When students get to college, they need to devise a system that will help them manage their work, time, and assignments. There is no need to get too creative with this task. Students can simply use Google Calendar.
Google Calendar is an amazing tool that organically incorporates the components that a student needs into one streamlined system. It forces students to pick start and stop times, allows access to alarms, and allows for day, week, and month views. The key to getting the most out of the calendar is to master the following steps.
- Add Class Schedule to Calendar: This is the first and most obvious step. Students need to add their weekly schedule and start planning what type of academic schedule they will have.
- Add All Other Obligations: This might be social events, clubs/activities, meetings, office hours, intramurals, etc. Students need to incorporate this into their calendar so they can manage their time around the events they want, or need, to attend. This may include medical appointments, concerts, games, and trips.
- Review Each Syllabus and Add “Big Assignments”: By adding the large deadlines, students can constantly be looking ahead, planning ahead, and working ahead. A thorough review of each syllabus and then adding all test, project, paper, and presentation deadlines will help students increase the quality of their work and decrease their stress.
- Update and Review Each Day: The key to maintaining a good calendar is being diligent. Students need to be in the habit of constantly reviewing their class sites, planning their weeks, and planning their days so that they’re optimizing their time.
It starts with the core skill of a Google Calendar, but this will trickle down into weekly and daily planning so that students can be more effective with their time each week. Once students can get the hang of this, they can drastically change the trajectory of their success in college.