10 Ways for Students to
Schedule the Day Properly

By Richard Nolan

Student life isn’t easy, especially when you want to make the most out of it. You have to complete your assignments on time, do some extracurricular activities, maybe even work, and find some time to spend with your friends too – that sounds like a real challenge.

Of course, keeping up with all the things mentioned above is completely possible, but only when you know how to schedule your day right. While not all students have strong time-management skills, this doesn’t mean they can’t develop them – and we are here to help you with that, offering 10 useful tips that will help you write the day schedule properly.

1. Write lists.
It’s hard to keep all the tasks and other important things in mind, especially when you are very busy. That’s why it’s always helpful to write down everything you need to remember: this way you’ll be able to get these things out of your head as well as ensure you won’t forget them.

You can do it the old-fashioned way, keeping a planner or simple paper notes (though we don’t recommend using simple notes as it is easy to lose them). Or you can try using one of the many apps designed both for PCs and mobile devices. Choose an option that seems the most convenient to you.

2. Spend 15 minutes a day cleaning.
It’s hard to be organized when your room is a mess. In this case, you’ll not only spend more time looking for things you need but also will have more trouble concentrating on your home assignments and other important work. Some students prefer cleaning their rooms once a week or two, but we recommend spending 15 minutes each day on cleaning. This won’t take a lot of your time and will be enough to keep your room clean and organized. Moreover, this means that you won’t have to spend half of your weekend cleaning.

3. Plan your day.
Lists are one thing – they are a tool to get all the important tasks out of your head. The tasks themselves, however, are a completely different thing: you have to plan them well enough to be able to complete all of them successfully.

Planning is the thing that comes with practice: at first, you’ll probably struggle with that, but it will get easier as the time passes. Moreover, it’s the habit definitely worthy of developing, so you should give it a try.

4. Always keep your things in one place.
It might seem like no big deal, but actually keeping things in one place could help you save a lot of time. You won’t have to search for a new pen for long if you know that you always keep stationary in the top drawer of the desk, for example.

5. Start working on your home assignments as early as possible.
It isn’t a secret that many students tend to put off their home assignments until the deadline is close. This might be a tempting thing to do, but you should avoid it at any cost. If you start working on your home assignments early, you’ll get a better understanding of how much time you’ll need to complete all of them. This will allow you to schedule your homework better.

6. Track time.
Various time-tracking apps might seem like an unnecessary thing to many students; however, they are very useful. They allow students to understand how much time they actually spend doing things that might benefit them and how much time simply gets wasted. Time-tracking apps are a great tool for eliminating procrastination – however, you can also try doing this the old-fashioned way, by simply writing down the time you spend on various activities.

According to Mark Benson, a writer at dissertation writing service, they allow students to understand how much time they actually spend doing things that might benefit them and how much time simply gets wasted.

7. Get enough sleep.
It seems nearly impossible, especially when the end of a semester is near, but it is crucial at the same time. When we don’t get enough sleep, our brain doesn’t function properly, we get distracted more easily, and find it much harder to concentrate on various things. That’s why if you want to be really productive, you have to make sure that you sleep enough.

8. Say “no” to people.
One of the most important keys to being productive is learning how to put the most important things first. This means you’ll have to learn how to say “no” when it’s necessary, for example, when friends invite you to the party, but you have a lot of home assignments to complete, or when a fellow student asks you for help, but you are too busy for that.

9. Exercise.
Exercises not only make you healthier – they also make you more energetic, improve your concentration and willpower. Moreover, exercises are a great way to rest when you’re studying hard. It might seem nearly unbearable to start working out instead of checking your social media during the short period of rest. However, such drastic change of activity will definitely make you feel much better.

10. Take notes.
You may be a good student who listens to the professors very attentively during lectures. However, we don’t always remember things we’ve heard just once. That’s why you should take notes both during your lectures and while working on your home assignments. Such notes not only help you remember things better – they also teach you how to analyze better and to select the most important information. When you take notes, you cannot afford to write down everything your professor says, so you note only the most important things and basically receive an amazing summary of a lecture in the end. This can definitely help you later.

Scheduling your day is indeed important – and absolutely possible too. You can and should start with the small steps, developing the simplest yet important habits, and then move on to make your days even more effective. Hopefully, these tips will help you not only with your academic progress but with your life too, making you more skilled, organized, and successful.