With only a few days left to the end of the school year, students here at Buffalo State College are now facing the burdens of final papers and exams. One thing that can ease some of the burden is good time management. Poor time management can sometimes play a major role in the stress factor toward students.

“I always find myself rushing all my work during finals week and that just causes me to be more stressed out,” senior Howard Byrd said.

According to Santa Barbara College's website that focuses on successful time management , students may not even be aware of how their time management skills affect the success or failure in the classroom. Students are also sometimes aware of their lack of time management skills, but cannot change them.

Students are more likely to recognize how poorly they manage their time after observing how many other students exhibit similar behavior according to www.4faculty.org, a website that focuses on helping students with the basic skills necessary to be successful in college. Some of the behavior patterns that suggested that students observe were the number of students who:

• come to class late
• ask to leave class early
• miss class for reasons other than being sick
• turn in assignments late
• do not turn in assignments at all
• demonstrate panic before midterms and finals
• ask for help on beginning assignments
• claim that they did not know a particular assignment was due
• use the excuse of not having their textbooks yet
• come to class unprepared
• frantically complete homework five minutes before class, or during class

There are several reasons as to why students do not manage their time well. According to psychology website, Psych Web some reasons include:

• they don't know about it
• they are too lazy to plan
• they enjoy the adrenaline buzz of meeting tight deadlines
• they enjoy crisis management

Some students find it difficult to maintain an effective time management routine.

“I do no not think that trying to manage my time really helps, because it is very hard for me to obey my tasks after a while,” said sophomore Howard Lin. “I think that it is impossible for a college student to manage all their time successfully.”

To attain good time management skills, the Washington State University of Vancouver's website , suggests:

• Monitoring time by writing down specific activities in 15 minute intervals.
• Making a to-do list.
• Having a daily or weekly planner that includes scheduled appointments, work, classes, labs, study time and free time.
• Making a long- term calendar by putting important due dates and test dates on a calendar for the semester.
• Making note of dates when you plan to start studying for tests or writing papers.

Some students feel that the pressure of exams contributes to their poor time management. They feel that major exams should receive more focus. Students tend to set aside all other important tasks when they have to study for an exam. As a result, after the test they have several duties piled up.

“Whenever I have an exam, I do not focus on anything else,” Lin said. “During that time the exam is the most important thing for me, everything else can wait.”

Lin said that he always finds himself most stressful after exams, because there are so many duties that he puts aside.

To prevent the strain of exam anxiety students should have good study tips. Some study tips to successfully get through exams recommended by the University of North Carolina at Charlotte's website include:

• Using a planner or to- do list to organize test dates and study hours.
• Breaking big jobs down into smaller, more manageable tasks.
• Eliminating distractions.
• Avoid procrastination and reward yourself when you finish a task.
• Eat a balanced diet and try to avoid eating unhealthy foods.
• Get some exercise daily.
• Try to get at least six hours of sleep every night.
• Take time every day to relax and make sure to schedule in some study breaks.
• Be optimistic about the exam to reduce anxiety.

Students feel that they could benefit form an appropriate and effective time management schedule.

“I don't necessarily have the right time management outline,” Byrd said. “I think that if I had an effective one, I would be more effective in school and I would be a lot less stressed.”

A good way for students to examine their time management habits is by filling out the time budget sheet provided by Oregon State University's website. The sheet helps students to see how and where most of their time is being spent.