How to Create a Daily, Weekly, and Monthly Study Plan?
It is a proven fact that for success in any field, a well-structured plan is very important. Not only in now a days, but also from history and various historical events the importance of well-structured plan was understood to the people of various backgrounds therefore earlier people used to took extra time to plan out things before putting them in action. The importance of planning can be understood from these lines of Abraham Lincoln: “If I have six hours to chop down a tree, I’ll spend the four hours to sharpen the knife.”. Although planning is equally important for every age group, yet for students planning plays a very important role in shaping their career and further life. In this blog, we’ll see how students can create a daily, weekly, and monthly study plan. This would help the students to strategize their day more efficiently.
Study Plan
Students can be broadly divided into two types: the first one is those who work hard but don’t have any planning, and the second one is those who work hard but have a structured and organized plan. Planning for students means how they should divide their 24 hours with maximum efficiency. Those student who plan these 24 hours effectively have highest probability of achieving their goals. In today’s world, where most of the students are preparing for some competitive examination, the role of a study plan becomes much more important. However, students have this doubt about whether they should prepare a daily study plan, a weekly study plan, or a monthly study plan.
No doubt all three daily, monthly, and weekly study plans have their own importance, but from a student’s point of view, it becomes quite challenging to choose and follow among the three. To help students, let us look at each of the three study plans.
Daily Study Plan:
Daily study planning is very important for students. It provides them an idea about what they have to do on that particular day. A daily study plan helps in time management and decision-making and increases the efficiency of the students. Also, it helps the students to study with better focus and concentration, which eventually results in better academic performance.
Let us see how students can divide their 24 hours. Although different students have different timetables, in this blog, we would focus only on the students preparing for competitive exams like GATE, ESE, RRB JE, SSC JE, CSE, etc.
| Time (in hours) | Activity |
|---|---|
| 6-7 hours | Sleep |
| 7-8 hours | Study the concepts |
| 2 hours | Revision |
| 2 hours | Practice |
| 3 hours | Eating and other miscellaneous activities |
| 2 hours | Relaxation |
This is how aspirants should divide their 24 hours. Readers should note that this study plan is just for indication. Aspirants can change this as per their needs and schedule.
Weekly Study Plan:
Weekly study plan is important because in the current fast paced time it is very normal that students might get overburdened with the assignments, studies, exam preparation and other things. A weekly study plan helps the students/aspirants to manage their weekly routine as well as helps them to cover their weekly goals without getting overburdened. Let us look at some of the benefits of a weekly study plan.
- Improves time management skills: A weekly study plan helps in improving the time management of aspirants. Generally, those aspirants who keep a check on their weekly plan find it easier to manage their time effectively.
- Brings consistency in studies: A weekly study plan helps the aspirants to focus on their aim. Aspirants know that they have a certain aim, which they have to finish in a particular period of time. A weekly study plan brings a sense of discipline and constancy in studies among candidates.
- Reduces stress: A weekly study plan helps in reducing stress because with a weekly study plan, aspirants have an idea about the goal that they have to complete within a week, and following a daily study plan religiously helps them to achieve that goal.
- Increases flexibility and adaptability: Many times it happens that on some days, due to some reasons, aspirants could not complete their daily study goals, which can affect their motivation. Setting up weekly goals and following weekly study plans helps the aspirants to focus on long term goals rather then wasting their precious time on daily goals, no doubt that completion daily goals helps in completion of weekly goals, but as said above, it is not possible that every day is as efficient as the previous day and hence setting up weekly study plans provides a liberty to the aspirants that even if one or two days they could not complete their daily goals, they still have the chance to complete the weekly goal by following the weekly study plan.
- Improves performance: Weekly study plan helps to improve the performance aspirants as with weekly study plan candidates have enough time to complete the weekly goals.
These are some of the benefits of a weekly study plan. Let us have a look at what candidates should focus on while selecting weekly goals and setting up a weekly study plan.
Setting up weekly goals and weekly study plans helps the aspirants to focus on studies with less stress and ensures that they move progressively towards their goals. Some important areas where aspirants should focus while setting up weekly goals and weekly study plan.
