Time Management for NEET Aspirants
Time management skills are some of the most important skills that you can learn. It is that critical area where most of the students lack and despite of talent they get deprived of success. It is the most essential quality for a student to be successful. As a student, the most precious resource with you is time and by effectively managing it you can reach the pinnacle.
Being busy in studies is not enough for success; you should concentrate on how to have a result oriented time management. Many students spend their days in a frenzy of studies but achieve very little because they are not concentrating on the right things. This is neatly summed up in the Pareto Principle, or the “80:20 Rule“. This argues that typically 80% of unfocussed effort generates only 20% of results. The remaining 80% of results are achieved with only 20% of the effort. While the ratio is not always 80:20, this broad pattern of a small proportion of activity generating non-scalar returns recurs so frequently as to be the norm in many areas.
Benefits of Time Management for NEET Aspirants
- It Helps You Accomplish More with Less Effort
The moment you learn how to take control of the time you have in hand, you will instantly improve your ability to get the work done on time with less effort involved and more focus. With increased focus, you’ll not lose momentum and become efficient enough to perform in the upcoming examination.
- It Improves the Decision-Making Ability
The vast syllabus and a number to study aids can leave you often confused in prioritizing the tasks. However, with great time management skills, you can easily make better decisions about how to schedule the entire day so that it becomes effective. Also, you will easily be able to eliminate the feeling of being pressurized and “less time in hand” by honing at time management skills. You’ll start to move from one task to the other quickly as the day passes.
- It’s the Key to Success
Emphasizing on the fact that time management is the ultimate key to success, it will not be false to say that it allows you to take control of your life in many positive ways. With each passing day, you will be able to make more sound decisions, have more control over situations and your efforts will prove beneficial.
- It Reduces Stress
With effective time management, you will be able to beat stress like a pro. When everything and all the stress causing situations are in full control, you’ll no longer feel stressed about the completion of the syllabus, and you will easily be able to meet the deadlines set by you. In addition, you will have a clearer picture of the goal and how you plan to achieve.
· It Gives You Time Out to Relax
We understand that the NEET syllabus is vast and wide, but, engrossing yourself in studies 24 hours a day is not a good practice. Like everyone else, you also need some time to relax and unwind. With effective time management skills, you will easily be able to give your mind and body the time it needs to unwind. Making sure that your mind is at peace (without any tension about the syllabus) at least for an hour in the day will prove fruitful for you in the future.
- It Makes You Disciplined
Self-discipline is highly valuable when you have opted for NEET coaching online. With time management skills, you will leave no room for procrastination. As time passes, you’ll get better not only at time management but also in disciplining day and yourself.
Now that you have a clear idea of how time management will help you in scoring well and getting a step closer to your dream of making it big in the medical field, it’s about time that you start getting at it. From taking help of your parents to fellow aspirants.
Essential Time management tools
- Define Target(s)
- Action Plan
- Time Table
- Deciding your study priorities
- Define Target(s) – What you want to achieve
You must state in your diary – “what is my Target?” It should be a precise statement like “I want to secure at least 90% marks in Board examinations” instead of a vague statement like “I want to be successful in Board examinations”.
Stating precise target helps you in visualizing and planning your efforts and the more you reiterate it the more you become psychologically closer to it. Soon it becomes part of your thinking and internally you become more committed to achieve it.
- Action Plan – Small Scale Planning
An Action Plan is a list of tasks that you have to carry out to achieve an objective. Wherever you want to achieve something, draw up an action plan. This allows you to concentrate on the stages of that achievement, and monitor your progress towards it.
To draw up an Action Plan, simply break up your syllabus and assign them completion dates. Let us understand in this way that you study for 7 hours in a day but you should also know that in those seven hours how much you should complete
- Time Table – Finding Out How You Really Spend Your Time
Time Table helps you to analyze how you actually spend your time. The first time you use the time table you may be shocked to see the amount of time that you waste! Memory is a very poor guide when it comes to this – it is too easy to forget time spent in non productive activities, talking to friends, watching TV etc.
You may also be unaware that your energy levels may vary through the day – most people function at different levels of effectiveness at different times. Your effectiveness may vary depending on the amount of sugar in your blood, the length of time since you last took a break, routine distractions, stress, discomfort, or a range of other factors. There is also some good evidence that you have daily rhythms of alertness and energy.
Time table is a useful tool for auditing the way that you use your time. It can also help you to study in your most productive hours depending on your energy, alertness effectiveness throughout the day
- Deciding your study Priorities
An important part of focusing on results is working out what to focus on! Many students work very hard all day in an unplanned and unstructured way that does not actually affect the quality of their work.
Your priority can be decided by looking in three areas viz. clarifying what you enjoy, understanding what your strengths and weaknesses are, and working out what constitutes excellent performance.
(a) Studying what you don’t enjoy
Normally a student spends more time on the subject he likes. Liking is developed by interest and interest is developed by having more understanding of the subject. Here you should be cautious that you should not be biased for those subjects in which you develop less interest, because weaker area needs more attention.
(b) Your strengths and weaknesses
It is also important to know what your talents and weaknesses are. Say for example you have good memory but can’t sit for long hours then you can plan your study hours having small breaks of 5-10 minutes in between. You may be good in some subjects but weak in others in that case either you should consult good teachers in your weak subjects or discuss with your friends who are good in that. If you understand a topic fast but forget also soon then you should make notes while studying.