It’s pretty simple:

• Reserve study blocks beginning about a week before the exam.
• Plan for multiple, short study times rather than longer blocks. Four blocks of 20 minutes each will probably make for better retention than a single two-hour marathon review.
• Reserve this time now, and plan around it.

If you have multiple exams in a single week, like around mid-terms or finals:

• Start a bit earlier.
• Schedule breaks in your study time. You can schedule shorter blocks of study time around other activities, or simply build a ten minute break into each hour of studying.

The point? Be proactive. (This is Habit #1 in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.) If you anticipate your needs ahead of time and provide for them, you won’t have to be reactive and frustrated at exam time.

Also consider these study ideas:

• Swap class notes with someone and read over your friend’s notes. This will help refresh your memory of lectures and pick up things you might have missed.
• If you’ve underlined and/or highlighted your class reading well, it should be relatively easy to review what you’ve read.
• Get a friend to quiz you on points you’ll be tested on. Iron sharpens iron, and it’s a good excuse to get coffee.

This is awesome. It’s a time management bonanza. If you take a few moments to plan well, it can make the semester much easier for you. Carpe Diem!

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Get your calendar. You should have only one calendar, because you have only one life. (Be sure you coordinate well with your spouse and kids.)

2. Note all the dates of your papers and exams.

3. To the best of your ability keep your schedule clear in the week before each exam, and two weeks before each paper due date

4. Schedule recovery time. Be sure to schedule some down time right after mid-terms, and after big assignments are due. Plan to relax a bit. If you schedule a day trip, a date, or some fun activity just after the crunch, it will give you something to look forward to after the big project.

5. Make a note of when the worst crunch times are. Then, if your job allows for any scheduling leeway, let your boss know early. If you’re a valuable employee, she just might work with you.

Following these suggestions should only take an hour or two, and should save you time and frustration all semester long.

The 80/20 Principle, also known as Pareto’s Law, is an incredibly powerful tool for time and priority management, with thousands of uses. The reality, for instance, that 80% of the work in a church is done by 20% of the people, lines up perfectly with the 80/20 principle. Or that 80% of the money is given by 20% of the contributors.

The basic idea is that of inequality: a few investments will yield the most dividend. A few salesmen will produce most of the sales. The most productivity on a project will come from a small slice of the total time spent on it. The proportions aren’t always 80/20. Sometimes they are 70/30, other times 90/10, or even 95/5.

Richard Koch wrote the classic book defining the 80/20 principle and illustrating its power and usefulness. The book is worth the read…but if you apply the principle, you can get 80% of the value of the book from reading just 20% of its content. I’ve read the book, and will share the most relevant 20% of it with you here. See? This principle is already saving you hours of time!

So back to planning your study. Having chosen a degree program, you need to ask which courses in your degree program deserve the most attention.

Fair Warning: as we flesh this out, I’m guessing that some of you will take offense to the diligent application of this principle. I probably would have, too, when I was in seminary. Not to worry. Remember that all recommendations here are suggestions, which you are free to adopt or dismiss as it suits you. No claims to divine inspiration here.

My M. Div. program was 92 hours. If we take the 80/20 rule, then on average, 18 hours of the 92 will have proved most helpful.

Next: My high value classes

So in honor of that, I’ll be posting some thoughts on planning your study. Here’s an introduction:

Plan your study

If the goal of your time in seminary is to get ready for ministry, then you must keep this goal in mind as you plan for your studies. We’re going to talk about planning on three different levels.

Yes, I said as you plan your studies. Did you think that the seminary did that for you? Oh, no. What they do is set a curriculum for your degree, a set of classes they think you should take. Keep in mind that some of their requirements are in the degree to meet standards given to them by accrediting agencies, vested denominational boards, and others whose bottom line goal for the curriculum may not be quite the same as yours.

Now I don’t think that seminary curriculum planners are malicious, or out to waste your time. Of course not. But let’s be real: while some of the classes in the curriculum are very valuable for ministry preparation, other classes will range from interesting but irrelevant to completely pointless. Any seminary graduate serving in ministry will tell you that.

Tomorrow: Step one.