Plan your days (and your nights) through the end of the semester

Until very close to the very end of my very long academic career I always wished for just one more day to revise an essay or just one more night to cram more potential exam solutions into my brain.  Fortunately, by the end of law school I finally got it right and I learned to enjoy the luxury of having free time right before my exams.

The exam period at my college will begin on Aug 11, 2014.  You might think about this as 2 and a half weeks from today, but I think it’s more useful to think of this as 18 full days, or better yet 11 weekdays and 7 weekend-days.  (Aug 4 is a holiday in Ontario.)

Even if you could devote 18 solid days toward studying, that’s not very much time per course if you have 5-7 courses – and we both know you have other commitments to meet on top of studying.

Now is the best time to make good choices about how you will spend your time. 

Commit your plan to paper.

If you have everything you need to do written out on paper the time will seem more tangible.  Of course you can count to 18 in your head, but seeing all the studying, final assignments, shifts at work and family functions that you have to attend between now and exams will help you visualize the bigger picture.

Don’t forget to include all the necessary things you’re already doing during the rest of the semester.

It’s important to plan when you will buy groceries, what you will eat and when you will do housework, if only to avoid using such “productive” tasks as procrastination techniques later on.

Schedule your downtime, including sleep.

It sounds like overkill to plan when you won’t be busy, but if you plan to watch an episode of your favourite TV show on Netflix each night as a reward for staying on track you will enjoy yourself more than if you fall behind as the result of 2 hours of channel surfing.  Lots of people get things done by not sleeping, and lots of people are always grumpy.  (Hmmm.)  Regardless of whether you believe in a scientifically valid link between memory and sleep, it’s always nice to have a full night’s rest.  Aim for 8 hours and if you fall short to 7 or 6.5 at least you didn’t plan for 6 and end up with only 4.

Plan right now.

You don’t need to plan when you’re going to make your plan because you’re doing it as soon as you finish reading my post, right? – and you’ll be done in just 15 minutes because this isn't rocket science!