Experience of Development of Personal Study Plan and Time Management: Reflective Essay

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Experience of Development of Personal Study Plan and Time Management: Reflective Essay

Introduction

For my personal learning plan, I have decided to pay particular importance to my upcoming continuous assessment in my Economics in the World module. In my learning plan, I set out my goals, approaches and methods I will implement, learning strategies and organizational skills to help me prepare for this assessment.

Economics in the WorldIn my course, in the first semester, I have a variety of modules, such as:

Law
Human Resource Management
Financial Accounting
Economics in the World

The assignment I have chosen as my biggest struggle is Economics in the World.

Struggles with Economics in the World

Compared to my other modules, I find this particularly difficult as there is quite a substantial amount of material to learn, and understand. Personally, the theory aspect of this module for me is particularly difficult for me to grasp. It is not a practical subject at all, especially compared to my other subjects, which makes it even more difficult. I prefer other modules over Economics in the World, such as, Financial Accounting, as I enjoy it much more because there is less theory involved and more practical elements to the course.

In economics, the topics I struggle with the most are:

The diagrams
The layout of the exam
Topics, such as: Micro-Economics, Market Dynamics, Limitations of the Market

Personal Weakness

As Economics in the World is a theory-filled module, and I have never studied anything economics-related before, I have found learning an entirely new topic to be challenging. Before beginning this course, I had never even heard of economics, let alone what it entails. For this reason, I struggle with not only the basics, but the more complex aspects as well. For example, I have never completed a multiple choice assessment in the past, so I recognised that I need to give more attention and familiarise myself with the layout of the exam, by looking at past papers.

Goals

Short Term Goals / Long Term Goals

Assignment: Prepare for assignments, by creating and following my personal learning plan. Start assignments as soon as they are given, so I don’t fall behind.
Study: Following the times set in my personal learning plan’s timetable (see page 6)
Attend lectures: Come to class on time every day and attend all my lectures, while making notes in-class
Receive a grade of 50%>: Try my hardest to study and submit continuous assessments to a high standard Degree: I want to graduate from NCI in 3 years with a degree in Business.
Graduate: I want to graduate with a first class honours.
Work: I want to find a job somewhere within business, working as an undergraduate
Exams: I want to study hard for my exams in order to achieve this goals and avoid repeats, in order to get the grades I am looking for.

Topics to Revise

Demand and Supply
Micro-Economics
Market Dynamics
Limitations of the Market

Diagrams: Production possibility frontier, demand curve, supply curve, finding the equilibrium

I would like to feel prepared going into the exam, knowing that I have studied all of the material previously to the best of my ability. My goal for this assignment is to gain at the very least a passing grade, but hopefully, by putting in lots of work, study and creating a learning plan, it can help me achieve a higher grade.

Approach

(Missiondata.com, 2019)

To approach these goals and topics I need to revise, I am going to develop a personal study plan and time management. Alongside Economics, I have a variety of modules to study and keep up to date with and continuous assessments, as well as social obligations, such as, making time to see my friends when I have the chance, and a part time job. I will try to prioritise my modules in my study plan. While creating this study plan, it was important to realise all these other factors in order to make the plan as realistic and approachable as possible, so it is not daunting and it would motivate me to study.

How I Will Approach This

Multiple choice exam: Looking through past papers, reading and creating own notes, practising past papers

Attendance: 2 hour lecture once a week, 1 hour tutorial fortnightly, 8.5 hours of independent learning (based on course requirements, see image below)

Library: After lectures on Wednesday, reading through lecture notes from that day.

SMART Planning

Specific For this semester, my goal is to focus on my Economics in the World module. In order to achieve this, I’ve curated a specific, personal study plan and I am implementing my own study methods.

Measurable I plan to study 5 times a week, 4 of those to be studying material, and once a week I will attempt past papers on the material revised.

