When you consider the whole area of time management with regard to college, generalisations must be avoided.

There are just so many variations of college life.  Indeed numerous factors come into play.  You might have 11 hours of lectures every week or you might have 40, when you take all lectures, periods in the laboratory and tutorials into consideration.

After that, how much time does it take to travel to and from college?  Do you work part-time?  Do you have family commitments?  Are you heavily involved in the clubs and societies at college?

Then of course, after all of this comes the social side meeting friends for a coffee or a drink and so on.  Finally, you also have to fit in term essays, projects and required reading for your course.  There is hardly time left to rest!

The "you- can-do-it" mentality would be very easy to advocate here.  However, everyone operates in different ways and it is important that you prioritise and manage your time accordingly and to your own specialised plan.  It is all about weighing the academic and social sides of college against your commitments outside of college to create a healthy and successful balance.

A few helpful tips for studying with regard to exams:

• Check out the academic calendar for the year, i.e. when exams are scheduled or essays (this information is generally handed out to all students in the first two weeks, however, if it does not come into your possession then do not be afraid to request it from your various lecturers).

This will help you map out your year as regards when you will be under pressure with work and when you will be able to relax.
 

• Attend all lectures and tutorials (goes without saying).
• Keep a comprehensive set of notes which entails that you attend a majority of your lectures (if you miss a lecture or a tutorial, make sure that you get the notes for it  even though nothing beats your own but something is better   than nothing.)  This will ultimately set you up well when it comes to studying for exams but make sure you back your notes up with supplementary reading or study of a particular subject.
• Quality of study is far more important than quantity of study.  Be sure to find a suitable study area as this can affect the quality of study.

As regards library facilities, they vary in different institutions.  However, one thing you can be sure of is once exam times approach you will discover that the library facilities are not as fantastic as you thought.  In fact, you will find it difficult to get a space to study in or even find certain books that are vital for your exams.  A hint is to simply try and continuously tip away at your study throughout the year without overtaxing yourself and you will find that you are not as stressed out about the library come exam time.