1. first year engineering
Managing Your Time in
first year engineering
Managing Your time at University
By Learning Strategies Development Queen’s University, Kingston
This presentation focuses on HOW you can improve your time management.
Most strategies are simple and take a short time to implement, help you organize your schoolwork, and also help you achieve a healthy balance in your personal life.
The strategies are grouped around central themes:
·        awareness of your current habits and values
·        goal setting and prioritizing
·        organization
·        procrastination.
The themes follow in a sequential order, but you can also view the themes individually according to your needs.
So, let’s begin with our first theme of becoming aware of your current habits and values.
Adapted from :
Learning Strategies Development
Queen’s University

2. Three part process
Become
Aware
Get
Organized
Set
Goals

3. Three part process
Become
Aware
Get
Organized
Set
Goals

4. Research shows: Practicing effective time management skills can increase your overall average by 10-15%!
AND (more importantly!)
You will get more out of your courses,
enjoy the subjects more, and
be less stressed out.

5. Developing good time management habits is a life-long journey… Where are you starting from?

6. My planner is a thing of beauty. Procrastination is for other people
My planner is a thing of beauty. Procrastination is for other people. I hand in projects before the teacher even has a folder to put them in.
I’ve got all my due dates written down, and try to start bigger projects well in advance. I do struggle a bit with motivation when the deadlines are far away, or I don’t really enjoy the course though.
My planning horizon is about two days ahead. More than once I’ve been surprised when my friends remind me about a deadline that I had forgotten…
Planning ruins my spontaneity. I feel most alive at 4 AM, wired on Reb Bull, blitzing the 10-page report that is due in 3 hours.

7. Which of those students is likely to understand the material better?
Which of those students is most likely to overwhelmed when several deadlines hit at once?
Which of those students do you want to work with for each Mod 3 project deadline?

8. Your First Year in Engineering
You are engineering students!
You have more courses than students in other faculties.
You have no ‘easy’ courses.
So how much studying are we talking about?

9. There are 168 hours in each week to do EVERYTHING
Eat
Sleep
Study
Exercise, socialize, hobbies, volunteer, etc.

10. Activity
Hours
YOU TIME
168

11. Activity
Hours
Sleep (7 x 8) 56
YOU TIME
112

12. Activity
Hours
Sleep (7 x 8) 56
In-Class 26
YOU TIME 86

13. Activity
Hours
Sleep (7 x 8) 56
In-Class 26
Studying time
YOU TIME 60

14. Activity
Hours
Sleep (7 x 8) 56
In-Class 26
Studying time
Eating/exercise/showering (7 x 6) 42
YOU TIME 18

15. So…. not a lot of wiggle room. TIME MANAGEMENT IS KEY TO:
Getting the most of out of studying,
Having enough time for yourself, and
Not feeling guilty about it!

16. Start well, Monitor, Analyse, Revise
Today you will set up a weekly schedule to manage your time.
Monitor:
Just before mid-terms, monitor your time use and revise if you need to.

17. Three part process
Become
Aware
Get
Organized
Set
Goals

18. Goals:
Help us determine a direction
Assess whether we are on track
Enables us to celebrate our achievements!
Goals should be:
Realistic
Specific
Measurable

19. Sample time management goals
I will make a weekly work plan, and follow that schedule at least 5 days out of 7.
I will schedule brief nightly review sessions, and will complete those every weeknight.
In the first three weeks, I will start every Mastering homework at least 3 days before it is due.

20. Three part process
Become
Aware
Get
Organized
Set
Goals

21. Strategies for Organizing
Scheduling : reserving time for LEARNING material as well as doing assigned work
Organizing: your study space, your notes in binders with tabs, find old exams early in the term…..
Analyzing: is my schedule working? Am I focusing on the right things? Should I rearrange things to improve?
Most important

22. Building your own time-managed weekly schedule
You need to know your section number (e.g. 04, 10)
If you do not know your section number, sign on to SOLUS.
From the ‘other academic…’ drop down menu, select ‘Class Schedule’.
Your section number shows up in the last two numbers of your tutorial and labs.
(E.g. ‘207’ – Section 07)

23. Guidelines
Problem sets are best done in 1-2 hour block times - try to schedule these an evening or two before tutorials.
For weekly Mastering/Webwork try and schedule 2-3 days they close so you have time to ask about problems you can’t do right away
Reserve at least 30 minutes for clean-up and review time at the end of every class day!

24. APSC 111 PHYSICS APSC 171 CALCULUS APSC 131 CHEMISTRY APSC 151
Course
Requirements
APSC 111 PHYSICS
5 hours in total. Weekly assignments due Wednesday evenings (3 hours).
APSC 171 CALCULUS
5 hours in total. Weekly homework problems (3 hours) plus on-line assignment due Friday at 11:00 am (2 hours).
APSC 131 CHEMISTRY
3 hours in total. Weekly homework practice problems (2 hours).
Weekly Mastering Chemistry online quiz due Monday at 8:30AM (1 hour).
APSC 151
EARTH SYSTEMS
2 hours in total. Studying, and assignments given in labs to either finish then or by the next lab period (2 hours)
APSC 143 COMPUTING
3 hours in total. Additional programming problems for practice.
APSC 100 PROF ENG SKILLS
Module 1
Module 2
6 hours - Module 1 (problem solving): group work and pre-quiz work
2 hours - Module 2 (experimentation): prelab quizzes to be completed the day before your lab session.

25. Your turn: go to: http://tiny.cc/engtime
[Built as an APSC 100 Mod 3 project, and a summer Engineering student!]

26. APSC 111 PHYSICS APSC 171 CALCULUS APSC 131 CHEMISTRY APSC 151
Course
Requirements
APSC 111 PHYSICS
5 hours in total. Weekly assignments due Wednesday evenings (3 hours).
APSC 171 CALCULUS
5 hours in total. Weekly homework problems (3 hours) plus on-line assignment due Friday at 11:00 am (2 hours).
APSC 131 CHEMISTRY
3 hours in total. Weekly homework practice problems (2 hours).
Weekly Mastering Chemistry online quiz due Monday at 8:30AM (1 hour).
APSC 151
EARTH SYSTEMS
2 hours in total. Studying, and assignments given in labs to either finish then or by the next lab period (2 hours)
APSC 143 COMPUTING
3 hours in total. Additional programming problems for practice.
APSC 100 PROF ENG SKILLS
Module 1
Module 2
6 hours - Module 1 (problem solving): group work and pre-quiz work
2 hours - Module 2 (experimentation): prelab quizzes to be completed the day before your lab session.

27. Check-In: how are you feeling?
I totally have this first year thing. I will still have time to join three design teams and play varsity rugby.
Some nervous butterflies, but mostly excited. I’m going to be busy but it will be okay if I work at it.
Feeling a little anxious. I know a lot of students can handle this, but I’m not sure (yet) that I’m one of them.
Okay, this is a lot of work, and it is freaking me out (at least a little bit). I would really like to talk to someone about this…

28. The hardest times are at the transitions
The hardest times are at the transitions. Talk to your FRECs, and your undergrad TAs: with time comes familiarity.
Most of you will feel a lot better about all of this in a few months!
(If during mid-terms you’re still feeling overwhelmed, come talk!)

29. Go to (your next) class! 
Now…
Go to (your next) class! 