Hey guys, it's Leah from leah4sci.com and in this video we're going to do something
a little different.
I'm going to show you how to create a study schedule that focuses in Organic Chemistry
but also gives you time for everything else because let's face it, you need to put in
about 10-20 hours a week for Orgo but that's not all you have on your schedule.
You have other classes that you have to study for.
Maybe you have a family, you have work, you have different things that need to be balanced
together and if you know how to plan for it, then you're more likely to be successful not
just in Orgo but in everything.
I want you to imagine a day where you have the entire day to study.
Say it's a saturday and you know tomorrow sunday I can study all day.
So you wake up, you're motivated, you're determined.
But since I have all day let me go to the gym first, let me do some chores first, do
couple of errands, and before you know it, half the day is gone But if you have a schedule
to follow, even if you don't stick to it a hundred percent.
If you can get 80% of that schedule, you know what you have to do, you know when you have
to do it and you are much more likely to get a lot done, not just your homework but` all
the other requirements if you plan for it.
The first thing is to figure out what is expected of you.
What is it that you have to fit into your schedule?
So take out a pen and paper and make two list.
The first one you're gonna title, Non-flexible commitments, these are things that have to
be done at a specific time and the second one will be flexible commitments.
These are things you have to do but it doesn't matter when you do it so long as you get it
done.
Non-flexible commitments could be things like school because you have to show up to class
at a specific time.
Same with work, if you have family, things to take care of like dropping your kids off
school then picking them up.
And then other things like appointments, church, or something that happens at a specific time
each week.
For flexible commitments, these are things that you have to get done whenever, but they
just have to get done.
The top priority that we're focusing on is homework.
This would be reading before, reviewing after class, doing study problems like Orgo Mechanisms
reactions, all that fun stuff and papers, assignments, anything else that's required
for school.
This is where a lot of students fail.
Instead of just guessing every week what you have to do, think back to the last two weeks,
how many hours did you have to put in?
how many hours of studying, of reading, of practice and figure this out for every single
class then round up just in case.
And we're not just looking just to get by with the bare minimum, when the exam rolls
around, you wanna make sure that you're not staying up all night cramming, you wanna be
prepared in advance.
So when you're figuring out the hours per week for studying, think about what it takes
to get ahead, to review after class, to do your homework, and then imagine that everyday
is the day before a quiz.
How many hours a week will it take you to be ready for that quiz tomorrow.
In organic chemistry, I recommend a minimum of 10 hours, 20 if you can afford it but at
least 10 hours.
Now figure this out for every class.
Other flexible commitments would include chores, errands, taking care of yourself, showering,
eating, sleeping right, these are very very important.
Family events like cooking, cleaning, having dinner with the family, feeding your kids,
feeding your pets and working out.
Yes, no matter how busy your schedule is, you still want to have some time for physical
activity so that you stay sharp and healthy during the semester.
And then, this is what most people tend to sacrifice, you wanna add in some sanity time.
Instead of feeling guilty for spending time with your significant other, make a plan to
have date night once a week, have girls night out, guys night out, personal time where you
can just do the things that maybe you feel guilty doing like watching netflix, or movies,
or tv, or just whatever it is that you like to do, if you plan for that and you earn that
by doing the rest of your week's requirements you're gonna feel happy that you have the
time for that.
And did I mention eating? trust me I work with a lot of students and they tend not to
leave time for food.
If you're the type of person who will study and eat at the same time, that's okay, but
you need time to get your food, you need time to prepare your food and maybe time to clean
up after.
Make sure you leave time for that so that you don't feel guilty.
It takes you 10 minutes to make food but at the same time you can have to eat while studying.
If you don't have it on your list yet, pause the video and make it a list because you're
gonna need that one as we start the schedule.
The schedule I'm gonna show is a sample of a student I'm working with who is a full time
student but it doesn't mean that this doesn't apply to you.
When I show you how to put in commitments, put in your commitments.
School, work, family, all of that and this is where the list helps.
So work off your list, add in the pieces the way I show you and see what you come up with.
