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List your commitments

After talking to your family, friends and work mates, you'll need to establish just how much time will be taken up by study in your life.

One practical way to do this is to fill out a weekly plan.

In the various hour slots in the weekly plan you need to take a note of the time you spend each week engaged in:

• Non-study activities
• Study activities

Non-study activities can be broken down into (a) activities you have little or no control over, and (b) those that you choose to undertake to make your life enjoyable and healthy.

STEP 1

Jot down all those activities that you have very little or no control over. This includes:

STEP 2

Then you need to take account of the time you spend in activities that you chose to undertake. These activities are also very important for you to maintain a balanced, healthy life. They might include:

 

Remember that all of these activities are vitally important during the time that you study. In fact, if you want to study well, taking the time out to really unwind is imperative - a stressed, overworked and tired mind and body does not take in and assimilate new information or knowledge well. Studying does not mean that you stop enjoying your life; rather it should enrich it.

STEP 3

Next, after you have written down all the time that is taken up with the above non-study activities, you will now be in a position to gauge how much time is available for studying. To get a clearer idea of how much time study will take you can use the general rule of thumb: a 2 unit course requires on average a commitment of between 8-10 hours per week.

Slot this study time into your weekly timetable and see how well it fits with your other commitments.

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