Before throwing yourself into studying, you should make a study schedule. Creating and following a study schedule can help you concentrate, better retain course material, and effectively manage your time.
1. Assess your current schedule.
Creating a healthy balance between your studies, social life and sleep is important. You can tailor your study schedule to fit your needs and learning style. Do you need to allot time on weekend afternoons because you work nights the same days? Could you listen to an audio recording of a lecture on your MP3 player while sweating at the gym?
Manage your time
It’s easy to over-estimate what can be achieved so be realistic about how long you can study for each day. Your plan should be like a diary, spreading chunks of time around the day. The more you stick to your plan, the easier it gets and the more productive your studying will be.
2.Balance your subjects
Allocate topics to days, and make sure you have enough time for everything you want to revise. Balance the time you have available between your various courses. Do not neglect courses you find particularly easy or difficult.
3.Identify key topics
For each course, identify which topics to revise. At the very least, you should cover twice as many topics as the number of questions you need to answer (e.g. 6 topics for a 3-essay exam). Select topics based on:
- The content of the course
- Past examination papers
- Your own interests and abilities
4.Arrange your revision material
You will have lecture notes and seminar class notes, your own notes from books and journals, essays with your tutor's feedback, handouts and other photocopies and references. You will also need textbooks, past exam papers etc. Arrange to have everything you need well in advance.
