ReadingATherewillalwaysbemanythingsyouwanttodoatuniversity.Balancingyoursociallifewithstudy,andbalancingthemanyextra-curricularactivitiesavailablewithessayandexamcommitments,canbeachallengeinitself.Itiseasyinacoursewithrelativelyfew“contact”hourstoseethesefewhoursasthetotalofyouracademicweek.Toooften,however,aweekorsoawayfromthedayanessayisdueoranexamisscheduled,studentsare“surprised”todiscoverthattheyarenotprepared.Providedyouhavenothingelsetodothatweek,youmaygetthroughit.Butlifedoesn’thavetobesuchaseriesofsmallheartattacks.2

ReadingANowlet’sdebunksomeofthemyths,andoutlinesomeusefulstrategiesformanagingyourtimemoreeffectively.MythNo.1:Iworkbestunderpressure.Fewpeoplegenuinelywork“best”underpressure.Insteaditisacaseoffindingitdifficulttoworkatallwithoutthatpressure.Thisisoneofthemajorissuesconfrontedbystudentswhocometouniversityfromahighlysupervisedsecondaryeducation;withoutteacherstohassleyouconstantly,itiseasytobelievethatthereisnoworktobedone.34

ReadingAPlanningaheadtoallocatetimeinadvanceofdeadlinesdoesn’tmeansacrificingyoursociallife.Itdoesmeanlearningthataconsistentamountofworkthroughouttheacademicyearwillearnyoubetterresultsthanafewfranticweeksattheendofthesemester.Infact,youneedtostartthinkingofyourselfasaprofessionalalready.It’snowtotallyuptoyoutobalanceyourstudytasks(regulartasksandspecialassessment-relatedones),workifyouhaveit,socialactivities,familycommitments,sportsandleisure.5

ReadingAMythNo.2:Deadlinesjustcreepupandsurpriseme.Exceptintheextremelyunlikelycasewherealectureractivelyconcealstheduedateofanessay,thereisnoexcusefor“forgetting”thatanessayduedateiscomingup.Somestudentsstillcry“Nobodytoldmethat”Well,it’s