Achievable To make my goals achievable, I made my plans as realistic as possible to prevent burn out and keep me motivated. I identified challenges I may face, and how to overcome them to achieve my goals.

Relevant Economics is relevant not only in my business course, but in all aspects of life. I think it’s’ very important for me to grasp the concepts we are learning.

Time-bound My continuous assessment for Economics in the World is on the 27th of November, I plan to follow my study plan every week until the assessment.

Study Techniques

As I am a visual learner, I have tried and tested many study methods throughout other examinations, such as the Junior and Leaving Certificate.

There are a variety of methods that have worked for me in the past, which I will implement into my learning and studying for my continuous assessment. These include:

Notes: Reading over the notes uploaded on Moodle, re-writing them in my own words as notes helps give a better understanding

Reading notes aloud; this is useful for certain topics such as ‘Demand and Supply’, which is theory filled.

Writing all known information on a topic on a blank sheet of paper with notes closed; this distinguished what information I know and what I need to look back on.

Past questions; Practising past questions helps familiarise myself with the layout of the examination, as well as the content

Colour coding; for Economics, I use a yellow highlighter on information I don’t understand and pink highlighters on topics that are of particular importance. This helps it visually stand out to me and break up the workload.

Visual representations; mind maps, diagrams and tables all help me to visually remember information. I’ve made mind maps on each topic in Economics.

Videos: Watching videos on how to construct the diagrams helps me gain a better understanding as I can visually picture how it is done.

Strengths and weaknesses

I have identified my strengths and weaknesses when it comes to individual learning, and how to use my strengths to my benefit, and how to manage my studying weaknesses.

learning strengths, realizing I’m good in note taking and listening to information and understanding it when I write it in my own words.

I realise my weaknesses when it comes to independent learning is my difficulty on concentrating, which I am working on by attending NCI library and designating study times in the week and trying my best to stick to them.

OrganisationIn order to implement my study plans to the best of my ability, I need to organise myself. For my Economics in the World module, I have made a OneDrive folder with all the Moodle notes, which allows me to access them easily when I study each topic.

To further organise myself, I have a 5 subject notebook with a section for my Economics in the World work, such as my diagrams and questions from my fortnightly tutorials.

I have an online folder for each of my modules in this Semester, including Economics in the World.

In my Economics in the World folder, I have some personally typed notes, and edits made to slides from Lectures.

Time management is an essential activity in organising my personal learning plan.

Factors of time management I’ll use when formulating my study plan:

Prioritising tasks; In my plan I include college hours and work hours, while not including smaller tasks such as showering or eating, which vary day to day.

Time limits; Keeping my study hours and other tasks time-bound helps me to organize my day and how much work I am able to get done.

Taking breaks; Between each of my activities in a day, I take a break to prevent burn out and maintain a sustainable schedule.

Planning ahead; having a clear layout of each day helps me to be mentally organised and in turn, more productive.

Study Plan/TimetableI have constructed a weekly timetable which allows me to balance my Economics study for my continuous assessment along with the other factors in my week.

My main priority for my study plan is prioritising time for economics in the world as it is the module I struggle with the most.

Key

Economics Study

Economics classes

Other lectures/tutorials

Gym

Work

Hospital appointments

Social/friends

Time Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

9am 10am 11am 12pm 1pm 2pm 3pm 4pm 5pm 6pm 7pm 8pm 9pm 10pm For the 2 hour slots of study; I focus on understanding the material and topics I have previously mentioned, such as demand and supply and microeconomics. I study these topics through my personal study methods, typically in the NCI library, a coffee shop, or on later days such as Saturday, at home.

On the 1 hour slots of study on Wednesdays and Thursday, I review lecture notes/tutorial information from that day, and subsequently practice the past papers on http://exampapers.ncirl.ie/Browse#.

With the study for my CA in Economics in the World, I may face some obstacles to my study plan. I believe it’s important to predict any situation and come up with a solution to help keep me on track with my study plans. This also strengthens the attainability of my plans.

