may have studied for a specific
amount of time. You did whatever you could in that
time period and then closed your books. In college,
you need to get into the habit of working until you
complete all the tasks that you scheduled for the
day.

15. WAYS TO ORGANIZE YOUR TIME MORE
EFFECTIVELY
8. Work ahead
 You will find college much less stressful if you get
out of the habit of doing Tuesday’s assignments on
Monday. Instead, get in the habit of doing the work
due Tuesday on Sunday or even on Friday.
 Being a little ahead of the game will give you a
feeling of security.
 You should always work ahead on long-range
assignments…schedule one to two hours each week
to work on a research paper or project.

16. SOURCES
Wong, Linda. Essential Study Skills. 6 th ed.
New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2009. Print.
Van Blerkom, Dianna L. College Study Skills:
Becoming a Strategic Learner. 7 th ed.
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 2011.