8 Steps to Effective Time Management for Students

When to study and how to organize your prep time

Time management is a key to academic success. Students around the world learn this sooner or later. The best students are not necessarily those who are “smarter”, but those who use their time effectively. When you plan your days and weeks in advance, time can be your friend rather than your enemy. And although time management can seem like a pain, once you have mastered this skill, it will enable you to get the most out of life. It can free you to live more effectively, calmly and enjoyably. It can help you get more done with less stress, disorganization and frustration. It can also give you higher marks throughout the school year, as well as on your quizzes, tests, and exams.

1. Organize your time

Life improves when you decide to do things differently. In this case, the goal is to gain control over time, rather than letting it control you. It is about taking ownership of time, which is the essence of your life. The main objective of time management is for you to have a clear picture of your upcoming days, weeks, and months. It is a way for you to discover what time you have available to devote to study, recreation, or other activities. Make the decision to be the master of your life, rather than its suffering slave!

2. Assess your time

Many students genuinely believe that they study a lot. Some even protest that they study all the time! In reality, this is far from the truth. The only way you will discover how many hours of your busy day you actually study is by completing a personal time assessment. The method requires you to keep track of everything you do for an entire week, from the time you wake up to the time you fall asleep. That means recording every single detail.

At the end of the week, add up the totals. For example, count the number of hours spent on eating, traveling, studying, talking on the phone, shopping, exercising, smoking, watching TV, being online, etc, until you have a complete picture of where your time goes. If you find you are losing a lot of time to activities other than studying, try to balance your schedule. Start eliminating the time bandits by making small adjustments in your habits and behavior in order to get better control of your precious time.

3. Set your priorities

The objective of time management is to allocate time wisely, so you can achieve your goals. If you wanted to be an Olympic swimmer or ice skater, you would have to practice several hours a day for years. In the same way, to be a top student you must have a good idea of the study requirements. Even though each subject places different demands on you – reading, writing, research, experiments, assignments, essays, projects, papers, presentations, tests, and exams – by prioritizing, you will increase your chances of success. For each subject, decide how to complete all required tasks, over a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. This advance planning will increase your awareness, making it less likely for you to squander time away meaninglessly.

4. Make a schedule

After establishing your priorities, set up a schedule which respects your priorities. A wide variety of student organizers, diaries, planners, electronic tools and time management systems are available on the market. Choose or create whatever seems best for you. Many students select weekly planners that enable them to see the big picture more easily. Make sure your system is something you are very comfortable with as you will be referring to it often. Then, set up your schedule in this order:

• Mark in all your fixed commitments such as classes, seminars, tutorials, and part-time jobs. These are the givens, which you cannot change.
• Add in study time. Block off large sections of your day, reserved for studying alone, as well as shorter review periods. Organize your peak study times to coincide with the times of day when you are most awake and alert.
• Mark in other non-study activities. These are the important but lower priority items, such as exercise, recreational classes, or socializing, which you will fit in when possible.

5. Use a calendar

In addition to your weekly planner, invest in a large monthly wall calendar. Jot down all the important due dates, deadlines, exams, etc so they are in front of you as a visual reminder. This will make you more aware of important dates and allow you to adjust or rearrange plans if you are behind schedule.

6. Use review cards

Always keep some review cards with you to read over when you are waiting for something else to happen. This could include when you are traveling or waiting in line at the bus stop, bank, supermarket, cafeteria and so on. You could also place review cards in common locations which you pass frequently in your house, such as on the fridge door, bathroom mirror, etc. Frequent repetition and review is one of the keys to remembering information easily and effectively.

7. Plan activities logically

Get to know your bodily cycle; then, schedule activities around it as much as possible. If you always feel sleepy after lunch, for example, use the time to get in your daily walk, instead of fighting to keep your eyes open over a history book.

8. Plan some down time.

You are not a robot! Schedule some time to relax so you can rest and refresh your mind and body. This will enable you to study more effectively. Get enough sleep as well. A sleep-deprived student is not going to be able to perform at his or her best.

10 things you MUST do while preparing for board exams

10 things you MUST do while preparing for board exams

As a youngster, board exams are probably the first challenge you will face among the many other challenges that will be thrown at you later in life.

