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Manage your time

Manage your time

How do you manage your time as a university student? How do you prioritise what needs to be dealt with now and what can wait? And how do you avoid taking on too much? On this page, you can find inspiration on how to deal with such matters.

Manage your time

How do you manage your time as a university student? How do you prioritise what needs to be dealt with now and what can wait? And how do you avoid taking on too much? On this page, you can find inspiration on how to deal with such matters.

You are responsible for managing your time

As a university student at AAU, you will discover that, compared to your earlier education, studying is quite different. You will often experience having fewer classes, along with having a very different relationship to teachers than you may have experienced before. Studying at a university also means that you have a greater responsibility to manage your time, so you can study adequately, and still have time for rest and leasure.

We have gathered three tips for you

Prioritise your time

If you find that you cannot read the whole curriculum, or start feeling increasing pressure over your inadequacy to do so, it can be a good idea to ask yourself the following:

- Does it make sense to me to read the whole curriculum thoroughly?
- Are there any subjects in my semester that I would like to prioritise higher than the others?
- What time of the day do I read most efficiently? Is it more efficient if I sit with others?
- Can my fellow students assist me in getting a better understanding of certain texts?

Plan your week

In order to achieve what you want, both in your study and in your free time, it is important that you plan and prioritise your various assignments over the course of a day or a week.
You could start by filling out a weekly schedule. When doing so, consider the following:

- Is it urgent or can it wait?
- Can I get others to help me or delegate some of the assignments?

You can choose how detailed you would like it to be – whether you would like to add deadlines to all the details, put in pauses and coffee breaks – or if you would rather make it an overall plan. The important part is simply that you remember to plan for the activities that you have outside of your student life.

Prioritise yourself

Students who feel pressured in their study programme often tend to exclude fun and leisure when running short on time.

However, by doing so you block your sources of recovery. In order to create an overview of what contributes to your restitution and energy in your life, the exercise “What gives you energy in your life?” can be quite useful. The exercise can help you realise what recharges your energy.

More advice on studying