Study Success at Sussex (S3)
Planning your time
The key to good time planning is to have systems to keep everything under control, and to make them simple so that you'll actually use them.
How many hours should I study? If you are a full-time student, you should be spending about 40 hours a week on academic activities, including independent study, lectures, seminars, tutorials and lab work.
Remember - things usually take longer than you think! Be generous in your time allocation. If you find you don't need all the time you've allotted, it's extra free time.
Getting a work/life balance You shouldn't feel that you have to study all the time. If you can take your study times seriously, you won't need to feel guilty when you do something else at other times.
Make a term plan
The most simple way to get a clear visual overview of the time you have and the tasks you need to fit into it is to make a paper term plan that you can fix up somewhere you will see it every day (e.g. above your desk). Draw up a table with a row for each week of term (at Sussex there are three terms, each lasting ten weeks), and columns for deadlines, targets and things to remember.
- Work backwards: start by entering deadlines for your assignments so you can see when your busy times will be. Include seminars and presentations you need to prepare for. For sections of essays, decide how many words you are going to write for each.
- In the ‘Remember' column, add any events which you need to take into account when planning, e.g. family birthdays, social events, sports fixtures etc.
- Decide on the major tasks you need to complete for each of your deadlines, and roughly how long you need to spend on each. Prioritise according to marks each assignment is worth.
- Fit them into the 'Targets' column, working back from the deadline.
Tayo Oladele
Second year Electrical and electronic engineering
View Tayo's student perspective
Transcript
The main thing about studying engineering and bringing your social life to it as well is that you've got to plan yourself right. it's all about time management! You've got to think, ‘what do I need to do this week?' at the start of the week and look at what you've got. Have a list, this is what I need to get through this week and think, ‘I'm going out this day, and doing this that time'. You've just got to plan yourself right. Think, 'if I'm going out this night I've got to finish this before I go out. If I don't finish it that means I'm not going out'. It's all about planning yourself right.
Charlie Refoy
Second year Maths
View Charlie's student perspective
Transcript
I balance working and studying at university by working evenings so it still gives me daytimes to do my studying and go to my lectures. When I started university I did twelve hours a week which I found too much I found that my studying was suffering so I cut down to eight hours a week at work.
Aron Willis
Second year Electrical and electronic engineering
View Aron's student perspective
Transcript
An average week is between twenty to twenty-five hours study time and we are expected to make it up to forty hours a week with homework and various assignments. So any extra time I have I'm a lifeguard at a local swimming pool.
So the plan for one essay might look like this:
Remember that this is only for one essay - you will need to fit all your work in. So you may need to set artificial deadlines so you're not trying to finish all your essays at the same time. Download a term plan template.
Give yourself contingency time by setting your own essay deadlines a week before they are actually due so that your plan doesn't go right up to the last ten minutes of the deadline.
Make a study timetable
If you schedule your study times in advance, you won't be wasting time each day deciding whether and when to study. Book study times into your timetable with lectures and seminars, as academic commitments. Some students like to use electronic diaries for planning and others prefer hardcopy - find out what works best for you.
- Enter lectures, seminars and other fixed academic commitments. Check Sussex Direct for your teaching timetable.
- Add regular commitments like paid work, club meetings, sports fixtures and training.
- Mark up times which you are going to commit to as study sessions. You will have busy weeks when you need to add more sessions, and quiet weeks when you can claim time back.
- Plan to be flexible - if something else comes up, you can trade a study session with a free session.
See examples of weekly student timetables and download a timetable template.
