College can be tough, it’s easy to get distracted with parties, work and family life just to name a few. Managing your time effectively can be even more difficult, not just for students but anyone with a busy schedule. Here’s the great news, time management is actually pretty easy once you set your mind to it, and believe me, it will make life much easier, very quickly. So without further ado here are 11 effective strategies that will lead to better time management for students with a hectic schedule.

Tips to Better Time Management for Students:

Create a “to do” list – One of the best strategies you can use to stay on top of things is to create a list or schedule of everything that you need to do for that day. You can quickly put the list together the night before, including the classes you have, a set time for studying, any errands you may have and so on. Make sure to be as specific as possible and stick to it, once you go off the schedule you will begin losing precious time. If you don’t want to write everything down with old fashioned pen and paper there are some free online tools that you can turn to for help. All of these free tools will allow you to create simple to do lists right from your computer:

Use time on the bus or carpool to study – If you are riding the bus or carpooling and often find yourself twiddling your thumbs along the way, you are passing up valuable time that you could otherwise be using to catch up on your studies. Not only is this a great way to catch up, but it also helps to pass the time, unless of course you enjoy chatting with the very strange person sitting in the seat next to you.

Set specific times for studying and recreation – This is where that “to do” list above can come in real handy. If you are going to practice effective time management skills you have to set specific times for each activity. Listen, we all know that college can be fun, all of the parties, taping freshman to the menu at the Taco Bell drive through, and I don’t want you to miss out on any of that. But setting strict time lines to complete your work will actually allow for more time to play with the duct tape, and feed beer to the school mascot.

Shut off the phone while you are studying – Cellphones are a huge distraction that can quickly eat up important study time so do yourself a favor and turn them off. If you are working on the computer you should also ignore email and instant messaging clients, they can both easily take your mind away from your work.

Take notes with a digital recorder – When your studying in your dorm or apartment or wherever you crazy kids live these days, record your notes vocally rather than writing them down. If you are studying a text book, simply say your notes into the recorder as you go along and it will save you time from having to stop and write out each one, which leads us to our next time management tip.

Paraphrase your notes – This is so simple yet very few people do it. Whenever your taking notes whether your writing them down or using a recorder, keep them short and to the point. The longer your notes are the more time it will require to go back over them and the more confusion it can cause. Your notes should be precise and descriptive but not to long.

Stop cramming for tests – This is a huge problem for college students as you are probably aware of already. Cramming for tests actually takes more time and is less beneficial than studying over a longer period of time. Some people cram for 8 or 9 hours before a test, which is time that could have been spent doing other things, so don’t fall into this trap.

Study on your lunch break – Due to the high costs of college tuition these days, many of you will undoubtedly be working at least part time jobs while you attend school. This will of course make your schedule even busier, but there are some things you can do to help. One of those things is to use your lunch break at work as a time to catch up on your studies. The best way to use this time is to go over notes, since you probably don’t want to drag around heavy text books. If you have a recorder that allows for headphones, you can listen to your notes while you eat.

Take a break when you get stuck – If you get stuck on a problem while your studying, take a break. Get up and grab something drink or run around the room, anything that will take your mind off of the work for about 5 minutes. Then you can come back to your studies with a fresh slate and again try to tackle the problem at hand. The longer you sit and try to figure something out, the longer it will take you to do so. Its a waste of time. Just get up and clear your head and then get back to it.

Stay organized – I should have written this at number one because it is so important, but I forgot and included it now. You have to stay organized, organization is one of the most effective strategies when it comes to time management for students. I can’t tell you how much time you will lose looking for supplies and books that should be at the ready, so keep track of them.

Stay focused in your research – This is especially true in online research, the Internet is a very easy place to get sidetracked. You can start out looking for works by Shakespeare, and end up looking strange YouTube videos, but you can’t let this happen. Whenever you are researching both online and off, you have to remain focused on the topic at hand and never steer far from it. If you have problems staying on topic in Google, consider using smaller search engines or directories to find more targeted information.

As I have said throughout this article, time management for students is very important due to their often busy schedules of school and work. If you take a little time to implement the strategies above, you will find more time to get your school work completed and be off having fun for the weekend. Enjoy!

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