There are a variety of tools and resources that you can utilize to improve your study skills and take an active role in managing your learning journey.
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Planning is the key to your success! A semester plan is a master schedule of everything you need to get done. This allows you to visually see all the assignments, projects, quizzes and tests you have coming up. You can then use this information to better plan your weekly schedule.
When the semester begins, map your deadlines and create a big picture of what you need to achieve across all courses. The organization system you use should tell you what you need to do and how you plan to get it done.
Tips for Semester Planning:
- Write down each assessment, how much it is worth and when it is due (e.g., Assignment 1 (15%), Sunday, Sept. 1).
- If you have a repeating task, add it to every week where it is due.
- Display your plan somewhere where you will look at it frequently. Have a PDF copy or image on your phone for reference.
- Update your plan and add new deadlines that come up over the term.
- Use the plan as a checklist of your accomplishments.
What to Avoid:
- Tracking deadlines course by course. This does not allow you to prioritize between competing deadlines across all courses.
- Relying on Quercus, Professors or friends for deadline notifications. You are responsible for managing deadlines and ensuring all due dates are met.
- Using a Task Tracker. This does not show you how you plan to get the work done. This can only be achieved using a weekly planner.
- Keeping everything in your mind. Instead, you should write it down and make it visible. Our brains can only hold so much, so visually seeing your plan will increase your ability to follow through.
Semester Plan Resources:
Building a habit of managing a weekly schedule is a time management skill that goes beyond university. It is a habit that will continue to benefit you in your professional and personal life as it encompasses activities you do in all aspects of your life (e.g., family, extracurricular activities, doctor’s appointments, events, vacations, etc.). A weekly schedule will help you allocate time for each task during the week.
Tips for Weekly Scheduling:
- Decide on the tool you will use for weekly planning, whether it be a physical book or a digital planner (i.e., Google Calendar, iCal, Outlook).
- For a digital planner, you can directly import your semester schedule from ACORN and upload it to any digital platform.
- Be realistic by giving yourself buffer times for transition, delays and breaks.
- At the end of the day, give yourself a 2-hour break before starting your evening study session.
- When studying in between classes, give yourself a 15-30 minute buffer time after a class and before your next class for tasks (e.g., A 2-hour gap between classes gives you 1–1.5 hours of work time to complete a task).
- For recurring weekly tasks, such as Pursell reading, TopHat, quizzes or labs, allocate the same time and day each week for that task. Make it recurring on your weekly schedule, just like your classes.
- Build your sense of time by estimating how long a task may take you. Over time, your ability to accurately estimate will improve and reduce underestimating or overestimating your time allotment.
- Plan backwards by breaking tasks down and allocating multiple sessions throughout the week to complete them. For example, if you have a problem set due on Saturday night, identify the times Monday to Friday to work on it in small chunks.
- Ideally, start to work on tasks 5-7 days before they are due.
- 2-3 weeks before a midterm or final, start to allocate one-hour study sessions.
Weekly Scheduling Resources:
Most students just feel like they don’t have enough time. However, to be more productive and get everything done, you need to consider your time, energy, and attention.
When you have time and energy but lack attention, you are most likely distracted (i.e., social media, friends, procrastination, gaming).
When you have time and attention, but no energy, you are exhausted (i.e., staying up past midnight to get it done, running on little sleep, not taking breaks between tasks).
When you have energy and attention, but no time, you are more likely to be disorganized and overwhelmed (i.e., not planning and finding yourself doing a task the day before or the day of the due date).
Tips to increase your productivity:
- Maximize your time by planning with a semester plan and weekly schedule.
- Identify your top three tasks for each day that you need to achieve.
- Increase your energy by getting proper sleep, eating nutritious meals, moving your body, and staying hydrated.
- Determine when you have more energy during the day and plan for deep and difficult work during these periods.
- Establish a regular sleep and wake-up schedule to support energy management during the day.
- Increase your attention by minimizing distractions, taking purposeful breaks, and using the Pomodoro technique.
Where you study is equally as important as what you study! Your surroundings can highly influence your ability to focus, process information, and complete your tasks.
When choosing a space to study, consider the following questions:
- Do you find yourself more focused at home or in a public space (i.e., library, common rooms, etc.)?
- Do you find studying with a little bit of noise helpful or distracting?
- How much focus do you need to complete the task?
- How long do you plan to study?
- Will you study alone or with classmates or friends?
Consider the following when creating your learning environment:
- When you plan to make time to study, think about what location will help you achieve optimal outcomes.
- Choose a space with bright lighting to support focus and alertness. Dim lighting can initiate feelings of sleepiness.
- When learning new materials and understanding difficult concepts, choose a quiet location for independent studying and minimize auditory distractions (i.e., music, noisy location etc.)
