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Should I really use a planner?
It is important to have a planner because one of the biggest adjustments
that all first-year students have to make is in the area of time management.
At the college level, unlike in high school, a large proportion of important
work is done outside of class. This means that it is your responsibility
to schedule your time so that work gets done. The first step to doing this
is to make appointments with yourself, in a sense, by writing in your planner
exactly when you will do work that you need to do.
It's important to do
more than simply write in exam dates and paper deadlines; schedule the times
that you will work toward these deadlines as well. Once you have written
them in, it is up to you to be disciplined and keep that promise with yourself
by spending the allotted time working in a place that is conducive to effective
study.
All successful people--whether they are students or not--keep planners,
and most of them have gotten in the habit of keeping three types of schedules
simultaneously: a daily "to do" list, a weekly schedule, and a monthly schedule
that helps them see "the bigger picture." This may sound like a lot of work,
but it is actually an excellent system for saving time. These successful
people usually have budgeted their time so effectively that they have more
time for doing things that they really enjoy.
Every semester the Student
Learning Center offers instruction on effective time management. Visit
their web site to see when the next available time management seminar will
be.
All students who live on campus should have received a planner as they checked in to their residence hall. Commuter students can pick up their planners during Commuter Orientation or at the Seymour College Union Service Desk throughout the academic year.
I did well in high school. Why am I struggling now?
