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Effective time management strategies for academic success

Not all students, who every day from morning till late evening are working on their textbooks, use their time correctly. And, of course, it is definitely misused by procrastinators. Therefore, in this article we will talk about a separate art: time management for students.

September 13, 2024

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Many see student life as a series of fun activities followed by emergency preparations for the session. A sea of caffeine, morning dawn and the promise that next semester I will start preparing earlier.
However, there is a flaw in this usual pattern: it doesn't really work.

Why time management is key

💡“However, it is quite possible to study for a top grade and keep up with your social life! The key is to use time management for this.”

In every group there are those students who take labs to cheat. These are the people who are the first to answer in practical classes and are generally very successful in their studies. If they also have an active social life, they are usually envied by everyone, because it seems impossible to keep up with everything!

Time management is a tool that cannot be overemphasized. It is the art of managing your time. And you'll be surprised, but you have time for everything in your schedule - both for hobbies and for studying. You don't have to spend 15 hours a day working on your textbooks to do well in school. All you need to do is figure out how to keep your time!

Creating a productive study schedule

A critical challenge for the average student is making his or her own schedule. It is difficult from a psychological point of view: after graduation there is a feeling of a new beginning. It is as if all restrictions are removed and the schedule is perceived as an artificial creation of a new one.

However, this is not the case.

The schedule does not give you restrictions, but just the opportunity to find time every day to do what you want to do!
It is customary during the session to immerse oneself in studies, to save on sleep, and to spend all the energy to pass exams. However, if a student has a schedule that includes all areas of life, he/she will hardly study more than usual during the session. It's tempting, isn't it?

That's why a productive study schedule is necessary:

1. Write out all the classes for the semester and make notes on what you need to do to get credit/exam for them;
2. Allocate a few hours each class day to review material and learn new material;
3. Allocate a separate time in each day for writing required papers (term papers, projects, etc.);
4. Write out all those activities that you want to do in your time;
5. Create your schedule, prioritizing each of your classes.

So, in a new semester, you may be surprised to find that “higher math” is set to have a high priority and frat night has a low priority.

Prioritization of tasks to improve efficiency

Often our spontaneous decisions later turn out to be wrong: those for which we will later blame ourselves. This is what happens if, while preparing for a practical class, you accidentally pick up your phone. There is a message from a nice person, and suddenly five hours pass in correspondence. Deep night and instead of joy - a feeling of fatigue and dissatisfaction with yourself.

To avoid such spontaneous distractions, you need to learn to prioritize your tasks. It's kind of like a game of grading tasks on their importance to you. Give maximum importance to those tasks that are urgent and on which your future depends. For example, if you need to complete a project within a month on which your final grade will depend, prioritize it as high as possible. However, if there is a test in English this semester, rather than an exam, then it can be a medium priority rather than a high priority.

💥 Every student has their logic for prioritizing. The important thing is that it works.

When you write down all the things you have to do and prioritize each one, you will have a sense of what is really worth spending your time on and what is not. And if the next time you're busy prioritizing things, when you're called to go for a walk that's not on your schedule, it will be easier to say no or postpone it for an hour or two.

The best time management tools

We talked more about student time management tools in this article.  Now we will tell you how you can help yourself to use your time productively and achieve success in your studies.

Try Voiset right now!

Yes, it's that simple. But this is a real working app, with which student life will become many times better and easier.

It's a new app that perfectly adapts to student life. With Voiset, you don't have to make tedious lists or buy special notebooks where you have to keep a schedule (link to article about paper organizers). Just dictate a new task to Voiset. Yes, with voice input. And it won't just record the message, it will translate it into text and offer to add it as a task to your schedule.

💥 And now the main feature: Voiset is AI-powered, so AI will analyze your schedule and set each task for the optimal day based on your priorities! Use it for free.

Overcoming Procrastination

The issue of procrastination remains open always, except that it is solved tomorrow. However, if you are ready to deal with postponing things to the last moment, we offer several useful ways to do it.

How do you overcome procrastination?

1. Make a schedule. The more realistic it is, the easier it will be for you to follow. If you plan to study for ten hours every day, you will probably want to put it off. If, however, your schedule includes a comfortable study time, the mere thought of which does not plunge you into an abyss of despair, this is the first step to stop procrastinating. Talk yourself into saying: “okay, I'm only going to study for three hours now and then go for a walk” is very realistic;

2. Follow a schedule. This is usually where the difficulties start. If you have already tried a hundred times to make a schedule, but no success, try Voiset. It will become your assistant, which will make your schedule and remind you about a new activity on time. If you have some new urgent task - Voiset will find time for it in your schedule. Since it's AI-based, it works differently than other schedulers. It solves all your schedule problems without overloading you with tasks. Overcoming procrastination it becomes easy because it is not just an app but an AI that reminds you about the scheduled activity. If you keep this in mind, it becomes much easier and even more fun to follow your schedule;

3. Remove distractions. Or at least minimize them. The more organized your study space is, the better. Phone - always face down. Headphones with background music in your ears. Turn your back to a wall or window. And if distractions do arrive, remember

Student time is a happy time for many people. However, when talking about it, people rarely remember how they tried to pass the anti-plagiarism test at 4 a.m. with their hands shaking from three cans of energy drink. To minimize such critically unpleasant events in your student life, try Voiset. Just one app, a little bit of your attention, and things will get easier. And with a minimum of caffeine.