Thankfully, you have ample time to be prepared.

With just a little over a month left for the exam, here are some tips and suggestions that might help you get better prepared for the challenge that awaits you.

1. Plan smartly

Ensure you give the required amount of time to each subject based on your proficiency and the vastness of the syllabus.

While planning, ensure you account for each chapter and each topic in that chapter.

One way to plan your study could be to start preparing for exams in the reverse order, that is, prepare first for the last exam such that you start preparing for the first exam about 2 weeks before the date.

2. Study textbooks thoroughly

3. Solve past year's question papers

Try to solve at least 10 past year's question papers to get an idea of the exam pattern and popular questions.

Having studied well and being exam-ready are two different things.

Solving past year's papers help you to get exam-ready. You will find a majority of questions being repeated over the years.

4. Stress on important points/formulae

Memorising certain formulae, notes and dates are essential for almost all subjects.

Make sure you learn them by-heart well in time before the exam.

Write down these points (formulae, theorem and definitions) on flash cards that you can carry along with you in your pocket or wallet. You can read them every time you have a moment to spare -- especially while you are travelling.

You can write down these notes in bright colours on chart papers and stick them around your study place or pin them on to a board in your room. Every time you pass by, you will take a look at the notes which will also help you in memorising them.

5. Time your efforts

Get an idea as to how much time you need to answer a particular question.

This will help you know if you need to concentrate on speed or accuracy.

Finding out how much time you spend on a particular question will also help you know your strengths and weaknesses.

Once you find that out, stress more on your weak areas.

6. Study in a group, once in a while

 It is always good to study in a group, say once a week.

It will help you get your doubts cleared by your friends who might know how to solve a particular question you find it hard to solve.

Studying in a group also helps you validate your exam preparation and efforts.

Say, you have left out some portion of the syllabus purposefully; your study group can tell you if it's a good idea to do so. Spending time with your friends will also help you feel refreshed.

7. Study early mornings

Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise'.

The idea is to sleep early and wake up early to stay fit and fresh.

Studying in the early mornings is the best time as there is minimal distraction outside which helps you concentrate better.

Having rested well, your mind is also in a better state to grasp what you are reading.

8. Stress on your weaknesses

It is not a good idea to ignore your weak subjects.

The board exam result is an aggregate percentage of all your subjects.

Give equal importance to each subject.

In case you find a particular subject difficult, direct more efforts towards it -- practice more and more so that by the end of preparations you are comfortable with all the subjects.

Ignoring even one subject can lead to a dramatic fall in the aggregate percentage. For example, when you have scored about 90 marks in all five subjects while you managed to score just 65 in one, it will reflect on your overall score in a bad way and will also pull down your percentage to 85.

9. Take care of your health

A lot of students end up feeling sick due to pressure, sleep deprivation and improper diet.

Ensure that you have at least 7 hours of sound sleep everyday and have 4 healthy meals every day.

Drink a glass of milk before going to bed in case you are facing trouble getting sound sleep.

10. Don't lose your peace

Comparing your pre-boards marks with your friends who have scored more or worrying about lacking behind in preparation is only going to make matters worse.

Learn to concentrate on your efforts rather than others. Just Relax!

Don't give up on recreation and hobbies. About 8 hours of dedicated study is enough to get you good marks.

Spend the rest of the day doing things you like or best, pursue a hobby. It will keep the exam pressure from getting the better of you.

Top Important Personality Development Tips

Top 12 Most Important Personality Development Tips

“Personality Development”. How often do we hear this term, from our mentors, our teachers, on the covers of self-help books or on the banners of institutes and learning centres? The abundance of the usage of this term signals towards its importance in today’s life. So what do you mean by personality development? Is it something about how you look, or how you speak? Or is it how easily you can connect with people? Personality development is none of these. Or somewhere it is all of it. In order to survive in today’s world one needs to be smart and quick-witted all the time. It’s no longer just about how much effort you put into your work but one’s personality also has a lot to do with what one achieves. Here I have got 12 simple yet crucial tips over how you can acquire a well-meaning personality.

