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My Nguyen
Professor Lakmini Ranpati Devayalage
ESL 1080 002
14 April 2022
Mini Research Paper – First draft
How to balance in college life? Life in university is considered more challenging for
students than that of high school or earlier. Students are expected to deal with more difficulty on
their own, including classes, assignments, projects, relationships, work... Therefore, it is
necessary to improve several soft skills before getting into college. One of the most effective
skills I think college students should have is “time management”. Time management is the
process of arranging and planning how people will distribute their time among various tasks. If
they do it right, they will find themselves working smarter, not harder, to get more done in less
time - even when time is short, and demands are high. There are ranges of systems and
approaches to time management, including planner, to-do list, reminder, goal, calendar... It is
demonstrated that high self-control and self-efficacy are often linked with higher levels of
happiness and satisfaction. Hence, it is understandable to assume that being able to manage your
time is one way to release stress and gain productivity. Without time management skill, students
might deal with procrastination. People who do not have control over their time, let their tasks sit
until the last minute, might face with stress and missing deadlines. In this paper, I will discuss
what time management is, and demonstrate which positive effects it impacts on college students,
especially on each gender. Moreover, I also talk about the reason why time management is
necessary, and how to improve this skill.
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Why do people need Time Management skill?
In the article, an experiment was conducted to show that time management indeed
improved after the invention, which contrast Macan’s findings in 1996, which said that “the
effects of a time management training program on employees’ time management behaviors at a
social service agency”. The following study shows that, although trainings on “goal setting”,
“setting priorities”, “overcoming procrastination,” “desk organization”, and “dealing with
interruptions” were provided to the sample group of employees at a social service agency
(Kaminske), no improvements in time management skills were demonstrated. Time management
skills can be achieved by constant practice, which can lead to better academic performance and
reduction in the amount of stress.
Which Positive Effects does Time Management impact on College Students?
According to Procedia – Social and Behavior Sciences, it is suggested that students
should be aware of their school rhythm and learn how to organize their time wisely based on
influenced factors. As time management is a skill which can be improved at any level of age and
there has been a research showing that students who can complete a task in personal rhythm is
much more motivated than the others, they should be aware of the maximum effort they can
adapt. To demonstrate how learning techniques, especially time management, positively impacts
academic achievement, an experiment was conducted, with the main hypothesis: “efficient time
management under the guidance of an educational counselor lead to significant increases in
academic performance of students and, consequently, lead to academic success.” (Indreica,
1097). There were three different methodologies for the research, conducted in a group of 130
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students whose academic performances in two recent exams was not high. They are from
Constructions, Food and Tourism, Forestry, Math and Informatics, Economical Sciences, and
Wood Engineering.
The bar chart illustrates the results of the impacts of time management on the
experimental group, in pretest and posttest. A big improvement was experienced by the figures
of individual study and entertainment. Before test, the time allocated for the individual study was
only 3.41 hours, but this figure after test increased 9 times. Besides, the total hours students spent
on entertainment pretest was 58.12 while that posttest decreased to 19.5. In short, the experiment
of time management skill helped demonstrate the positive effect of this skill on college students.
Why is Time Management Necessary?
In general, time management has a close relationship with academic achievement. “Poor
time management skill (not allocating time properly for work assignments cramming for exams
and failing to meet deadlines set by academic staff- are frequently cited as a major source of
stress and poor academic performance” (MacCann, 619). In addition, conscientiousness is also
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an important factor to be paired with time management that impacts on students’ achievement at
school. Besides, the differences between part-time and full-time students are also interesting
information in this research. “As well as age, part-time students differ from full-time students in
several other key ways. Demographically, part-time students are more likely to be female and to
be employed full-time” (Chen & Carroll, 2007; O'Toole et al., 2003). As a result, part-time
students tend to need more competing demand from work than full-time students.
