The Ultimate Guide to Creating The Best Study Plan

Embarking on an academic journey requires more than just a stack of textbooks and hours of reading. To truly excel in your studies, a well-crafted study plan is your secret weapon. This ultimate guide will walk you through the steps of creating a study plan that not only fits your unique learning style but also sets the stage for academic success.

What are the Benefits of a Study Plan?

So why would you want to go through the hassle of creating a study plan in the first place?

Well, the truth is that a study plan provides you with organisation, which can be crucial to ensuring you get good grades!

In fact, a study showed that study planning helped students remain organized, more engaged in their learning and better academic performance!

Another great reason to have a study schedule is that it helps clear up any confusion. Most of the time when we’re faced with a task or a topic to study, we don’t know where to start.

That’s where your study routine will help! Having a routine means that you’ve planned out when and what you will be studying! Just that alone is enough to get you on the track to getting better grades and studying more effectively.

1. Figure out what your Study Goals Are

This step is the foundation of all the other tips that will come after this. Without goals, you won’t really know what topics to target, and where exactly you need to start from.

Goals are things we aim for, they help us complete a task by motivating us! I personally would not have gotten where I am today if I didn’t come up with my own.

It’s alright if you don’t manage to meet all your goals by the way, they’re not simply there to be met! A goal is something to aim for, it helps give you purpose but it isn’t the the be-all and end-all.

So, with that out of the way, take a few minutes to think about your goals. Start small, there’s no need to be excessively ambitious. In fact, try not to be because this can overwhelm you!

Do you want to get one half of a topic done? Do you want to increase how much you study in a session? Whatever your goals are, they are all important when creating your study plan.

If you want to know a great way to create goals, I use the SMART Goal system. I created a whole article about it, check it out here!

2. Break Down Your Day Into Chunks

A big part of a study plan is knowing exactly what you will be studying at a specific time. This makes it easier to reach your goals and organise your studies.

The first question you need to ask yourself is this: What part of the day am I most free? Now depending on your schedule, this could be different every single day. The most important thing is that you have the optimal time for each day marked down somewhere.

Now for your second question: What part of the day am I least likely to work? This is going to be important so that you can identify the times which should be left to relax and wind down.

The idea is to have a good balance between work and free time, or else you’re looking at a possible burn out. Once you know the best times for you to work (and not to), you can use it in your favour!

Now that you’ve broken your days into chunks, you can start using those as the building blocks of your study plan!

3. Set The Time Slots in Your Study Plan

Now that you have identified your goals and broken down your day into chunks, we can start looking at how long you will be working on each activity/topic.

Let’s say you’ve decided that the best time to work on your studies is from 3pm till 7pm. That gives you 4 hours, but how you spend those 4 hours can make the difference between getting a C and getting an A!

Now let’s look at our study goals, let’s pretend one of your goals is to understand a specific topic better. Your study plan could look something like this:

3-3:45: Reading through Topic

3:45-5:00 Annotating and Creating Notes

5:00-6:00: Answer questions based on topic

6:00-7:00: Revise Notes

Simply creating a schedule like the one above can make your life so much easier! Knowing exactly what tasks you will be working on every hour is bound to help you study more effectively, whilst also making you much more organised!

Of course there is no need to make it look exactly as I did. The whole point of creating a study plan yourself is that it is your own! That means you can choose the way you will study, as long as you break it into chunks and set your own times!

BONUS TIP: Create a Daily Planner

This might seem kind of strange considering the fact that a study plan is a little bit like a planner, but in reality there is a big difference.

A study plan is specifically and only for your studies, whilst a daily planner will include everything you do in the day (including studying/working).

Creating a daily planner along with your study plan can be really helpful for a number of reasons. Whilst your study plan will have all the details about your studying, your daily planner can give you a look at the times you will be relaxing, working or even sleeping!

Your daily planner will provide you with even more organisation for your entire day. Simply knowing what time you will be relaxing and what time you will be studying will help you follow your study plan much better!

If you’d like to know exactly how to create a great daily planner, check out my article all about it right here!

Conclusion

The best study plan is one that aligns with your goals, adapts to your needs, and promotes active and effective learning. By following these steps, you’ll not only create a comprehensive study plan but also cultivate habits that will serve you well throughout your academic journey. Remember, the key to success lies not just in the amount of time you spend studying but in how you utilize that time effectively.