15 Making Use of Small Blocks of Time

By using smaller blocks of time, you can cover material in chunks (more on the next page) and not have to worry about the larger whole. A mistake that many people make is to cram information into their minds in one large session. This isn’t a successful strategy for most students.

Look for smaller blocks of time to study. If you are a public transit user, you can likely spend twenty minutes on your bus ride reading or reviewing for your upcoming unit learning activities or exam. You could even listen to an audio recording of your notes. In the evening, instead of watching three episodes of your favourite TV show, you could watch one and spend the remaining time preparing for your studies. Are you going out to eat often? Consider making something simple at home that you could put in the oven to cook and will still leave you time for other activities once dinner is done.

Making time for your studies can be overwhelming. Review the following tips and tricks for taking advantage of small blocks of time:

• • Do you commute by transit? Though it wouldn’t be ideal to try to master detailed or complicated reading material on the bus, perhaps you can do some initial scanning or skimming while in transit to prepare yourself for class or deeper reading later.
• • Consider creating flash cards for material that you need to learn. You can take a set of flash cards with you and work whenever a few minutes become available. If you use one of the many flash card or self-testing apps available on your phone, you’ll be able to easily pull out your phone and make use of those small blocks of time.
• • Self-testing is one of the most effective ways to learn. Create a list of study questions for your course. Pull out the list when you have time available and review a few questions. Keep track of those you answer correctly and those you need to study more.
• • Does your course include access to online videos that explain and review key concepts? Watch a video or two to review or to improve your understanding of a key course idea.
• • Some courses also include access to online self-study questions. Try answering a few review questions in your spare moments. These online assessments usually provide immediate feedback on what you understand and what you should study further.
• • Do you like to learn by listening? Make an audio recording of the important points you want to remember, and listen while you commute or exercise. Maybe audiobooks are for you—are any of your course materials available in this format?