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  • Hi! I'm Sharon Juenemann, and I'm going to show you how to create a study plan.

  • A study plan is a tool you can use to identify your priority tasks

  • and get those tasks accomplished in the time you have available.

  • Remember, a study plan is just that. It's a plan,

  • and plans can change. So the goal of the study plan

  • is not to get everything done exactly as you planned it,

  • but to get your priority tasks done. So let's go ahead and begin.

  • The first thing you're going to do is your going to go to the Learning Success Center

  • website

  • on the Mt. Hood website and open up the study plan

  • document. It's available

  • by clicking on the "Study Skills" link. And then it's right here where it says "Time

  • Management Worksheets".

  • I'm going to do the Word format because I'm going to write this plan

  • directly on the computer, but if you want to do the PDF format and do it

  • with a pen and paper, then you can do that as well.

  • So, the first thing you going to do is write in all of your fixed commitments.

  • These are the things that are not going to change from week to week,

  • like your class schedule,

  • your work schedule (if that doesn't change), a weekly study group,

  • the time you get up in the morning, get ready, drive to work--those kinds of

  • things.

  • So I'm going to start by entering my classes and I have Writing 115

  • from 9-10 Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

  • So I'm going to go ahead and copy/paste that into

  • the schedule.

  • Oops, and I'm going to put it on Friday.

  • Okay, the other thing I'm going to do with my class schedule,

  • is I'm going to color code it. And you might want to color code all of your

  • activities.

  • For example, if you have children, some people find it helpful

  • to make everything that has to do with children and family in a particular

  • color.

  • That way, you can look at it and by just looking at the color

  • know what it is, instead of having to read the schedule. It make your study plan

  • more of an at a glance tool.

  • All right. So then we're going to go

  • and look at what my fixed commitments look like,

  • just as an example. So you can see I put in getting ready, getting my kids to

  • school,

  • working on Saturday,

  • putting the kids to bed, all the things that aren't going to change from week to week.

  • All right. Then, the next thing that you're going to do, is you're going to put in

  • things that you need to do to live a normal life and be a normal human being.

  • You can't be in school for a couple years

  • by always putting these things on the back burner, and that includes

  • planning time to take care of yourself.

  • Stress management is really important when you're in school

  • because stress has a really negative impact on your ability to

  • effectively take in information and retain it in your memory.

  • So, if you cannot manage your stress to a certain degree,

  • then your learning is going to be negatively impacted.

  • In addition, you you to plan time to get enough sleep.

  • Sleep loss has a big impact on your memory,

  • so if you're not getting enough sleep every night then you're not going to be

  • able to do as well in school as you might be hoping.

  • So, for example, I've planned time in red

  • to spend time with my family, take care of a little bit housework,

  • do errands and groceries, go to bed at a reasonable hour,

  • and have some relaxation time as well. Again, really important to plan this time

  • because if you don't plan it, it's probably not going to happen and your

  • going to end up feeling like you're neglecting your family and neglecting

  • yourself, and that's not a good feeling.

  • All right. So the next thing that you're going to do

  • is make about 10 or 12 copies

  • of this weekly schedule, so that you have one blank one for every week

  • of the term. And what you'll find is you have

  • these yellow times (I've made them yellow) available to work with

  • for planning in your study time. After you make the 10 or 12 copies,

  • then every Sunday night, maybe Monday morning,

  • you're going to gather together all of your class syllabi,

  • and you're gonna look at what assignments you have due that week and

  • plan

  • time to accomplish them. So you can see

  • an example of what I've done here. Let me give you a couple of tips on how to plan

  • your study time.

  • 1. You want to plan time

  • to review your class notes as soon as possible

  • after the class is finished; that's to help your memory

  • do its job and to be able to study the information while it's still fresh

  • in your brain. So you can see I've done that. On Monday I have Math from 10

  • until,

  • until 12, and then I plan my math review

  • from 1-1:30. That's just a quick review, but it's as soon as I can get it done

  • after my class is over. I've done the same thing

  • on Tuesday with Psychology. You also want to plan your study time

  • during daylight hours as much as possible. Human beings are not nocturnal

  • animals.

  • We're essentially programmed to be asleep when it's dark

  • and awake when it's light outside, so if at all possible,

  • do your studying during the day when you're going to be naturally more

  • alert. If it's not possible for you to do that,

  • then, try to get up earlier in the morning and do your studying,

  • as opposed to doing it at night when you've been running around all day

  • are basically just pretty much exhausted. The other thing that you want to do

  • is think about what classes you're taking. A class like math

  • and also foreign languages require daily

  • review and practice. A class

  • like writing may not require daily review and practice,

  • but it's probably going to require more concentrated times to sit down

  • and write, which can be a longer process, sometimes.

  • In addition, you want to plan times to use your resources.

  • Go meet with your instructors,

  • meet with tutors, use the resources that we have here available on this

  • campus.

  • And then finally, if at all possible, plan time

  • to meet with other people in your class to do studying.

  • This is a very efficient and effective way to study

  • if you don't waste time in the group because

  • you can think of possible test questions that you

  • didn't think of and get those ideas from other classmates,

  • you can check your perspectives and check your perceptions of what's due and

  • what's required in the class,

  • and you can get your

  • studying done out loud. This is a really effective way to retain

  • information--is to get it out of your head, work with it,

  • get it out loud, and pretend like you're teaching the class.

  • All right. So basically,

  • this is how you create a study plan,

  • and one thing you can do, is remember to look at it every day.

  • Don't put it away at the beginning of the week after you've made the plan.

  • Look at it every day and check yourself, reprioritize as you need.

  • Make sure you write this stuff all down in pencil so that you can change it

  • when you need to. If you need more resources

  • on making study plans or any other study skills

  • information, go to the Learning Success Center website

  • here, and open up

  • the "Study Skills" link to get all sorts of resources

  • about being a better learner. Thank you

  • and good luck with your studying!

Hi! I'm Sharon Juenemann, and I'm going to show you how to create a study plan.

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