12. Know yourself

Obviously before you get on developing something you need to know all about it first. The same goes with your personality. One needs to start with taking a good look at themselves, analyzing their traits, the strengths and weaknesses and everything that needs to be worked upon. Don’t shy away from accepting your flaws and learn about yourself as much as you can.

11. Bring positivity in your outlook

Your thoughts and your actions both need to be positive in order to have an attractive personality. The way we think has a lot of effect on the way how we act. And if one prospers positive thoughts inside his mind then that also gives him a confidence boost and enhances their personality. Situations and circumstances in life can always be full highs and lows. But in order to adopt a positive outlook towards life, you need to find the brighter side of the things and focus on the good parts.

10. Have an opinion

Having an opinion and being able to confidently put it forward doesn’t just help making your conversations interesting but it also makes you look more influential and well informed around other people. Never shy away from projecting your opinions even if they happen to conflict with those of other people. Be well informed about all the relevant stuff in your surrounding and fell free to have opinions. It will make yourself feel important too.

9. Meet new people

Meeting new and different kinds of people is a healthy step towards expanding your horizons and exposing yourself to a larger number of things. You get an opportunity to know more about other cultures and lifestyles and it significantly has a positive effect on your own personality.

8. Read more often and develop new interests

A man of very few interests has very little to talk about. But if you are well informed about things and cultivate a number of interests, more people tend to like you. You can strike up interesting conversations instead of appearing to be dull and monotonous. When you meet new people you do not have to think about what to say as you can share your knowledge or your interests and get them indulged in conversation.

7. Be a good listener

“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.”  True it is. Being a good listener may not seem like but it is an important step towards achieving a more likable personality. When somebody talks to you, listen with interest and give them all the attention and importance. Maintain a direct eye contact and do not get distracted by the surroundings. It will help you in knowing a better deal about people and attending them in a better way.

6. Be a little fun

Oh yes, this is necessary! Being able to find a humorous side in otherwise terrible situations and bringing a little quirkiness of your own is appreciated by one and all. Everybody loves a person who can make them laugh and bring a funny perspective to the regular things of life. One does not need to be all serious and sober all the time but adorning your funny hat (not literally) every once in a while will turn you in to a more charming personality.

5. Be courteous

Being courteous is never out of fashion and is well appreciated and respected by everyone. Be humble and greet everyone with a smile. Never shy away from helping or supporting your peers and being available to them whenever they need you. Doing random acts of kindness will not just make somebody else’s day but it will also make you come along as a pleasing person. Also it will give your personality a confidence boost. Be humble and down to earth to your juniors and seniors alike.

4. Work on your Body Language

Body language is just as important for your personality as your verbal communication skills. It tells a lot about yourself and helps people in making accurate conjectures about you. Everything including the way you walk, sit, talk or eat leaves an impact over the people around you and having a correct body language can do wonders for your personality. Walk in an upright position with shoulders straight. Do not droop. Sit in a relaxed posture and make always eye contact while speaking.

3. Check your attire

I am not abruptly beginning to emphasize about your exterior self instead of your skills and abilities but one’s attire has an important role to play while making a desirable impression. And not just that, but it also gives yourself a confidence boost knowing that you look good and are dressed appropriately. Dress up in a decent manner and keeping your surroundings in mind. While flashy colors and too much body tattoos or piercings convey an unprofessional attitude, neatly ironed clothes make you look presentable.

2. Be yourself

Though one can always look up to other people to take an inspiration from, but you should still remain your own unique self. Each one of us is different, we have our own sets of skills and flaws and trying to be somebody else gets you nowhere and just simply backfires. Trying too hard to fit in a new group or wanting to belong should never take your authenticity and singularity away. Never try moulding into another person but instead work on being the best version of yourself.

1. Be confident

Yes, that’s the key. Being confident about who you are and what you are doing is the most important tip for personality development. Never doubt your capabilities and if there is something you need to work upon then put in all the effort so you can come over your fears and gain confidence. Read success stories or surround yourself with motivational thoughts or “encouragements” which can boost up your self esteem and help you in attaining a charming personality. Just everything you do, have faith in yourself and put in your hard work. There can be nothing more appealing in your personality than an incredible confidence.