We'll start by putting the days on your schedule, Sunday through Saturday or Monday through
Sunday however you want it organized.
The next and very important step is to write down commit to your wake up and bedtime so
that you're getting enough sleep.
Most college students do not get enough sleep and their academic suffer as a result.
This student has a target 7am wake up and 11pm bedtime.
The minimum I want you to plan for is 7 but everyone is different.
For example I need about 9 hours of sleep, you may need 8, you can do okay with 7.
Next we want to put in the non-flexible commitments because they have to happen at a specific
time.
For this student the non-flexible commitments are just classes.
I recommend doing this in colors so things stand out and color coding your different
requirements.
I'll choose blue for the classes.
On Tuesday and Thursday, she has Organic Chemistry followed by Classics.
Bio happens Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
Orgo Lab happens Monday afternoon, and Research happens Friday afternoon.
The only other commitment is church and family time that happens on Sundays so we block out
the whole first part of the day from 8 to 2.
Now that the things that have to have in a specific time are accounted for, we can go
in and add flexible commitments that have to happen but the time isn't specific.
For this student she tries to get in a workout three days a week so we plan for a morning
session, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to keep her consistent with an early wake up
and starting her day early.
When you're planning a workout, make sure you count for everything from prep time, travel
time, workout, shower, and eating.
So we have it as 8 to 10 gym plus where the plus accounts for everything.
To stay efficient and not worry about healthy eating during the week she likes to meal prep
so we have the plan for Sunday evening, takes about 3 hours so that's 5 to 8 meal prep.
And now for the fun part.
To fill out the class requirements, you already know how many hours you need a week.
Now, it's a question of not only finding where to put those hours but also making sure it
makes sense.
If you can be as strategic as possible then the studying will be more efficient and you
can be strategic in two ways.
One, putting review time right after you get out of the class, this way the materials fresh
on your mind, it's easier to review or putting preview time right before class so that you
go into class with the material already on your mind.
Same with studying and homework.
Try to do homework the day of the class or the day after class so you know the material
and you verify that you get it done rather than you leave it at the end of the week when
you maybe forget the material and risk running out of time.
Let's make a checklist and verify that we're accounting for all of the classes.
Organic Chemistry we want at least 10 hours.
Remembering it makes at least 10 hours just to learn, understand, and follow along.
Orgo lab takes her about 3 hours, this includes the pre-lab, the post-lab and any sort of
write up in calculations.
Classics takes about 3 hours of reading and writing.
Biology takes about 6 hours a week and research doesn't have any out of class requirements.
That means in addition to her classes, this student is looking to put in at least 22 hours
a week for homework and studying.
Before you start cramming that in, remember, eating breaks are not just about eating, it's
about sanity and prep.
On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, the class includes eating.
So the time after includes travel and review where the review is to make sure that she's
mentally prepared for bio class.
Since her classics class doesn't require much studying, it's more about reading and papers,
she uses the time in between to review Orgo, reviewing the concepts that where just covered
rather than preparing for the next class.
If your next class is something that does require studying, use a break like that to
preview the material so that you go into class fresh.
The break on Monday is nearly two hours, so she starts with lunch and then uses the rest
of the time to prep for Orgo Lab.
This is not any last minute desperate prep, this is simply reviewing the procedure, writing
up anything that will help her in lab and make sure she goes in and ready to go.
You never wanna leave anything for the last minute.
On Friday she has a shorter break but she also has no prep for research so this is a
lunch break.
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, if you have a day where your classes end early, take time
for lunch and then start putting in your study time.
When carving out your study time, try to understand when you're most efficient and when you would
be most productive studying.
In her case we're gonna try to put most of it Tuesday through Thursday, a little bit
on the weekend, and only catch up on Sunday so she's not cramming and doing any last minute
stressful preparing.
We plan the schedules as follows, we'll put all the homework in a thinner pen so we can
differentiate between a class and the work required for class.
We'll start with Classics which is mostly reading and papers.
12:30 to 2:00 gives her enough time to finish eating and then tackle reading or start writing
a paper.
