As a student we have many commitments, such as school, extra-curricular activities, and work, that can take away from our post-secondary experience. However, it is important for us to remember that graduation and getting good grades is only one key component of that experience. One of the difficulties that we face as students is balancing school, volunteering, co-curricular, work and everything else in between. If we don’t keep on top of these commitments, it sometimes results in unproductive results.
Throughout my four years at Beedie, I have volunteered more than 2100 hours with many different organizations, all while balancing school and work. I have learned some great tips that helped me succeed by studying smarter not harder. I am excited to share with you my tips, and I hope they will help you to frame your study time more efficiently.
Ali’s Tips:
- Always go to classes and tutorials. At the end of the day, the primary purpose of a university is to learn new things and engage with your peers. Going regularly to classes will also help you stay on top of schoolwork.
- Office hours are the best resource when the concepts are not clear or you need to understand the class assignment better. Make use of them and make sure to learn the key concepts promptly.
- Make a planner regarding study time and try your best to follow study accordingly. It will help train your brain into good time management habits. Frame your study time in chunks of 30-45 minutes intervals with a 10-15 minute break.
- Try your best to read the book and presentation notes before class; it will help you ask questions to the professor regarding the concepts you didn’t understand correctly and also gives you an opportunity to gain participation marks.
- Make notes in the class and at the end make a summary of them and try your best to review the lecture notes after the class, so you have a clear understanding in your own words on the notes and concepts.
- To help better understand the notes, make diagrams such as network diagram and concepts map as they will help you visually understand the concepts and the relationship between them.
- Keep a separate journal of all the key concepts you learn in class that you think can assist you with future work experiences such as processes and techniques
- Make use of the study groups and peer mentor resources, as sometimes it’s easy to understand the concepts from peers.
- Planning your week is the most important thing as it will help you lay down your week so you can easily manage between all your commitments.
These tips have helped me manage my school work, and I hope they will help you succeed too.
Ali is a 4th-year student, pursuing Bachelors in Business Administration with a concentration in Human Resource Management and Management Information Systems. He is a Business Career Coach with the Career Management Centre and has recently completed two Co-op terms working as a Business Consultant with Small Business BC. He likes to assist others to overcome the challenges that they face as he believes that: “Life is not measured by the number of days you live, but the number of lives you inspire, so be someone’s inspiration.” He has volunteered more than 2000 hrs with 25+ organizations in Canada and Pakistan and has mentored 100 plus students at Simon Fraser University in different facets. If you have any questions, please email at anajaf@sfu.ca