Talia Gray, Features Editor
As we’re reaching the end of September and welcoming the start of spooky season (or October), fall semester classes are ramping up. Midterm grades and midterm exams tend to pop up around the same time as homecoming events and Halloween celebrations. Not to mention, fall break and the holiday season are on the horizon. This time of year can often feel like you’re walking a tightrope, trying to balance your classes, social life, and personal obligations. If you’ve been feeling this way, you’re in luck, as below you’ll find some tips and tricks to make sure you enjoy all the fall festivities, maintain your GPA, and make the most of your time.
Manage your time
One of the most essential components in balancing on the tightrope that is the fall semester is time management. Now, of course, time management has been a bit of a buzzword for work/school commentary for some time now. However, these discussions often leave out how one actually goes about managing the time they have. In this section, I will review a few different methods to help you complete tasks in a timely manner, avoid procrastination, and carve out leisure time during upcoming events.
Big Picture
Whenever you are approaching a busy season in school, work, or life it’s important to have full picture of any and all-important dates and/or events. While the concept of keeping a calendar is not new by any means, I would encourage everyone to establish a “master calendar.” A master calendar contains all notable dates, appointments, events, deadlines, and cut-offs across every aspect of your life. Many may already maintain an agenda for their homework, but have you incorporated homecoming events and fall break travel into the mix? Creating a single calendar with all your relevant information can help you get a fuller picture of all your obligations within a certain time period. Once you have everything noted in one place, it becomes much easier to plan ahead.
I would recommend using a digital calendar for cost-effectiveness and convenience. However, there are plenty of large printed and dry erase calendars available on the market. While constructing your master calendar, consider incorporating the following types of information:
- Class meeting times and Work Schedule
List the days and times you have to go to class, work, club/organization meetings, and any other times you are regularly unavailable.
- Important University and Class Dates
Go through your course calendars to be sure to note due dates for assignments/projects, tests, and quizzes that are coming up. You should also make note of important university deadlines or dates like breaks, graduation applications, and the last day to withdraw from courses. You can find the university academic calendar on the registrar’s website.
- Personal Obligations
These would include any and all appointments, birthdays, and anniversaries of loved ones, and any other personal commitments you know about ahead of time. Remember as the holidays are coming up, you may want to list any travel you may be doing.
- Special events
This is where you list the fun stuff. Homecoming events you know you want to go to (at UNCG or other schools), Halloween plans, and any other fall festivities that you’re looking forward to. See the Talia’s Tastes article from our last issue for more details on upcoming events in the area.
All of this can be a lot of information once it’s compounded together, so I’d recommend doing just one month at a time. Don’t worry too much about making the calendar aesthetically pleasing (unless that’s a motivating factor for you); focus on listing as much information there as you can. Once you’re finished, you’ll have a clear picture of when you’re available, what needs to be done, and where you need to be. Now that we have a big-picture understanding of what’s expected of us, as well as the things we want to do for ourselves, it’s time to make a plan to get it done.
Let’s get into the details
There are two different approaches you may want to take to tackling your work in a timely manner, depending on your concerns. If you feel as though you simply don’t have enough time in the day to do your assignments or study, you may want to carve out work time in your schedule.
Schedule
Now that we have your master calendar finished, you should be able to clearly see the days and times you are free and available. As a full-time student, it’s recommended that you study/complete coursework for a few hours every day. Select consistent time slots every week that are optimized for your study habits. Be sure to avoid mealtimes or times of the day when you are typically sleeping (that includes dozing off after your first alarm). The times may shift a bit from week to week depending on other factors like your work schedule, organization meetings, and events. Once you’ve settled on this work time, treat it like you would your class schedule or your work schedule, and add it to your master calendar, guard this time as much as you can. You may consider finding a particular place outside of your dorm or your home where you can study/work without interruption. One option that is now available to students is MHRA 3501; this room will act as an open study space for students from 12-3 p.m. every Monday afternoon. Personally, I’ve always been fond of going to an off-campus coffee shop or a library.
Prioritize
On the other hand, if you find yourself with a decent amount of time but a tendency to procrastinate, I’d recommend implementing checklists into your study routine. Your checklist should be ordered by when the task is due, starting with the one that is the soonest. I’d recommend making this checklist at the start of every week in a notebook or journal that you can easily keep with you or some digital platform like a note-taking app or a Trello board. I’d also encourage you to include the due dates as well. Now that you have your weekly list, you may also consider creating daily checklists, especially if you have projects or assignments that will take up a large amount of time. In your daily checklist, try breaking down larger tasks into bite-sized parts that you can easily complete in an hour or less. For instance, if you have a week to do a prepare a PowerPoint presentation, you may dedicate one day to looking for sources, the next day writing your script/speaking notes, and the following day or two preparing your slides. In this scenario, rather than spending 5 hours putting together your presentation the night before it’s due, you’ve spent 5 hours over the course of a week to complete your assignment and now you can be well-rested the night before.
Feel free to mix and match either of these approaches or implement your own spin on things that work well for you. The goal here is to be mindful of your time as well as your commitments. In doing so, you can meet your goals for the semester while also ensuring that you enjoy precious moments with your friends and family. Don’t forget that your college experience is meant for you to learn, make connections, and have fun! It can be a fine line to balance everything, but if you keep your eyes on your time, I’m sure you’ll get across the tightrope just fine.
Looking for more tools to traverse the tightrope? Check out this article on finishing the semester strong.