With 90 minutes on Tuesday and Thursday that's 3 hours of classics, there! even if it's a
short block you still want to have a break, you never wanna go back to back to back because
you'll gonna burnout so we have a quick break.
And now for the fun class.
She has 2:30 to 6:00 for Organic Chemistry.
2:30 to 6:00 is really 3 and a half hours but she is not gonna be sitting for three
and a half hours.
She's gonna be studying for 45 to 90 minutes, taking a quick break, another 45 to 90 minutes,
taking a quick break and this will make sure she doesn't burnout.
So we'll account for the 7 hours recognizing that it's probably more like 6 to 6 and a
half.
On Wednesday, after Bio and after lunch, since Bio is still fresh on her mind, we're giving
her a few hours on Bio homework, that's 2.5 hours up to 6.
After Bio and a 30-minute break, we have Orgo plus lab.
This is making sure that anything left over from lab, any write-up, any calculations isn't
left to the last minute so she's not scrambling with it on Sunday night, instead she makes
sure it's done and ready to submit.
And if there's leftover time, she uses that review and preview for Organic Chemistry the
following day.
In addition we also have an hour of lab work right after lab because a lot of times it's
very easy to remember what happened, what you saw and at least start with the lab write
up.
Between the time after lab and wednesday afternoon, Orgo lab is accounted for which leaves us
just a few hours remaining for Bio and Orgo.
On Saturday, even though she tries to get up early, she doesn't have the commitment
in case she wants to sleep in, so we plan for 10 to 1 to be her Biology study block.
That's only 3 hours, but if you count in the additional preview time, 3 days a week that
does add up to 6 hours and she feels that she should get of all of her Bio time.
After a quick lunch break we are back to Organic Chemistry.
We've already accounted for 7 plus bonus time during the week so here we have another solid
3 hours from 2 to 5.
And that's it!
10 hours or 10 plus hours of Orgo are accounted for but you never wanna stop here because
even though you know how much time you need the average week, sometimes you have more
homework, sometimes you need extra time to prepare for an exam and sometimes life gets
in the way so that you don't get to all your study blocks.
And I like to prepare for that by putting in bonus for catch up sessions throughout
your week so that even if something comes up you have plan, catch up time so that you're
not derailed.
And this is what we plan for her in addition to her regular study time.
5:30 to 7:30 on Saturday is catch-up time and then she has the rest of the evening off.
And then Sunday after she finishes lunch with her family but before she starts meal prep,
that gives her about 3 hours to catch up on anything that just didn't get done over the
week but we'll make sure that she doesn't start the week behind, that she starts the
week having completed all her homework and ideally ahead in all of her classes.
Let's take a look at the evening part of her schedule.
Notice that nearly everyday, her studying finishes about 5 to 6PM.
All her studying happens at the library but once she's done she goes home, have dinner,
take some time to relax, and then, remember with a class like Organic Chemistry you can
never study enough.
She has pressure free study time at night.
So this isn't sit down and do homework because there is an assignment due but rather this
is watching videos on youtube or the study hall where she can pre-learn the material
or see examples worked out or just get more comfortable seeing organic chemistry or biology
come to life.
This happens Monday through Thursday because Friday is a planned date night or night off.
In this way she has no guilt issue once she takes the evening off and absolutely no studying.
And on the weekends she also takes the evening off because who wants to study late night
on the weekend anyway?
And the last thing that we didn't show on the schedule but I definitely want you to
include that is the digital curfew where you use 1 hour to wind down and not look at your
phone, your computer, your tv, nothing digital to stimulate your brain before bed.
And then 11pm bedtime to make sure that she's well rested and able to follow her schedule.
Now I realize that your schedule might not be as simple as the one I just showed but
hopefully you were able to fit in the pieces.
To see this schedule in detail and a few more samples that actually show work time and family
time, visit my website leah4sci.com/OrgoSchedule.
If you can't find all the hours you need for studying or you want a little more time to
review, first make sure you have as many study blocks as you can and then see if you can
implement some time hacks, I'll show you a few examples also on the link below leah4sci.com/orgoschedule.