Time Management - Student Success Resources - Key Strategies

Sep 12, 2026

Student Success Resources on Time Management explains why effective use of limited time is essential for college success amid competing responsibilities like classes, work, and parenting. It outlines practical core strategies: using calendars, setting reminders, building and estimating task lists, prioritizing with clear criteria, planning daily schedules, and reassessing progress at day’s end. It also provides guidance for when students feel overwhelmed, including removing or delegating tasks, learning to say no, managing stress, and seeking help through tutoring and counseling services.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages3

Reading Time1 min

AccessFree to download

Key Aspects of Successful Time Management

Use a Calendar

Set Reminders

Develop a Task List

Time and Estimation

Prioritization

Daily Task List

Reassess

Create a Schedule

Develop Routines

Feeling Overwhelmed

Reassess Your Task List

Say No

Manage Stress

Ask for Help

Counseling Services

Student Success Resources Time Management Balancing a busy life as a college student makes your time a very valuable resource. For many students, finding enough time to manage their responsibilities, such as attending class, studying, working, and parenting, can be overwhelming. Since adding hours to the day is not an option, time management, or the ability to use one ’s time effectively and productively, is an important skill for success in college. Key Aspects of Successful Time Management • Use a Calendar. Trying to keep track of deadlines, appointments, and schedules without a calendar is incredibly difficult. Often students who try to just remember this information without writing it down forget important deadlines or feel very overwhelmed by the mental overload. Find a calendar system (paper or digital) that works well for you and that you will have access to every day. Calendars that are portable (for example, a digital calendar on your phone or a paper planner) work best so that you can update them on the go. Popular digital calendars include Outlook Calendar and Google Calendar. At the start of each semester, enter all due dates and important events in the calendar. Revise, add, and update as time goes on. • Set Reminders. Setting reminders to stay on track regarding upcoming deadlines is very helpful. If using a digital calendar, it is easy to set up a reminder notification. If using a paper planner, consider adding an earlier note on your calendar as a reminder. For example, if you have a big exam on April 21st, add a note to your calendar on April 1st with a reminder to start studying. • Develop a task list. Knowing how to focus your time is the key to successful time management. Develop a running task, or to-do, list with all the things you need to get done. • Time. Estimating the amount of time you expect a task to take can be very helpful to scheduling it into your life. When writing down a task, add a note next to it indicating how much time you expect the task to take. This is just your best estimate, and the number may change, but it ’s helpful as a place to start. For example,“complete assignment 6 formath class (45 minutes)”. • Prioritization. Knowing how to prioritize the tasks on your list is incredibly important. Those who struggle with prioritization tend to focus their time on tasks that are less important and procrastinate on tasks that are more important. To prioritize a task, ask yourself two questions. First, how important is this task (and what would be the consequence if I did not get it done)? Secondly, when does this task need to be complete? Tasks that are deemed important and time-sensitive should be prioritized first. Use a symbol on your task list to indicate the priority rating of an item on a scale from 1 (low priority) to 3 (high priority) . For example,“Complete assignment 6 formath class (45 minutes) +++”, would indicate that this task is deemed to be an important priority. • Daily task list. Each day, review your task list to reassess priorities. Then, create a daily todo list made up of tasks that are considered tobe your top priority. Consider the available time in your day and the estimated time of each task. • Reassess. At the end of each day, reassess what you were able and unable to complete. Give yourself credit for what you accomplished and add in any tasks that have popped up throughout the day. If there were tasks on your daily task list that you were unable to complete, find a time to add them into your schedule. • Create a schedule. When balancing a busy life, a schedule may be essential to managing your time well. Take a few minutes to plan out your daily schedule. Start with adding in structured events, such as time in class, work hours, commute time, family dinner time, etc. Then review your available free time and select time slots to work on the tasks you have deemed most important for the day. Schedules are easy to create and edit using a digi

FAQs

Why is time management important for college students?

Balancing classes, studying, work, and parenting can be overwhelming, and adding hours to the day is not an option. Using time effectively and productively is an important skill for success in college.

What are the key tools for staying organized?

Use a calendar that you can update daily and set reminders for upcoming deadlines. Develop a running task list and estimate how much time each task will take.

What should you do if your to-do list makes you feel overwhelmed?

Reassess your task list by removing, simplifying, or delegating items, practice saying no, manage stress through self-care activities, and ask for support such as tutoring or counseling resources.

Sep 12, 2026

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