Time Management
Learning how to manage your time effectively is crucial to academic success and to experiencing a fulfilling university life. Surprise quizzes, assignments, and multiple deadlines on a single day are routine in the schedule of any LUMS undergraduate student. The key to effectively juggling all these demands is to develop good time management skills, from the very start of your undergraduate career. Consider these strategies:
Planning your Semester Activities
It is always helpful to get a feel for what lies ahead in the semester at the very start of a term. To this end, it is useful to maintain a semester planner on which you can jot down the important dates and deadlines (like the mid-term and the final exam schedule). Planning can also be done for different university events as well as for participation in extracurricular activities. As the semester progresses, fresh additions can be made to this schedule as new assignment, project and paper deadlines are communicated. Laying a framework for your weekly activities.
After getting a broad sense of your semester schedule, it is useful to narrow things down to your weekly activities. This is helpful in making decisions about when to start work on an assignment/ project that has an approaching deadline. A weekly plan will also help you balance your academic, social, personal and extracurricular life as a LUMS undergraduate. Experiment with different arrangements before you find one that allows you to lead a balanced and fulfilling life here.Translating Plans into Actions
Making unrealistic plans for utilizing your time here (e.g. planning every waking minute into your weekly schedule, planning to sleep 4 hours every day), will make it hard for you to put those plans into action. Unrealistic plans serve to drain any enthusiasm about sticking to that plan. Therefore, an important aspect of making a planner work well for you is to keep it realistic and to try your best to stick to it. For instance, if you have planned work on an assignment into your planner, then you should move away from distractions that don't allow you to do so. Finding a good study spot for yourself where you can concentrate on your work undisturbed is important. Working on an assignment in your hostel room while your roommate is in the mood for a party may not be such a good idea!
Evaluate Your Planner
Flexibility is important in managing your time well, so draw the balance that you feel comfortable with. Don't fix your schedule; change it around after a week or two of experimenting. Remember that words in your planner are not written in stone but are rather there to facilitate you and to help you optimize use of your time resources. Make sure your planner is helping you do just that! A plan that stifles you will most often not serve its purpose.
Student Enemy Number One: Procrastination
Students can often make the mistake of placing motivation before work. In waiting to feel motivated enough to begin work, time slips away in procrastination. In reality, progress on work leads to motivation which, in turn, leads to more progress. One of the most common ills that plague LUMS students during their college life is procrastination. Dragging things on till deadline day becomes a problem for habitual procrastinators. This habit only leaves them in a state of panic on the last day, with their work not indicating the effort that it requires and deserves from them. To avoid this, it is essential to diagnose the source of your procrastination. Some students get used to working under pressure, and can only focus when the guillotine of a deadline hangs over them. This habit needs to be broken by learning how to focus in less stressful times. Other times, the sheer size of a task may sometimes deter us from starting off with the project. So, it is important to take things in smaller chunks and to proceed sequentially with them. Things inevitably start falling into place once you begin work on them.
Create a To-Do List
Keep track of things to be done by making a "things to do" list. This would help ensure that YOU do not forget important assignments or tasks that need to be completed by a given day Making a list of important things to do in a day allows you to take things a task at a time, and also serves to remind you of what needs to be done
Utilizing your time in between classes
Most students have a tedious schedule of classes. The day may start for them with a class at 8:15am in the morning, with the next class scheduled for 7:30 pm in the night. It is essential to utilize this time in between classes because a large part of the day which should be put to essential use may elapse in between them. A smaller gap of an hour or even less between the classes can be used to go through lecture notes, review questions or to prepare for quizzes. This is also a good time to start work on an assignment, or to look over problems and questions you arc facing with material studied in class.
Group Work
Plagiarism (copying someone else's work and passing it off as your own) on assignments and projects is considered a serious lapse of academic and personal integrity at LUMS. However, as long as there is no plagiarism, it is useful to do group study while preparing for exams and quizzes, or while working on assignments. Working with your peers helps you look at different facets of a problem, something that may escape your attention on your own. Also, explaining things to one another can help you get through concepts and problems that you might find hard to solve on your own.
Doing Quality Work
Always remember that one hour of focused hard work is worth more than a couple of hours of distracted effort on a task. If something is bothering you or is constantly on your mind, then it is better to get it sorted out before you sit down to work.
Keeping a Balanced Life
Although academics should always be your first priority at LUMS, extracurricular activities and your social interaction with diverse peers greatly enrich your university experience. Extracurricular activities help students develop balanced and well-rounded personalities, which future employers and international universities seek in potential candidates. At the same time, striking an important balance between social life, extracurricular activities and academics provides for a fulfilling, complete and well-rounded university experience.