Time
management was
used to research the
mediation of
conscientiousnessGPA relationship. A
brand-new model
was conducted in
AMOS, including
three covariates: vocabulary, sex, and age. The result reflected that time management affected
the relationship between consciousness and GPA. Particularly, “before accounting for time
management, the standardized effect of conscientiousness on GPA (after controlling for
covariates) was .18 (p b .01). When time management was included in the model, the
standardized direct effect was .08 (ns). (“Strategies for success in education: Time management
is ...”) The standardized indirect effect was .10 (90% bias-corrected C.I.: .019 to .174).”
(MacCann, 621).
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Conscientious is considered as the most effective use of time management strategies as
conscientious students tend to regulate their own academic performance through time
management, which is directly related to their outcomes.
How to Improve Time Management skill?
"‘If the price of success is hard work and hard work is achieved through excellent timemanagement skills, then isn’t time one of the greatest resources a human can have?’
[Vince Lombardi, 1967]
In academic environment, especially university, time management research has long called
for policymakers and institutions to focus on first-year university students (Krause et al., 2005;
Yorke, 1999; Yorke & Longden, 2008). (“Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice”)
It is claimed that student involvement and achievement should not be left to chance, especially in
areas where we have institutional influence, such as curriculum design and implementation.
Improving time management skill for freshmen’s lives is necessary for academic achievement as
it supports students analyzing tasks and completion. Students are also provided essential skills
such as planning and understanding, constructing tasks.
To demonstrate the efficient of Time Management, the experts decided to organize
workshops whose topics included long-term and short-term planning, attitude lessons improving
study habits. The biggest motivation of the author was his frustration in what he experienced as
poor time-management behaviors while he was adolescent. “A common theme was agreed upon
and presented to the students that, ‘you could not be in a better place, at a better time or be with
better people.’” (Robert et al., 8).
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In the study, a mixed-methods evaluation design and a standardized questionnaire were
used to compare two group of students who were taught time management skill in a workshop
and who did not attend. Time management training is considered a positive improvement in
academic achievement for males and minimize the number of failed courses for all students. The
research demonstrated that an effect between time management skill and academic success helps
save the tuition fees for students. It is expected that the organizational understanding of the role
of time management should be improved. The evaluation shows strong evidence that the longerterm benefits of that workshops: minimize the costs and allow students to commence their career
path. This article is considered reliable as the research was conducted after two times failure
before. Moreover, it is highly recommended that college students should be trained to improve
their time management skill and academic performance as it is also helpful for their employment.
In the
experiment, there are
three independent
variables namely
“Long Term planning
ability”, “Short Term
planning ability”,
“Time Attitudes” and
a measurement tool
named “Time
Management Questionnaire”. In addition, there is one dependent variable “Academic results”.
By using Time Management Workshops, the measurement for the experiment is WAM Results.
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In conclusion, time management is an ideal skill that college students should develop to
improve themselves. It is simply the act of organizing and planning how individuals will divide
their time between different responsibilities. People need it to improve the standard of happiness
and satisfaction. As there is a close relationship between time management and academic
achievement, first year college students should be encourage to adapt this skill as soon as
possible. In addition, it is highly recommended that time management should be included in
academic curriculum so that students will be trained for this helpful tool.
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Works Cited
Indreica, Elena-Simona, et al. “Effects of Learning Styles and Time Management on Academic
Achievement.” Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, Elsevier, 27 Dec. 2011,
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042811020398.
Kaminske, Althea Need. “Time Management: What Is It, Who Has It, and Can You Improve It?”
The Learning Scientists, The Learning Scientists, 16 Apr. 2020,
https://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2020/4/16-1.
MacCann, Carolyn, et al. “Strategies for Success in Education: Time Management Is More
Important for Part-Time than Full-Time Community College Students.” Learning and
Individual Differences, JAI, 21 Dec. 2011,
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1041608011001786?casa_token=DPb8
Ztgw59EAAAAA%3AcqMIAY1vI3wM7PHwIhoKHxSpkkOPv1t4F0ZqkkiTqpmZTcXO
XJ6BxapS0fTVNdDbEnkwsB0OvKoG.
Wilson, Robert, et al. “Improving Students’ Performance with Time Management Skills.”
Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice,
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1304142.pdf.