Lack of motivation: I may face a lack of motivation, and to keep on track, I can take a look at my short-term and long-term goals.
Procrastination: I am trying to avoid putting off my study by time management and setting a strict time schedule.
Overwhelmed: I try to avoid getting overwhelmed by setting time limits. When feeling overwhelmed, I’ll take a break and have a snack or listen to music to relax.
Unforeseen events: If a social/work event comes up, I know I have room in my timetable to adjust my study plans, while still achieving my goals.

Staying on track

o measure that I am staying on track with my understanding of Economics and the preparation for my continuous assessment, I am to pass the past papers I attempt. This will measure my level of preparation for the real assessment on the 27th of November.

Some strategies:

Balance: Maintaining a balance between college and life keeps me which prevents burnout.
Accountability: Having a sense of accountability for not following my plan keeps me on track. For example, I know if I don’t study, I will not achieve the grades I want. Therefore, I’m accountable for my actions.
Adjustments: Making changes to the timetable to suit myself better will keep me motivated, on track, and balanced.

Review/reflection

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SAThis Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

From implementing study methods and following my personal timetable, I found my study to be quite positive. Laying out my weekly schedule helped me balance my personal life and study. The plan helped me measure what I have completed and how much more I needed to study in advance of my continuous assessment in Economics in the World. The skill that benefited me the most was time management, as it made the workload more manageable. My examination is at the end of November, but I have already completed a substantial amount of study for it and I feel very prepared. A flaw or negative aspect of my plan was that I didn’t factor in how to maintain the study of revising former topics, and new topics in Economics in the world. To accommodate this, I added an hour of study on the weekend, either Saturday or Sunday, depending on what suited me for that week. During the weeks of study, it kept me motivated and on task. It gave me a push, and, in my opinion, it did help to ‘manage my learning.’

Conclusion

To conclude, I believe that creating these goals, both short-term and long-term, really helped to give me a sense of fulfilment that I am getting work done. It really helps me to feel a sense of achievement and if I stick to these goals, I will not fall behind. It also helped me to gain a further insight into my personal study techniques and habits which I can use t my benefit in the future for other upcoming assessments in this semester and, to achieve my long term goals in my degree.

References

Partnership, G. (2014). Personal Learning Plan Definition. [online] The Glossary of Education Reform. Available at: https://www.edglossary.org/personal-learning-plan/ [Accessed 20 Oct. 2019].
The Minds Journal. (2015). The Nine different types of intelligence – Which Smart are you ?. [online] Available at: https://themindsjournal.com/the-nine-different-types-of-intelligence-which-smart-are-you/ [Accessed 16 Oct. 2019].
Learning-styles-online.com. (2019). Overview of learning styles. [online] Available at: https://www.learning-styles-online.com/overview/ [Accessed 20 Oct. 2019].
Corporate Finance Institute. (2019). Time Management – List of Top Tips for Managing Time Effectively. [online] Available at: https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/careers/soft-skills/time-management-list-tips/ [Accessed 20 Oct. 2019].
Thebalancecareers.com. (2019). [online] Available at: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/thmb/6DS0ypOjlUAT_UjLp9tWvQVnqXI=/1500×0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/time-management-skills-2063776-v6-5b749ddfc9e77c0057e72c0f.png [Accessed 23 Oct. 2019].
Intelligent. (2019). Create a Study Plan – Intelligent. [online] Available at: https://www.intelligent.com/create-a-study-plan/ [Accessed 23 Oct. 2019].
Digitalchalk.com. (2019). [online] Available at: https://www.digitalchalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/digitalchalk-visual-learning.jpg [Accessed 23 Oct. 2019].
Missiondata.com. (2019). Digital Strategy & Development | Mission Data’s Approach. [online] Available at: https://www.missiondata.com/our-approach/ [Accessed 24 Oct. 2019].