subject: How To Do Well In College And Still Have A Vibrant Social Life [print this page] Getting good results once in college is requires time and dedication, but this time of your life is also a great opportunity to improve your social life and meet people that are interested in the same things you do. This people might end up being your colleagues, bosses or business associates, so cultivating friendships at college will also benefit your professional career. Studying, playing and (optionally) sleeping is possible, and just needs a bit of willpower and a clear set of priorities.
Plan ahead
As soon as you get your schedule for the semester, write it down. Getting a good wall calendar where you can note down all your assignments, exams and other important dates will help you keep on track and not leave things for the last minute. But not all is work, and you can write in there the important social events you're interested in attending. This will help planning your workload long term, like for example seeing if you have to hand in three assignments right after an awesome music festival that you really want to attend.
Get things out of the way as soon as possible
Are there assignments that you know you can do way before their deadlines? Classic examples are lists of books to read and review before the end of term, which are usually handed in by the teacher on the first week of lessons. If you have a list of this kind of assignments, you can start working on them when you have free time. The lack of urgency will probably help you create a better work. It's also useful when you plan on borrowing the book from the college library, since there are usually a limited number of copies and they will be all on loan when the deadline gets close.
Set aside time to study
Once you know how the workload for the semester looks like, set aside enough time a day to study and stick to it. Try to match it to the time of the day you are able to concentrate better, and if your house or room is too noisy go to the library. Same as with going to the gym, having a friend or two doing the same helps reducing the chances of missing this study time, and group studying can be more fun and productive than just studying alone. If you know that you're going to be unable to study for a week for any reason, schedule some extra time the previous two weeks to avoid exhausting yourself. And remember to go to class as well...
Write notes right after lectures
Dedicate 10 minutes after a lecture to check your notes, correct anything that is not clear and make any extra annotations while the content is fresh on your mind and the teacher is close, in case you need to ask some more specific questions or schedule a meeting. Doing this right after the lesson will save you from wondering why you wrote something when you're revising for exams.
Order and prioritize
Check your calendar and write down the tasks that are due soon (less than two weeks), those that require another tasks to be done first (blockers) and those that you think are extremely boring or require lots of effort. Plan in advance what you're going to be working during a certain week, making sure to give adequate priority to the tasks close to the deadline and to mix high effort tasks with those that you find more relaxing or pleasurable. Nobody can give 100% full time for an extended period, and if you have different things to work on when you see that your concentration is suffering you will be more effective. However, make sure you're dedicating as much time to the boring and long term assignments as to the urgent and fun ones. To make your study time as effective as possible, make a list of the things you're going to need (reference books, software...) for the following week, and schedule some time to get them as well. This should minimize the amount of assignments you need to finish right the night before the deadline, and so reduce your stress levels. Pause every hour or so, stretch yourself and get some fresh air for five minutes, especially if you're working with a computer.
by: Irene Lizarraga
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