Developing Time Management Skills for Success in Higher Education

This report examines the crucial role of time management in the success of higher education students. It begins by defining time management and its significance in maximizing individual effectiveness. The main body of the report outlines the key benefits of time management skills, including improved work quality, reduced stress and anxiety, boosted confidence, and faster goal achievement. Furthermore, the report offers practical suggestions for developing time management skills, such as prioritizing tasks realistically, being flexible with schedules, and avoiding distractions. The report emphasizes the importance of these skills for students aiming to excel academically and manage their workload effectively. The conclusion summarizes the main points, reinforcing the value of time management for student success. The references section provides a list of relevant sources used in the report.

Academic Skills

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Benefits of Time Management:...................................................................................................3
Suggestions to Develop the Time Management Skills:...............................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Time management simply means managing of the available time among the work to be done
to be able to complete the work in timely manner and thus avoiding wasting of time in
unnecessary activities. It maximises the effectiveness of the efforts of an individual. The
following report will explain the benefits of time management skills for achieving success by the
students in higher education studies along with the suggestions on how such time management
skills can be developed by the students of future first year.
MAIN BODY
Benefits of Time Management:
Following are some of the benefits of the time management skill for achieving success in the
higher education studies:
1. Improved quality of work – Effective time management will involve setting precise time
schedule for all the activities which are at the top of the priority list of any student. Such
activities will first and foremost include completing of assignments and other academic work
on time and in the best quality possible (Adams and Blair, 2019). Through time management,
the work will be completed quickly and easily and on top of that student will get the benefit
of being focused on the subject and attentive toward the work. This will help him to be more
productive, give his best in the paper, avoid too many mistakes especially silly ones and
grasp the topic which he is addressing with full potential and therefore, achieving the best
possible grades which is the main motive of every student.
2. Avoiding stress and anxiety – It has been proved that most of the college going students
suffer from stress and anxiety which can be due to exam pressure, approaching project
deadlines, failure to complete the assignments, not securing good marks in the exams, etc.
(Vinichenko and et.al., 2018). The one and only effective solution to all these problems is an
effective time management which will result in preparing for the exams as per the pre –
planned schedule to avoid last – minute stress of the unprepared topics, submission of the
projects on time or even before time by planning to complete the parts of the project as and
when planned, completion of the projects on or before the stipulated deadline by prioritizing
the tasks on hand and tackling them and securing good marks as a result of effective
preparation for the exams due to the efficient time management.

3. Boosting of confidence – An effective time management will naturally boost the confidence
in the student and induce a sense of responsibility and capability in the student which will
automatically boost confidence in him (Haslach and et.al., 2018). Such a boost in confidence
will have a positive impact on every aspect of his life like, his health will improve, he will
perform well in his classes, he will perform well in his exams, he will be able to grasp the
things taught to him very easily and will be able to retain it in more detail and for a longer
time. The student will also have a sense of accomplishment toward his work. Such a
confidence will further help him to manage time more effectively than earlier.
4. Achieving goals faster – An effective time management will assist the student in achieving
his objectives and goals faster. This can be done by managing time for all the activities to be
done by him thus focussing on one activity at a time and avoiding getting stuck in the tangle
of multitasking (KHARADZE and DUGLADZE, 2018). In such a way, every activity will
get same amount of time and efforts it requires without rushing through the work at the last
minute to get the work done anyhow and compromising the quality of the work and thus
losing marks resultantly. Such faster achievement of the goals will also require the efficient
prioritizing of the work. This can be done by making a realistic and feasible time table and
sticking to it by the end of the period for which it has been prepared. Making a time table is
an easy task but sticking to it requires lot of dedication, perseverance and consistency.
Suggestions to Develop the Time Management Skills:
Following are some of the suggestions through which the skill of time management can be
developed by the future first year students:
1. Prioritization of tasks – Everybody sets aside their time to get the work done but the more
important task is to prioritise the work and narrow down the tasks to be done in the order of
their preference or importance. Such prioritization will help the student to ascertain the
amount of time required to get his work done and thus he will be able to manage his time
efficiently (Bhandari, Chopra and Singh, 2020). It also involves making a checklist of each
and every work to be done including assignments, projects, study projects, study groups, etc.
along with their deadline to keep track of the most important tasks to be focussed on. In this
way, the tasks will now can be arranged in the order of their importance. In case of the tasks
of similar nature they can be clubbed together and can be get done at the same time and the
completed tasks are ticked off to keep track of what is done and what is to be done.

2. Be realistic and flexible – Most of the time students make their time tables based on the
unrealistic expectations like sparing no time for extracurricular activities, sparing very less
and limited time to sleep, etc. Such unrealistic expectations and the resultant time tables lead
to non-accomplishment of any of the work and thus the stress and anxiety kicks in (Xie and
et.al., 2021). Therefore, there shall be time for all the other extracurricular activities, classes,
sleep, etc. Once the time is allocated realistically, then the work can be done effectively and
efficiently. Such utilisation of time as allocated will also involve working smart i.e., only
allocating the time realistically will not get the work done, it has to be actually get done and
thus the time table shall be followed dedicatedly (10 WAYS TO IMPROVE TIME
MANAGEMENT FOR STUDENTS. 2022). There are chances of some uncertain events
happening like getting ill which is not in our control therefore, such allocation of time shall
be flexible enough to incorporate any uncertain event happening and ensuring that the work
to be done is not compromised significantly.
3. Avoid distractions – The first and the foremost reason that the students are not able to
concentrate on their studies or are not able to submit assignments on time or not able to score
good grades is distraction. Such distractions can be from cell phones, social media, friends,
television, texting, family, giving more than usual time to insignificant activities, etc.
Because of these distractions, the student is not able to adhere to the time table he set earlier
and thus will result in delays in meeting deadlines of the assignments, under preparation for
the coming exams, etc. It shall be kept in mind that when it is time to study or class other
things shall be immediately stopped and this will require lot of self – control and dedication
(Limone and et.al., 2020). This avoidance of distractions will lead to effective time
management by not wasting any unnecessary time in irrelevant activities which are not
required. Therefore, the student shall avoid all distractions at all times.
CONCLUSION
Conclusively, the above report explains the benefits of the skill of time management to the
students of higher education studies and some suggestions regarding development of time
management skills in the future first year students.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Adams, R. V. and Blair, E., 2019. Impact of time management behaviors on undergraduate
engineering students’ performance. Sage Open. 9(1). p.2158244018824506.
Bhandari, B., Chopra, D. and Singh, K., 2020. Self-directed learning: assessment of students’
abilities and their perspective. Advances in physiology education. 44(3). pp.383-386.
Haslach, S. D. and et.al., 2018. Country and gender differences in the motivation of dental
students—An international comparison. European Journal of Dental Education. 22(4).
pp. e724-e729.
KHARADZE, N. and DUGLADZE, D., 2018. TIME MANAGEMENT OF PRIVATE
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS. INNOVATIVE ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT.
pp.126-137.
Limone, P. and et.al., 2020. Examining procrastination among university students through the
lens of the self-regulated learning model. Behavioral Sciences. 10(12). p.184.
Vinichenko, M. V. and et.al., 2018. Influence of time management on the state of health of
students and the quality of their life. Modern Journal of Language Teaching
Methods. 8(5). pp.166-184.
Xie, Y. and et.al., 2021. A qualitative investigation of stress related to studying architecture at
degree level in the UK. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education. 20(1). pp.3-20.
Online
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