In the filled-in calendar on pages 96–97, our student—let’s call her
Lindsay—did a pretty good job. She didn’t just jot down homework
assignments. First, she prioritized them—those As, Bs, and Cs to the
left of each entry.
Next, she estimated the amount of time each would take (in the “T”
for “Time” column) and how long it actually took (in the “A” for
“Actual” column). She used minutes, but you certainly can use
fractions of an hour if you find it easier. Whatever total time you
wind up allocating should approximate the time you actually have
available. If you find yourself habitually spending more time on
assignments than you have projected, consider adding a “safety
margin” to your estimates. Then total all the estimates and make sure
you haven’t scheduled yourself till 4 a.m.!
Finally, Lindsay included more than just homework assignments—
she jotted reminders to herself about grocery shopping, phone calls
she had to make, band practice, and a host of other things.
There are also assigned projects that are not due this week—an
English paper, an upcoming quiz in geometry, a bigger test in history.
Lindsay scheduled time to choose a topic for her English paper, get
the teacher’s approval, and even begin preliminary research. She also
planned time to study for both geometry and history.
The dates when future projects are due and future tests scheduled
actually are recorded twice—once in her daily calendar, and again in
her long-term calendar. But the steps necessary to write her paper
and the time she needs to allocate for studying are only on her daily
calendar. (This is not a hard-and-fast rule. You can certainly include
steps necessary for future projects on your long-term planning calen-
dar, too. I prefer not to muddle it up with too much detail.)
Unfortunately, Lindsay isn’t doing the greatest job projecting how long
her homework will actually take her. Geometry always takes her
longer than she thinks it will, and her biology lab report clearly was
more complicated than she expected. She scheduled five total hours
84 How to Study