Being successful at the university level will probably require a more careful and effective utilization of time than the student has ever achieved before. He is typically scheduled for fifteen or more hours of classroom work per week, in addition, he is expected to average about two hours of preparation for each hour in the classroom. This means that he has at least a forty-five hour work week and is consequently involved in a full-time occupation! Many students find that this full-time job must be supplemented by other part-time jobs and/or family and social responsibilities which add a great deal more time. A common student complaint, therefore, is that there is just not enough time to go around.
The job of being a university student, like most other jobs, can be carried out either efficiently or inefficiently. The way we use time (or waste it) is largely a matter of habit patterns. One of the best techniques for developing more efficient habits of time use is to prepare a time schedule. Research psychologist and efficiency experts can produce impressive statistics demonstrating the efficiency of a well-organized time schedule. The work habits of people who have achieved outstanding success invariably show a well-designed pattern or schedule. When a person has several duties confronting him simultaneously he often will fail to do any of them. The purpose of scheduling is not to make a slave of the student, but to free him from the scholastic inefficiency and anxiety that is, at least partially, a function of wasted time, inadequate planning, hasty, last minute study, etc.
The most successful system for most students is to combine long-range and short-range planning. thus, a student can make a general schedule for an entire quarter and then prepare a more specific plan for two or three days a week at a time.
LONG-RANGE SCHEDULE: Some suggestions for developing a long-range strategy, such as a semester schedule.