Study goals
Part of your learning strategy should be to identify your long-term goals relating to your studies and then plan accordingly. But even on a short-term basis you can plan effective study.
- What shall I do with the study time I’ve put aside today?
- What is important today for this week’s goals?
- Would I be better off if I studied a section of course material, or worked out the tasks I need to do to complete my assignment?
Think about your short-term goals, such as completing an assignment. Try to divide your work for an assignment into manageable chunks that you can schedule into to the study sessions you have available. Breaking up a large task like this helps your motivation, so you really do get started on a particular study task. By setting goals and getting used to working to a plan you’ll find it easier to stick to your study schedule.
Weekly schedules can help you to see how much time you have available to study, as you can also write in those times when you’ll be working, or spending time with the family, for example. You may need to reorganise how you use your time in order to fit sufficient study hours into your week.
Use daily or weekly ‘to do’ lists to help you to plan and prioritise. These can also help to clear your mind and clarify what is really important for your studies, but they can also result in you making a commitment to yourself that you will do what you have planned and listed. It can be satisfying to tick-off the tasks you’ve completed on a list.
Planning is no guarantee everything will get done or that deadlines will be met, but the process of making a plan helps you focus on what the task entails and gives direction and purpose to your study.
| Target | What I need to do | With help from | Target date | Revised date | Date completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Find out what the next TMA is about |
read the question and student advice |
Bob - self-help group tutor at tutorial |
April 12 | April 12 | |
|
Gather material for both parts of essay |
go through my notes extracting relevant bits check back through course unit and margin notes in case there is anything to add. |
TV programme might be useful |
April 13 | April 13 | |
|
Produce an essay plan for each part |
Put the points in order |
discuss key points with Bob |
April 13 | April 13 | |
|
Produce first of both parts |
put my notes in some sort of order with an introduction and conclusion |
April 13 | April 14 | April 14 | |
|
Produce final draft of part 1 |
edit to make sure that all the points are relevant; proof read for spelling and grammar 'blips' |
self-help group meeting at pub |
April 14 | April 15 | April 15 |
|
Produce final draft of part 2 |
as above | as above | April 16 | April 17 | April 17 |
|
Meet TMA deadline: April 21 |
have final read through (just in case!) and post to tutor |
April 18 | April 19 | April 19 |
I was amazed when I did my time log. Did I really need to spend so much time household shopping? So I tried supermarket home delivery services - a few minutes online once a week to place an order and it is delivered straight to my door, freeing up more time to study.
Action plans
An action plan can help you to identify what you want to achieve in the long term, and think through the steps you need to take in the short term to achieve this. This can make it easier to help you realise your goals. Your action plan could include these elements.
- My goal
- What do I need to do to achieve it?
- How can I achieve it?
- What resources will I need?
- When can I take action?
An action plan can be just a list of things to do, a chart giving deadlines, a diagram showing how the various parts of your plan interact, or a set of post-its on a sheet of card that you move around when each task is done. If you break down the overall task into a series of smaller targets, you can chart your progress in more detail. It’s useful to have a way of recording your progress as well as a list of any sources of help that you need.
| Action plan | |
|---|---|
| My goal |
a degree within four years |
| What? |
need to do 60 points per year allocate realistic time for study (i.e. 12 hours per week) |
| How? |
do breakdown of typical week note best and worst times of day for study timetable in 12 hours using as much 'best time' as possible. Think about which study tasks I might tackle during 'difficult' times, e.g. watching course videos |
| Resources? |
Tom, my line manager - negotiate some study leave and/or flexible working hours Clare - to add key family commitments to timetable (e.g. parents' evening) parents - ask for help with children and garden |
| When? |
talk to Tom during my appraisal on 10 November talk to Clare next weekend while children are at swimming lessons and do timetable ask Mum and Dad over for a meal next week |
