5 Golden Rules for Being a Productive University Student
1. Eliminate Distractions
Distractions can include anything from social media or noise to a messy desk. Here are a few tips to eliminate distractions:
- Find a quiet study area where you have all of your study materials ready and available and all unnecessary things put away.
- If music helps you study, listen to instrumental or classical music instead of songs with lyrics.
- Turn your phone off during your study periods so you aren’t tempted to keep looking at it.
- If you are using your computer, consider using an app that blocks certain sites so you don’t get distracted by going on Facebook or YouTube during studying. Some apps include Cold Turkey, StayFocusd, and SelfControl.
2. Master Schedule
A master schedule is a fixed schedule that plans out all study, meal, and activity times in a day. It includes your class times; breakfast, lunch, and dinner; preview and review times for looking over class material; and intensive studying times. This resource from the Student Success Office goes into more detail.
Blocking off manageable times during the day to work on each of your classes and following a detailed schedule improves your study habits, making studying easier. With less procrastination, you will have more planned free time away from school. This tip is best for the start of a term, but a similar study schedule can be made for exam season. Here is an example or template for planning a master schedule (File).
3. Retreating Deadlines
One quick way to improve your efficiency with finishing assignments is to implement a retreating deadline. When scheduling in all of your due dates for readings and assignments, make sure to put the date you plan to have it done a day or two ahead. That way you aren’t scrambling to finish an assignment the day of and you have more time to review and edit your assignments.
