Managing Your Time in College As we have been hinting at, starting college is a transition regardless of your background—just graduated high school, never attended college, or returning to a college atmosphere after some time.

Why is it important to manage your time? CCRI surveys new students twice during their first year at CCRI Many students say they didn’t realize how much time it took to be a college student High school students are in school for about 30 hours a week Full time college students are in school about 15 hours a week College teachers expect you to do a lot more studying and preparation outside of class – they may not tell you this! Study Formula: 3 hours of class x 2 hours of studying = 6 hours per week per class! You should prepare for your classes every week by: reading your textbook or course materials, doing your homework, doing online activities, watching videos, making flashcards, meeting with a tutor, forming a study group, etc.

Time Management Activity A major key to success is understanding how you spend your time and knowing how to use the 168 hours you have got in each week wisely. Today you will complete a simple assessment to get you thinking about how you spend your time! Remember: Be honest No one is judging you One of the major components to student success is understanding how you spend your time. Because we know this, we are going to lead you through an exercise today. The point of this exercise is to get you thinking about how you’re currently spending your time and how this might need adjustment once you add a class or two or five to the mix. Remember to be honest: No one is judging you! Many students have done this exercise in the SSC or in an in-class workshop and admitted to watching 13 hours of Netflix or Hulu on a regular basis. This is not about judging past behavior, but about thinking about how we spend our time and which behaviors we’re willing to change to achieve our LONG TERM GOALS!

Things I Do (the average number of hours spent each week for each activity) Weekly Total Average amount of sleep per day   x7 = Hours it takes to get ready to leave the house per day Preparing & eating meals per day Travel Time (work, school, weekends, errands, etc.) per day Hours per day for chores and errands Regularly scheduled functions such as worship, afterschool sports/activities, childcare etc. per week Total school hours per week Total studying hours per week Total work hours per week Total hours socializing (including texting, YouTube, Netflix, gaming, etc.) per week Add the numbers in the last column and write answer here: Subtract your total from 168 – write that number here: 168 Weekly Hours _______Subtract your total _______ Is the difference less than or greater than 168?

START TIMER Please ask if you have questions along the way. You’ll have 5 minutes to complete this exercise, but let me know if you need a little more time. Go!

5 minutes Welcome leaders: this slide will advance on its own—do not use the clicker unless students finish up very quickly and you need to jump to the time’s up slide

2 minutes Welcome leaders: this slide will advance on its own—do not use the clicker unless students finish up very quickly and you need to jump to the time’s up slide This slide makes a sound as it switches from 5 minutes to 2 minutes to give a heads up about how much time is remaining. Let students know that this is their two-minute warning.

TIME’S UP! Welcome leaders: Ask if everyone has gotten a chance to finish or if folks need a little more time. If so, give them an extra minute. Then, ask everyone to take a look at their results to see if anything seems odd with their final number.

Fewer than 168 hours per week Close to 168 hours per week Results Fewer than 168 hours per week Close to 168 hours per week More than 168 hours per week Welcome leaders: this slide is animated so that each box appears as you click. Give an explanation of each item after it appears. Click to show box—Raise your hand if your final number is fewer than 175 hours per week. What do you think this means? This is an indication that you’re not quite sure what you’re doing with your time. You have the same amount as the folks who are close to 168 and those who think they are over 168, but you’re unable to account for some of that time. Click to show box—Raise your hand if your final number is close to or at 168 hours per week. What do you think this means? This is an indication that you have a good sense of where your time is spent and you allocated almost all (if not all) of your time to your weekly tasks. Click to show box—Raise your hand if your final number is over 168 hours per week. What do you think this means? This is an indication that you think you are committing more time to certain things than you are. Remember, 168 is all we get. Although we might want to spend more time doing certain things (and we might think that we are), that time has to come from somewhere else. So think about what you’ve learned about yourself today. What does this all mean?

What do these results mean? If you are way under 168 hours or way over 168 hours you may struggle managing your time. The Student Success Center has workshops you can attend. Just looking at the final number does not mean that you are using your time wisely! What we’ve done today is a first step. Today’s exercise is about learning to account for your time. When you start looking more closely at what which things you spend the most time on and how those things relate to your goals, then you can start working smarter and managing your time well. Poll the room– How much time do you think you’ll be spending studying next semester? How many classes are you taking? The golden rule for study in college is: “For every hour in class you should set aside 2 hours outside of class for studying.” This is a huge shift from high school and can be a big change for students who are returning to college or have taken a break before attending.

What can you do you next? Get one-on-one help on ways to adjust your habits so you use your time more effectively Time Management Study Skills Test Taking Note Taking Workshops So where can you go for help with learning good habits and learning how to manage your time? The Student Success Center! The Success Center has pre-semester workshops available so you can work with an Academic Coach on your individual time management goals. You can start working on how to adjust your habits so that you spend the appropriate amount of time on your studies while balancing work and childcare and other responsibilities. The back of this worksheet has some great tips that will be useful as you begin your first semester and a weekly schedule to get you started. Academic coaches can help you get these filled out in a way that works for your needs. Welcome leaders: click on the workshops button to demonstrate how to book an appointment. Tell students they can follow along on their computers to sign up for a session on their preferred campus too. Remind them to select a workshop and add a note so the Academic Coach can be prepared for their individual needs. When you are finished in TutorTrac, minimize or close the browser and you’ll be returned to this slide to discuss the other workshops available. Academic coaches also have appointments throughout the year so you can meet with them for help with study skills, test-taking, note-taking, and textbook strategies.