Why is a Study Plan Important?
- It gives you a realistic idea of how much time you have to study. Not only can you see how many days are left before the test or project deadline, but you can see how many other activities (e.g. sports, dates, work, family stuff) will be occupying your time and identify the best periods to dedicate to studying.
- It can help you prioritize tasks. For example, if English is your most challenging subject, and it is coming up first in the exam schedule, you know that you should include extra English study sessions early on in your study plan and devote more time to other subjects once English is out of the way.
- It creates a sense of urgency that will encourage you to study because you can now visualize just how much (or how little) time you have to get your studying done.
- It can help you stay motivated. Your study plan helps you set goals and stick to them. Every time you check off a completed study session, you will feel a sense of pride for accomplishing the task.
- It can help you feel more confident and prepared for the exam. If you know you set up a good plan, and you stuck to it, you will walk into the exam room feeling better about how you will perform.
How to Develop a Study Plan
Unless you have really bad time management and never seem to get anything done, you probably only need to develop a study plan for periods in the school year when you have a lot of exams or projects coming up all at once. First, you need to figure out what you need to get done. When are your exams happening? When are your projects due? How many do you have? What resources do you have to help you prepare? How much time do you think you need to spend tackling each one? Here is a simple organizer to help you figure all that out:
Now that you have a sense of how much you have on your plate, make a more detailed study plan. Remember to factor in non-study activities as well (e.g. team practices, work shifts, birthday parties) because these take time away from studying. If you don't account for these activities, you may find you do not plan properly and run out of time to get it all done.
You can develop a simple version by using the backward planning technique in your agenda. You could reinforce the plan in your agenda by using apps and alarms on your phone to remind you about your scheduled study times and what you hope to accomplish during each study session. Another option would be to make a really detailed schedule on a large poster board, wall calendar or on the computer. Programs like Excel and Google Calendar can help you plan out your time during busy exam periods or even day-to-day. If you want to start to block out periods of time for studying, try using this organizer:
You can develop a simple version by using the backward planning technique in your agenda. You could reinforce the plan in your agenda by using apps and alarms on your phone to remind you about your scheduled study times and what you hope to accomplish during each study session. Another option would be to make a really detailed schedule on a large poster board, wall calendar or on the computer. Programs like Excel and Google Calendar can help you plan out your time during busy exam periods or even day-to-day. If you want to start to block out periods of time for studying, try using this organizer:
Here is an example of a detailed study plan created using spreadsheet software (note that this student has also used colour coding to help make different events in her day stand out from one another):