Study Techniques
S.S.M.R : Schedule

It's not always obvious what study techniques to use but you'll find that most of them use bits of the SSMR.  This first page of the Schedule section explains how to work out what it is you need to learn.

Which Way?

You might be thinking I know what I need to learn but I suggest you have a more in depth read of these schedule study techniques pages.  Often you're so keen to start that you forget to look where you're going to.

Let's take an easy example, you're going to visit some friends by car.  Unfortunately when you get into the car it won't start so you decide to go by bus instead.  If you don't know anything about busses you go and phone up the bus company and ask how to get to where you want to be.  You don't just wander down the road and hope that the right bus will turn up.

Well study is like that bus story.  You need to know where you are going and get some directions before any other study techniques are going to be effective.

When you start a course, part time or full time, you get given a list of lectures and often a reading list.  These are you starting point for figuring out what to do.  But if you want all the SSMR study techniques to succeed you need to gather a few more bits of information before you start to schedule.

What Is Your Motivation

To be able to schedule effectively you need to focus on what it is you need to achieve.  Generally there are two ways of looking at a course:

"I'm doing this because it's my passion"

"I'm doing this because I want to pass the exams"

Don't get me wrong, I know you can want both but generally one is more important that the other.  Understanding which fits your mind set will really help you to understand you motivation.  Once you understand your motivation you can produce a schedule that is easy to follow.

If you haven't thought about this before take some time now and think about it.  Be honest.  It is really important to understand your motivation.  Let me try to help by explaining my motivations for my studies.

I initially studied for a Bachelor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.  I then went out to work and at a point in time I decided I was ready to study my MBA.

For my first degree I was really only focused on passing the exams.  I just wanted a degree from a great University so that I'd get a good job.  However when I studied for my MBA my study techniques were very different.  Although I wanted to pass my primary motivation was to learn about business.

In both cases I had a study technique that worked and worked well.  If I hadn't understood my motivations I'm sure I would have found things much harder.

With my first degree if I'd tried to learn and get really deeply into the subject I'd have been frustrated.  I wanted to go out and party!  I didn't want to learn all the extra maths and so on I wanted to pass and move on.

However with my MBA I found it easy to give up my weekends and weeknights because I really wanted to learn.  I was motivated.

Hopefully by now you'll agree that the first part of developing the SMMR study techniques has to be understanding your motivation.  If you're still a bit unsure don't worry take a day or so to let it roll around in your mind?

Gather Schedule Information

Armed with your motivation it's time to look at the next part of the SSMR techniques; how to draw up the actual study schedule.  But just before you go there you need to get a few extra bits of information:

• the length of your academic terms

• the number of tutorials and times

• the timings of exams and their duration

• dates for any big personal events, parties, birthday etc

• a breakdown of your subjects in the order they'll be taught

• any coursework requirements and timings

Okay you're ready to go to the detailed schedule creation part of the study techniques section.