Managing Your Time!

So it’s that time of the year where it’s crunch time. It’s not quite finals but most of the exams before the finals are coming up and that is the final push to determine whether you have to go insane studying for finals or can breathe a little because you have a nice cushion if finals don’t go the way you want. This is my current situation because I have 3 exams and a group project coming up within the next week. The exams are in statistics, human genetics and biochemistry of the cell, and then the presentation is in sociology of religion. All require a lot of attention to detail and biochemistry is the one I truly need to focus on because it is by far my hardest class but I can’t let everything else fall by the wayside either. So what should you do if you find yourself in a situation like this?

First, start studying early! The earlier the better. The more time you give yourself. the less you have to cram in each subject and not have to worry about one not getting the attention it needs and deserves. I would say at a minimum if you have multiple exams start a week early! This way you can either commit a particular day to one subject or give yourself allotted times in each day dedicated to each subject. I can’t tell you how many time I have waited until the last minute to study for an exam, that right after I finish taking one exam I have to go start studying for the next. Which I will admit that I am not the best study/test prep person out there but I think the earlier you can get into a routine the better.

Second, talk with your professors! I know it is easy to just try and figure out how to study the material yourself because you know YOU! I do recommend meeting with your professors though to see the most efficient way to study, especially when it comes down to the wire with multiple exams. One exam? Study however, its your biggest priority and you can take the time you need! But, when its multiples you have to get as much information in from each subject as possible while doing the same for the others. For those of you who don’t like asking for help, I am the same! I would rather take the time and do it myself but sometimes that just isn’t the right way to work it. Trust me, it’ll do you good in the long term.

Third, take the chance to study whenever possible. For example, right now I’m in an office hour for my internship and then I have another office hour right after this one for Student Government. Typically, I sit there and try to organize things and answer questions when students stop by. Instead of finding busy work to do, i’ll pull out some material for a class and study, which turns into a whole hour of studying and the less amount of time you have to stay up late at night, which leads me to my last point.

Try not to stay up all night to study! The best thing to do is schedule out the time during the day/evening to really grind it out and when it gets around 12:00am (this is early for me because I stay up late) I start to wrap up whatever I am working on. I realize there comes a point where you should give yourself the proper time to rest for the night and take the rest of the night to shower and relax. You need to give yourself time to process information and this is the perfect time to do that. This is also made possible by following the previous points, and giving yourself enough time in advance so you can go to bed at a decent time.

Those are some of the things I try to follow when study for hectic weeks like this! I am by no means a study master though! Honestly, I feel like I haven’t developed my study habits nearly as much as I should have but these are just the little things I do. There are plenty of resources here at Furman to help you create and follow study habits as well as time management, so if you’re worried about that when you come here, don’t! We have the help for you.

See ya next week!

By: Jaylon Goodwin