Hear how Katelyn manages her time

I have often been told that senior year is “a piece of cake”. Academic demand lessens and it’s a time to have fun and enjoy the high school experience. Well, it is now late September and this has proven to be anything but true. Schoolwork is piling up and I am having trouble making college applications a priority. When its 12:30 am and I’m just wrapping up a physics lab, the farthest thing from my mind is the Common Application, or the subject of my next individual college essay. Unfortunately, although it may seem like college deadlines are far away, they are fast approaching. It’s very important to be studying for SAT Subject tests and working on applications, while remaining on top of your schoolwork. It’s all about time management.

The GuidedPath calendar tool has proven invaluable in helping me manage my time. I pick three or four 30-minute tasks per week that pertain to college, and put them on the calendar. By writing them into my schedule, it reminds me that these tasks are as important as my schoolwork and need to be completed. I personally use the “per week” view, because it allows me to look ahead and know what to expect for the week. For example, here are my tasks in the week ahead.

 

Also, as I have mentioned in previous blogs, I love to cross things of the “to do” list (strange but true). By clicking the “Agenda View” in the upper right hand corner, I can see all the tasks I have to complete. Seeing the complete list motivates me to finish so that I can cross them off. It makes me more productive. The final thing I love about the calendar feature is that it sends me notifications to remind me of what I need to accomplish. This way, I have absolutely no excuse as to not complete my college work so it always gets done.

In addition, the Applications tab helps me to stay on track with my apps, ensuring that I don’t get sidetracked by piles of homework. This tab gives me an overview of each of my schools individual due dates, requirements, etc. It really helps me to prioritize. My favorite feature of this tab is the Student Deadline feature, which allows me to enter my own personally imposed deadlines for each task. I am learning that it is very difficult to avoid “senioritis” even this early in the year. But it is important to stay on track and Guided Path is helping me to stay prioritized. I’ll have to wait until after my college apps are submitted to let the senioritis kick in!