- Dead line: As clear from the name, aspirants should set a time limit of one week.
- Strength and weakness: Before setting up any target, aspirants should keep eye on their strength and weakness.
- Long term goal: Before setting any weekly study plan, aspirants should remember their long-term goal. Whether they want to prepare for any competitive exam or they want to excel in academics, it all depends upon the aspirants/students what they select their long term goal.
- Don’t get overloaded with work: While selecting the weekly goal, it is important that the goal be realistic. Aspirants should not choose such a goal that makes them overburdened and stressed.
- Don’t ignore daily plans: Weekly study plans are based upon the daily study plans. While setting up the weekly plans and goals, aspirants should keep an eye on their daily study plan.
These are some of the points where aspirants/students should focus before setting up weekly study plan. Let us have an example of how candidates can set their weekly plan along with a daily plan.
Imagine an aspirant decided that he has to complete the chapter “Transformer” from electrical machines in one week. Now to complete this goal, aspirants would have to follow a daily study plan that would include a step-by-step process to complete the chapter. This would include studying concepts as per the exam syllabus, practicing questions, and revising on a daily basis for the complete week, and if aspirants follow this regularly, then they can complete the chapter within a week.
Monthly Study Plan:
After the monthly and daily study plans, let us now look at the importance of the monthly study plan. Just like a weekly study plan helps in organizing the whole week, similarly, the monthly study plan helps in organizing the whole month. It provides a plan for the whole month. Some benefits of a monthly study plan are:
- Improves Efficiency: Just like daily and weekly study plan, monthly study plan helps in improving the productivity of the aspirants.
- Reduces anxiety and stress: A monthly study plan helps in reducing stress and anxiety among aspirants, as it provides them a clear picture of the goal that they have to achieve within the time period of a month.
- Develop Confidence: Setting up monthly study plan helps in developing the confidence of the aspirants.
These are some of the benefits of monthly study plan. In general, the monthly study plan is the enlarged view of the weekly study plan, so all the benefits of the weekly study plan are also applicable to the monthly study plan.
Let us see how aspirants can set up monthly study plan and what are the key areas that aspirants should focus while setting up the monthly study plan?
- Goal Setting: The monthly study plan is all about the goals that aspirants have to fulfill in the whole month. Aspirants should be very clear regarding their goals before setting up the monthly study plan.
- Prioritizing Subjects: Aspirants should prioritize their subjects or topic which they have to complete in the month.
- Time Management: Aspirants should manage their time properly, allocating enough time to each subject.
- Rest and relaxation: Most of the aspirants, while setting up a monthly study plan, don’t give enough importance to relaxation, believing that it to be a waste of time. However, aspirants should remember that proper relaxation is also very important for them. It gives them a time to refresh themselves and prepare for their next goal mentally.
- Resource selection: Complete and proper resources are very important for the completion of any plan. Before setting up monthly study plan, aspirants should properly arrange all the resources which they would require in completion of their goal.
- Study environment: Aspirants should ensure a proper study environment; it should be free of distractions and have an ample amount of light and air with all the resources in one place.
These are some key areas where aspirants should focus before setting up the monthly study plan. Focusing on these areas would help aspirants in the completion of their goals. These are just a few suggestions, and aspirants can modify them as per the requirement and situation.
Setting up goals and study plans definitely helps aspirants, but only if the aspirants start taking the steps; otherwise, just making study plans and not doing anything to achieve them would be just a waste of time and energy.
FAQs:
How many hours should a GATE aspirant study?
Answer: It all depends upon the aspirants as well as on their strengths and weakness. However instead of focussing on quantity of time, aspirants should focus on quality of study.
How can I write my study plan?
Answer: To prepare study plan, aspirants should first look at the goal which they want to achieve after that they should look at the time they have to complete their goal and then prepare their plan to finish that goal.
How much time is required to prepare for SSC JE?
Answer: The time required to prepare for SSC JE depends on how strong an individual’s fundamentals are. If the basic concepts are clear and well understood, the preparation time for SSC JE will be lesser.
What is the best routine for study?
Answer: The best routine for study is depends upon individual. Aspirants should prepare their study routine as per their conditions.
