The next thing is to plan your time for study. The best approach is to include both your study and leisure activities (eg. sport, watching your favourite television programme, gaming etc) on your ‘one-week study & leisure timetable’. You can fit your leisure activities around your study times or your study times around your leisure activities. Go to Appendix I at the end for an example of a blank ‘one-week timetable’- print off a number of copies.

Each day of the week is divided into hourly time slots. Bearing in mind the recommended daily hours of study for your year, insert your study periods in groups of hourly and half-hourly slots.

Since non-study activities like mealtimes, household chores, part-time jobs, training/matches etc., may have set times, it is better to fill these in first. Perhaps parents or class teachers may be able to help younger students in completing this very important task.

Remember to make plenty of photocopies of the chart before you use it so that you will have spare ones to fill in if your timetable changes. You may also need to experiment with different timetables over a few weeks before you get the balance right.

Once you have  settled on a workable version try your very best to stick with it. Routine makes the work easier. You will also see that there is more to your life than  school and study and, at the same time, feel content in the knowledge that you are getting the work done and making great progress.