- When you plan to study for longer periods, consider changing locations every 2-3 hours to increase energy and attention. You may even choose to change locations when you start a new task.
- When at home, study in your room, then move to the kitchen table and then consider the living room.
- When studying on campus, move from the library common space to the quiet study room or change to a cubical on a different floor.
- Refrain from studying in your bed. Our brain and body associate our bed with sleeping and relaxation. This is probably why you find yourself falling asleep when studying in your bed.
- When sharing the space in your home with roommates or family, be sure to communicate your needs and the ways you wish to share the space.
Procrastination is not laziness. Procrastination is an issue with our emotions. One of the key reasons we procrastinate is that we don’t enjoy doing the task, we dread it or hate it. Organization can help minimize procrastination, but it is important to understand why you are procrastinating.
You may procrastinate because you have not been going to class and are scared because you don’t feel confident in your abilities to get the task done. You may be procrastinating because you know the task will take over 4 hours to complete, and the thought of how long it will take makes you dread getting started. You may even fear failure; what will you do if you don’t do well? Sometimes, learning new concepts can be difficult and may not always be fun, which can lead to procrastination. All these are emotional responses to why we procrastinate.
Try these strategies to minimize procrastination:
- Eat the Frog by doing the hardest tasks first. When you make a to-do list, identify hard, medium, and easy tasks. Then prioritize your list by starting with the hard tasks first.
- Just get started, and this is as simple as reading the instructions of the assignment or problem set. You do not need to solve the problems or finish it all. Just read the instructions, think about how you might solve the problem, who you might seek help from, and what equations or steps you may take to resolve it.
- Break it down into smaller tasks. If you have a problem set with four questions, make a goal to work on one question a day. If it is one long task, set a time goal of working for one hour over a few days rather than trying to finish it in one day. Add this to your weekly schedule to make it visible.
- Choose the right time by doing difficult tasks when you have more energy and attention in the day. If you work at the end of the day when your energy is low or you have not had proper sleep, you are more likely to procrastinate.
- Get organized if you have not set up your semester or weekly plan or have stopped using these tools. Clean and reset your study desk and even clean your room.
- Set SMART Goals by indicating what you will do, when you plan to do it, how long it will take you and what you should achieve by the end. For example, “I will work on the derivative lesson when I get home from 6 to 8 p.m. and do the sample questions from the class. I will also complete questions 1 to 10 from the homework assigned.”
- Use Pomodoro to better manage your energy by working for 25 minutes and taking a 5 minute break or working for 50 minutes and then taking a 10 minute break.
We all face some form of distractions, whether they are internal (i.e., thoughts, wandering mind, overthinking, ‘what ifs’ etc.) or external (i.e., social media, technology, friends, noise). Taking the time to find solutions to your personal distractions can help you optimize your ability to learn and get things done.
Dealing with Internal Distractions:
- Parking Lot Technique - Write down unrelated thoughts that come to your mind while working on a task on a post-it note or journal. You can continue the task and return to the list after you are done.
- Speak to a professional who can support you to manage distracting internal chatter, anxiety and stress.
Dealing with External Distractions:
- Rule of 3 – Out of Sight, Out of Sound, Out of Reach. You may have your phone notification or sound off, but having your phone at your fingertips is still distracting as you can keep reaching for it. Put your phone away so you cannot see it in front of you, and place it in a location that is hard for you to reach, such as in another room.
- Multitasking is an actual distraction that does not allow you to fully focus on one task at a time. It makes us more prone to errors and takes longer to complete tasks.
- Dedicate specific times for checking email and social media rather than responding to them as they come in.
Whether you suffered a setback or feel helpless, seeking help is your first step to getting back on track. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness but rather a sign of learning! Asking for help is a strength. It shows that you are aware of what you know and what you don’t know.
Things to consider when trying to get back on track:
- Think about where things went wrong and what could be done differently.
- Change what you can, but don’t dwell on what is outside of your control.
- Explore options to support long-term success rather than just the immediate.
- Reach out to your support network for reassurance (i.e., family, friends, mentors or counsellors).
- Believe in yourself and your ability to bounce back with a few adjustments.
- Be kind to yourself and understand that we all struggle at some point in our lives. Use these struggles as a learning tool.
If you find that you are feeling less motivated, overwhelmed, nervous or upset, these are also great reasons to reach out for additional support.
Consider connecting with your Engineering support networks:
- Meet with your Faculty
- Meet with your Academic Advisor
- Meet with the Engineering Learning Strategist
- Meet with an EngSuccess Upper-Year Peer Mentor
- Meet with the Mental Health Programs Officer
- Meet with a Student Life Health & Wellness Counsellor
- Meet with an Accessibility Services Counsellor
Additional Resources