How to Manage Your Time Effectively | Exam Prep Study Tips

Prioritizing your time is a vital skill necessary to complete everything needed to get done in your busy daily life. Whether it is an especially busy time, such as #exam season, or just your regular day to day #routine, it is important to properly #organize and #schedule your day to be your most #productive self!?It is also important to create time around school, work, and other main responsibilities to make time for hobbies, family, your social life, health, and overall free time. Therefore, while creating a schedule as we outline below, remember to block off empty spaces of time to relax and give yourself a break. Below we’ll give you a starter step-by-step guide on how to effectively manage your time for exams in 5 easy steps.?#timemanagement #timemanage

Step 1: Create a To Do List

The first step to complete; a to do list. To do lists help clear your mind, and organize the jumble of random tasks you’re trying to remember to complete. As well, they clearly list all tasks out to be able to look back to later and update/ review. Writing down all tasks from taking out the garbage to finishing a major assignment will relax your mind, and allow you to see the items on your plate. These tasks can be written on paper, on your phone, or another method; whichever is easier for you to look back to. This is important to aid in future steps. Sometimes writing out a to do list can be overwhelming. In the next step we will help filter and prioritize your list.

Step 2: Identify Urgency and Importance

Staring at a long to-do list can be very intimidating! Now it is time to sort this list based on?urgency?and?importance. This will help us plan which tasks to complete first and which we can wait to finish. When sorting tasks by urgency, find the deadlines for all the tasks on your sheet. Especially think about school work deadlines, upcoming exams, or tasks that other people are waiting on you to complete (e.g., group projects). For example, if an assignment is due tomorrow, it would have high urgency to complete and therefore it should probably be one of the first tasks we work on in case we end up running out of time due to procrastination or underestimating how long a task takes to complete.?

The importance of a task is also useful to help us prioritize our to do list. Tasks with a higher value should also be completed before tasks that don’t mean as much to you. For example, shopping for new shoes is most likely of much lower importance compared to studying for an exam! Are there any tasks that are so unimportant you can scratch them from your list? As well, when studying it is important to be as efficient as possible and optimize your time to ensure you are studying the most effective information within the time period you have. Using?MyHomeworkRewards?as a study tool can ensure you are optimizing your time spent studying. Studying is made easy through MyHomeworkRewards as you can access video tutorials of practice problems, get fully personalized practice problems, practice quizzes to test your knowledge and work one-on-one with an?on demand tutor. As well, this platform is?free?for students and even provides rewards for completing homework, ensuring you're getting the most out of your time.?

Step 3: Organize the Order of Tasks

Now that you have figured out the urgency and importance of your to-do list, it’s time to create the order of these tasks. While important tasks should be completed first, completing lesser important tasks with sooner deadlines is also required. Therefore finding a balance between urgency and importance is vital. As well, when multiple tasks are due during the same period of time, it is important to plan ahead and be proactive to ensure you are not leaving them all until they are due. This is especially important when writing final exams, because many times they fall within the same day/week and can be extremely stressful if you do not plan ahead and study early. If you’d like to learn more about how to manage time around exam studying check out our blog post on “How to Study for Exams” with our top 5 study tips to ace your exams.?

Another important aspect to consider when organizing the order to complete tasks is to consider the churn impacts of discussing tasks and getting inputs/feedback from others. For example, when working in a group project, you might have to wait for a team member to complete their section of the project before you can start your work, which could cause delays in your schedule. As well, getting feedback for an assignment might take a day or two and in that case you should plan to finish the assignment a couple days before it’s due to allow time for this process. Once you’ve sorted the tasks by order, you can put them into a calendar…

Step 4: Schedule Tasks into Calendar

Adding the tasks into a calendar is the most important step in this process as it holds you accountable for what you need to complete each day. It is important to schedule enough tasks each day to complete them all within their deadlines, while still leaving room for free time and not overworking yourself and adding significant stress. By putting a time frame for each task and the times of the day you will work on it, you can schedule your day specifically and ensure you are leaving room for breaks and creating a realistic schedule. It is important to also note that sometimes tasks take longer than anticipated so putting in a bit of extra time might help you stay on track and motivated to stick to your schedule. You will have to make tough decisions like how long you should spend on a task. Spend more time on important tasks but also judge when you have put appropriate effort into less important tasks.

Step 5: Know When to Take a Break

Finally, last but not least, it is important to know when to give your mind and body a break, and take some time to do something you enjoy or just relax. Scheduling breaks is vital to stay productive and ensure you don’t burn out. Not only will this make you more productive when you are working or completing something, but it?benefits your mental health, which is vital to upkeep.?

Overall, following this guide will allow you to make the most of your days while ensuring you are taking time for your mental health. It is important to balance your responsibilities with activities you enjoy. Studying for exams can be very stressful and time management is an important skill to ensure you are effective and successful on your exams! #MyHomeworkRewards makes studying for exams a breeze by focusing your studying on important topics.?Sign up for free?and earn rewards for doing homework!?

Have a productive day!