How to make a study timetable for the semester
A simple way to build a weekly study timetable around your lectures that you can actually keep, with an example.
A study timetable works when it is realistic. Plan around your lectures, your energy and your other commitments, not around an ideal day you will never have.
Build it in five steps
- Put your fixed lecture and practical times into a weekly grid.
- Mark the times you are usually free and alert, for example early mornings or evenings.
- Give each course study time each week. Courses with more units, or that you find harder, get more.
- Keep each session to one course and one clear task, such as reading a topic or doing past questions.
- Leave one free slot each week to catch up on anything you missed.
An example evening
- 7:00 PM to 7:50 PM: read today's chemistry lecture and make short notes.
- 8:00 PM to 8:50 PM: practise ten past questions in mathematics.
- 9:00 PM: quick review of the day, then rest.
Keeping to it
- Start small. Two good sessions a day beat five you skip.
- Review the timetable at the end of each week and adjust what did not work.
- Add more practice and past questions as tests and exams get closer.