Written by Nadiatul Murat

Managing a social life while also being a student can be difficult. Throw a part-time job in the mix and it can almost feel impossible. But fear not. I have some study advice that has helped me juggle all three since my time in sixth form. These three documents have helped me tremendously with time-management and prioritising life events. I hope it helps you too.

1. Create a Master timetable

You can create your own or download a template of a calendar that you can edit. (If you are old school, you can just buy a calendar). Personally, I love having it as an electronic version because I can quickly edit any events in case it gets cancelled or postponed.

This timetable will show you what commitments you have for the semester. This includes social events, meetings with lecturers/peers, travel, change in classes, assignment due dates. Bonus if you colour code it, this helps you to quickly identify if it is related to your personal or academic life.

        2. Have a deadline timeline

This form shows you all your assignments for the semester. This is how you can visually see your assignment progress. It can also act as quality control; the content column is there to make sure you are using the right theories or examples to answer your question. The completed column is there for when you have polished your assignment but want to double or triple-check that it is perfect before submitting it. The feeling when filling in the submitted column is amazing (little victories). By your last assignment, you will not even realise all the work you have put into the semester. If you don’t want to make the whole table just make one with 3 columns: assignments, due date and submitted. This will help you not miss a deadline.

          3. Module breakdown

This document will show all your assignments for the whole academic year. You will see how many credits the module accounts for, the assignment requirements and the overall weight of the assignment. The weight of the assignment can be used to allocate how much time is needed for the assignment to be completed. It is beneficial to highlight if any of the modules include exams as it will help with revisions. This is only a rough plan for your academic year. If you want to change your modules in the next semester just edit it in the document.

            4. You

As great as organisation tools are, it is up to you to do the work. The documents are just guides to manage your time. Do not leave work to the last minute!

Good luck with your studies!

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