Time Management for Freshmen
Your first year of college is often a surprising adjustment. In high school your day is highly structured. In addition, you have parents, teachers and principals monitoring your progress and attendance. In college, it is up to you to structure your day. No one will call your parents to say you were not in class. You discover you can skip class without any immediate consequence. Many students have difficulty making this adjustment and find themselves too far behind in class to recover a desired grade. Most students will learn the hard way, but if you are open to suggestions, the following is a guideline:
1. Use a day planner or PDA to structure your semester and modify each week. Be conscientious to sticking to your schedule.
2. Use the syllabus and course schedule from each course to help organize your semester. The syllabus tells you exactly what is expected in class and the course schedule tells you when it is expected.
3. Obtain emails and phone numbers from classmates so you have someone to contact when you have questions about the class. Use classmates as "accountability partners." Remind each other when projects and exams are due.
4. Write down your goals. Specifically detail why you want a college degree. Keep this somewhere you can see it every day. This can help you stay on track when you would rather watch a movie than study for the exam the next day.
TIME MANAGEMENT FOR FRESHMEN
The University of Houston's Learning and Assessment Services center suggests the following weekly breakdown:
• Classroom time: 15 hours
• Study: 38 hours (2½ hours per course credit)
• Meals: 14 hours (2 hours per day)
• Exercise: 7 hours
• Sleep: 49 hours (7 hours per night)
• Personal tasks: 10 hours
• Work: 10 hours (no more than 20 for a full-time student)
• Social activity: 10 hours
• Free time: 15 hours
• Total: 168 hours
Email me if you have other suggestions (useful ones) to add.
