This article will teach you how to organise university work but can also be used in High School – which to some extent is a bit harder due to the volume of subjects. To give you a bit of background I have done my Undergrad over 4 years (since I had my daughter in year 2 of University studies). I have worked for the University for over 10 years and am currently well into my PhD. Some of these things are what I wished I had done from the start, all of these things are things I do every year. And I now teach my children to do the same for their High School Studies.

I would break organising University work into the following steps:

Have a year overview calendar
Set up a study routine
Mark when assignments are due
Link all this to your weekly and daily calendar

Have an overview with a year calendar

Any form of study lives within the context of time. Depending on what study you do it will be semester, trimesters or even 4 terms. Within these sections, you need to achieve something and you will have clearly divined breaks.

I like to break the year down into the breaks I have so I can see essentially what is going to be my next sprint. When you learn how to organise university work you will find that there are specific study weeks and breaks even within semesters. Planning your year means you utilise these, to deal with the ebbs and flows that accompanies any study.

Set up a study routine

It is tempting to fall into the trap of doing nothing for weeks and then do a crash course writing an essay and studying for an exam. Most High Achieving (and relaxed) students don’t do this. They have a set and very easy-to-follow routine where they study. It took me a couple of years to find mine. I am a morning person, the morning hours are allocated for me to do Deep Work. For example, read complex information for my PhD, do a difficult work project, or write the pages for this website. I don’t specify exactly what I will be doing from 7 -10 am on April 5th weeks from then. I do have a year plan and based on this, I know it will be either something for my PhD studies or a work project. Whereas December and January are a time to write, think and read widely.

Even if you just activate this for during semesters or school terms what time a day will you sit down and do your homework?

Where will you be?
What will you have with you?
Will all your needs (like food, drink and a bathroom) be met?

Example of study routines

Working parent – PhD student

I go out every morning and have one or two coffees whilst I work on my deep work project of that week / day. This is a routine I do this pretty much every day during the year, I won’t be on the exact same location but I have a shortlist of coffee shops I like to work in. It meets the needs of being away (a novel environment), silence or simple background sound, food, drink, and a bathroom nearby.

Full-Time University Student

For a University student, their study routine might be every afternoon (if you want to stick to Monday – Friday) or every evening from 7-9 pm in the library. You can pick some of your perfect spots in the library make sure you have eaten before you start, have a drink with you etc.

The first week or so you do this don’t expect miracles. If you have found a spot and time that works for you the miracle will start to unfold over time. You will be on top of small reading assignments. You understand what to do before the big assignment weeks before it is due. If you are in the library you can find references either paper-based or electronic. They are micro habits you do for a short time most days, and after a while you feel funny not doing it. When it is exam/assignment time you will mainly be doing a review as you will be miles ahead of your peers.

High School student

The temptation might be to tell yourself to always do x subject on a specific day and for some subjects this works. My daughter has tutoring for maths so Friday is Maths day. Overall I think being strict with your study times but flexible with what you do during your study time is important. You can roll with what assignments you have. If it is a light day, don’t skip, do something simple that moves the needle forward.

Ask yourself:

When is my next assignment?
Can you do a little background research for a specific topic in Maths or History? You can even watch a YouTube clip on the topic.
What do I find difficult?
- Do deliberate practise on this.

How to organise university work - Books to read

The best author and thinker in the field of studying is in my view Cal Newport. If you want to learn how to organise university work or any study his books are all amazing.

How to become a Straight A student
Deep Work
So good they can’t ignore you
Digital minimalism
A world without email

And the list keeps growing.

I also loved the work by Barbara Oakley, especially her books:

A mind for numbers
Learning how to learn
- This last one is also a free MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) – free online course

It makes sense (in retrospect) to learn how to learn before you actually learn. Any investment you make in this space will be dividends later in your semester or degree.

How to organise university work, some concepts to grasp

If you want to be a productive but also relaxed student, who has a life outside of academics I suggest you become familiar with the following terms.

Deep Work

When you study you work hard, you go deep. That is why the habit of time and place is important if you have found something that works for you, you should become lost in your work. The background will blur and the hours pass quickly. Cal Newport has written a whole book about it.

A flow state

When you have regular study sessions your mind and brain will get in the zone faster/ easier. It is basic association, I am here and therefore I do…..study…

Deliberate practise

People that have achieved incredible feats with study/memory/language learning and physical sports often have the concept of deliberate practice ingrained as one of their skills to become better each day.

What they do is they don’t go over the stuff they already know, they deliberately find the things that are tricky, difficult or they don’t remember. And most of their time is spend on improving the difficult things. This isn’t as fun but it will help you, learn, grow, achieve and remember more than if you stay within your comfort zone.

Both Scott Young from Ultralearning, Barbara Oakley from a mind for numbers, and Benny Lewis from Fluent in 3 months have the same tread in their arguments for “smart learning” do the hard stuff most of the time. Do it for a short amount of time and in line with my teachings then relax, do something else.

Rest

You cannot study at a deep complex level for 8 hours a day – if you do please send me a note. Most research indicates people only have 4 hours of deep work in them per day. That is why being deliberate about when you are on and off is important. Your unconscious mind can keep on working on your assignments whilst you sleep, exercise or hang out with friends. Tomorrow you will pick things up faster and better than before as your neurons have been busy making connections since you stopped – which is a big part of the actual learning process.

**Talking about books**

If you like to learn you’ll love any of my Organsing books.

Check out the Books Here

Some skills you might not have thought off

These ideas might be out of left field if you commit and learn these things your life will become so much easier.

Touch typing

I was fortunate enough to learn how to touch type in Europe whilst I did my High School. I joke it is the best / only skill I learned those 4 years. Touch typing makes jobs, assignments, general life a lot easier. It requires an investment of time and persistence but this might be a great starting point to start your study routine as it will clearly show you where you are up to and the progress you are making.

Speed reading

The opinions on this are divided. People ask is it humanly possible for to you speed read? Will you get everything? I started speed reading in my second year of University but really become very comfortable with it when I did a Jim Kwik course to refresh.

My take is do you remember every word if you read slowly? No. You will also not see every word when you speed read.

However, if you combine reading fast with:

Note-taking
Studying deeply
Reading selected sections a bit slower
Thinking deeply about your topic
Deliberately covering and practising material you don’t know

You will be miles ahead from someone who painstakingly reads every word (and mentally drifts off after 15 minutes). One of my PhD supervisors stated recently “there are different types of reading”. Indicating that you cannot read every article, textbook etc. in great detail and neither should you. You need to understand and be able to apply the material you learn.

In my experience which is supported in the works of Cal Newport and Barbara Oakley. First, you need to get the gist of what is being said. What is the flavour of the argument? Do you like the style? What is their main point? If you can answer these questions from any text you are learning actively which is what we are after.

If I had to sum up the secret to how to organise University work it would be as follows:

Good quality learning for short periods of time as a daily habit.

If you have any questions please reach out I love talking about this topic and seeing how things can be tweaked for you.