When you are in school, it can be very difficult to effectively manage your time to get the grades you need to succeed while also maintaining a healthy and balanced social life. Admittedly, to most students, grades will help determine the direction of your future. However, it is important to be active and involved with friends, family, work and other activities and it is possible to maintain a healthy balance between the two areas of your life. Furthermore, developing and determining these skills today will help you when you have a career and other commitments.

Depending on what your personal goals are and what you are involved in, along with your current academic standing, it will be necessary for you to sit down and determine the amount of study time it will take to either continue to get the grades that you do already have or improve your score. For instance, in easy courses, the amount of time to achieve an A is considerably less than a course that is more involved, in your major, or one that you are not naturally adept at. For courses like this, it is necessary to allow yourself more time in your calendar in order to study and inevitably succeed. If you find that you need more time in one course over another, consider taking study time away from the easy class and add it to the study time for the more difficult course.

When you start a time management program for your academic and personal life, it is best to have it in an area or in a format that is easily accessible and easy to reference. Consider a calendar that can be synced between your PDA and your computer; or if you are a visual person, consider a wallboard or a dry erase board that you can hang on your wall. Make sure you put down the necessities on your calendar such as mealtimes, work schedule, class schedule and other commitments that happen regularly. From there begin to schedule your study time around those areas. You will find it is much easier to study when you treat it as a non-negotiable appointment. This technique will help you manage your time and lead you to greater success.

Remember, an effective time management plan does not happen overnight and it takes dedication and ongoing maintenance to be successful. However, this is an important skill and one that will benefit you in your future professional life.