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More important than intelligence, this skill enables college success

Time Managment > Smarts
For college students, success depends more on time management than intelligence. (Photo illustration)

Intelligence is not the most important skill to cultivate for collegiate studies. Yes, having a solid educational foundation is valuable, but basic intelligence alone does not guide college students through perpetual essays and homework assignments.

Time management skills are much more important than intellect. For our student body as a whole, if we manage our time properly and understand when it is appropriate to spend time with friends or engage in other extra-curricular activities, we can set ourselves up for success. 

Oftentimes, I hear friends and peers scrutinizing themselves for not being smart enough for the class that they are in, but being smart in itself is not what earns you an A in a class. Anyone can succeed in most classes by setting aside sufficient time for studying, visiting a tutor and working with professors.

Cornell College researched the typical college student days and provided a schedule for how to manage your time via calendar. "You have approximately 16 waking hours a day to spend on this 'job' of academia. We can assume you might spend 2-4 hours in class, 2-3 hours socializing (a sports team, a club, activity, playing video games or just talking with friends), 2 hours eating and 2 hours in hygiene/chores. That leaves 5-8 hours a day for studying. You can imagine that 4-5 hours of that might be spent in reading. Then 1-3 hours might be spent in reviewing for future test or writing a portion of a paper."

By following the above schedule and mapping out how to spend time, students would become wildly successful in their studies because of how much effort is being spent on studying.

It sounds great in practice, but the real struggle is putting this effective plan together and staying disciplined enough to follow it. Most of us have friends, clubs and other extra-curricular activities that pull us from our textbooks. We must remind ourselves why we came to college in the first place and abide by a schedule that effectively finishes our tasks first, then allows for social engagement.

Cengage Learning conducted a 2015 Student Engagement Insights survey in which the company asked collegiate scholars about the effects of college life on their time management skills. The results revealed that 53 percent of the 3,000 students believe that it is more difficult to manage your time in college than in high school. A little surprising considering how much freedom is given to students after high school. 

An overwhelming number of students described that their responsibilities changed drastically when they got to college. Their new environment required them to adapt by managing their time in a different manner. For example, many students described how the transition was challenging at first, but once they settled into a routine, they were able to succeed with their studies after applying structure to their transformed lives. Some students are more successful at adapting to a new environment than others, highlighting how important it is to start transitioning towards independence at an early age.

Most of the struggles students encounter when they first come to college is what they decide to do in their free time. The decision to sit down and shut out all forms of entertainment is troublesome for everyone, including myself. The TV probably looks pretty entertaining, and the bed sure looks comfortable to nap on, but we have to fight that urge to procrastinate and hit the books if we want to succeed in our studies.

Our cellphones and laptops only exacerbate the issue because they provide entertainment from around the world with only a finger swipe or a web search. But by designating specific time slots in which we disregard these distractions, students as a whole will see indubitable results.

It is important that we all take the time to gather our tasks together, designate times throughout the day to work on studies and list our assignments and other tasks on the calendar. By simply keeping track of what assignments need to be completed, we will be more inclined to finish them while also enjoying that exhilarating feeling of slashing it off the to-do list. By bringing more organization and strengthening our time management skills, we will flourish in our collegiate studies no matter how intelligent each individual in our student body is.

Related Links:

You can procrastinate later

Balancing time management


Reach the columnist at Graham.Paul@asu.edu or follow @GrahamASUpress on Twitter.

Editor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.

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