Let’s face it, time management is a crucial skill, and one of the necessities of IB. No matter how we start the year, sometimes we might find ourselves off the track. Drowning between assessments, mocks, final exams, and CAS. This results to us getting lost and finding ourselves in an infinite loop of procrastination and stress. The loop might be overwhelming, tiring, and even damaging to your mental health. However, the solution is pretty simple – if you want to catch up with the work and nail the IB, here are 4 tips to put yourself back on track.
- Set your Priorities
Before deciding how to manage your time, you should know your priorities and make a priority list that contains their deadlines. This list will help you track the work, the assessments, and your life. Check your school’s timeline sheet for exams and deadlines for IB before deciding on the subjects that you want to study.
From my experience, I always start with completing my homework. Not delaying my homework allows me to see if I understand the topic thoroughly or not. Then I move on with studying. On a regular basis, I have 3-6 quizzes each month. So I make sure that I’m not falling behind in my studies. Eventually, setting these kinds of personal priorities of completing homework and studying on time, saves me lots of time and gets me through the exams with a lot of ease.
- Time Management Technique – Evenly Distribute
This technique is something I have been using in my daily life. Be it for chores, to avoid burnout or overwhelm by the stability of the day. Evenly distribute the work you have to do by the time that you are planning to be done. Let’s say you have 3 subjects to study and are planning to finish them by Thursday. DO NOT give a day to each course, instead, distribute the subjects by 1/3 and separate them to each day. This tip is helping me a lot with my Mathematics and Biology homework and studies. Those subjects are the ones I slog on the most so separating the work into a few days helps me a LOT; especially during exam week since I can see what I have done and determine the inadequacy. Also, distributing the work in this way will prevent the overwhelm and getting off track yet again.
- Productivity Apps To Keep You Tracked
If being pushed by an external source is needed for you to study then certain apps can be your hero. Rescue Time, Focus Keeper, and Evernote are some examples of apps. Those apps will help you to keep up with the work, take notes, give you personal daily goal notifications and guide you through your work. Rescue Time is a life saver! It offers various things. Such as notifications muting and focus warning and so on… There are so many options for every gadget, and I am certain that you will find an app that will help you to stay on track!
- Be Honest and Realistic With Yourself
Okay… You have come this far to manage your time though, if you did not be realistic or honest with your timeline, probably these tips will be useless. Thus, you cannot study for 8 hours other than school on weekdays. It is better to sit in that chair for 2-4 hours and get the maximum efficiency than 7-8 hours while getting zero efficiency. Efficiency is something personal, thereby, you have to determine your capacity for yourself and how you get yield from it. It could be by reading, practicing it, or testing your knowledge with some flash cards. Remember the only limit is the one you set for yourself!
All of the tips that I have shared are nothing unless you believe in yourself. Just get up, remember that your limit is only you, and acknowledge that you are not alone on that path. Starting to fix your schedule one by one might seem a lot. However, you probably will appreciate the fact that you managed and survived through it.
You may also like…
- Chloe’s insight on Time management differences between Pre- and IBDP
- Syeda’s tips on time management during IB year 1
Time management is a skill that doesn’t go stale, and I’m glad you’re posting to potentially help others. If I could add one more tip (from personal experience, having dealt with high-pressure academic environments since high school and many eras of crushing failure): Forgive yourself. You may go for years where your methods keep you on track and successful, and it’s important to celebrate those, but you are probably going to become overwhelmed at some point: over-commitment, a life tragedy, a particularly vicious case of depression, etc. You will fall behind or feel like you’ve irreparably messed up, and it’s important to know that your value is not compromised because of it and that you can recover. Forgiveness is part of good time management because you can pick yourself up and recover faster if you are being a supportive voice for yourself.