Why Students Should Have a Study Plan for College

It is also stressful, a lot of work, a time when young people become young adults and learn to juggle more responsibilities than they've probably managed so far. College is a transformative experience.

Having self-motivated discipline is an important part of the college experience. Tutors and professors aren't going to be waking you up on a morning. No one is going to tell you to attend class, or submit an essay, or do a piece of work. College is perhaps the first time in a young person's life when they have total freedom and the responsibility to go with it.

Sure, there are consequences if you don’t attend classes or submit work on time. But it's up to you to have the motivation and time management skills to manage to-do lists and get everything done on time and in the right order.

For each course, there are modules. Some are compulsory. Others are electives. In order to achieve the grades you need in the subjects you want, you’ve got to sit enough courses every year to achieve a successful grade point average (GPA), based on your goals.

At the start of every academic year, and especially when you are starting college for the first time, this can seem overwhelming. New college students can get stressed when the amount of work they need to do is presented to them. As course teachers and tutors explain modules and workloads, the stress can build.

Students need a way to map out what they need to do. To plan ahead. A study plan is an answer.

1. Know what needs doing and when
Mapping this out, chronologically and according to different course units makes this less scary and stressful. Instead of a mountain of work stretching to the horizon, each course is broken down into bite size and more manageable chunks of work. You can then map out when each unit of work needs doing, clearly see when there are deadlines and have a rough idea of how much time is available to get everything done.

2. Plan the rest of your time

College isn’t only about studying.

There is a lot of studying, of course. It seems to increase as you move up the years. But students also often get themselves involved in extracurricular activities, sports, social groups and societies, work, and have an active social life.

College is about the holistic experience. Doing and enjoying college life as much as you can. So with a study plan, you can map out other activity commitments (such as the time different sports are played or when extracurricular groups meet) alongside academic work, to get a clear picture of what you are doing next.

Plans can change during college. Something will come up, or something will happen, and suddenly you can’t study one day. The good thing is, you’ve got a plan: you aren't going to forget what needs doing and you can more easily rearrange.

If one thing students are good at, it’s cramming for something last minute. Studying is always less appealing - even when someone is enjoying a course - when there are other things to do. And with social media and online distractions, students have even more reasons for putting work off.

Having a study plan keeps people disciplined, focused and can keep you on track even when plans change and distractions take over.

With a plan for the year and term, students can focus more. Staying on track, even when college life can get turbulent and challenging, with numerous other activities and distractions, can help ensure students get the grades they need.

With a study plan, that you can create using apps such as Prepler, you can plan your time more effectively and map out a clear route to achieving the grades you need. If you’re already in college and feel like it’s taking too long to graduate or if you would like to improve a study plan - use Prepler AI to automatically calculate the shortest path to get the grades you need.