Creating a weekly schedule

How to create a TARGET weekly schedule

The procedure for creating a weekly schedule now depends a bit on whether you have a semester with many courses ahead of you or whether you are currently preparing for a final exam or writing a thesis.

First, we would like to suggest a procedure for planning a semester with many courses.

Planning a regular semester schedule

After you have created an overview of which courses are obligatory for you in the current semester, you can start scheduling the events.

Fixed events (seminars and lectures, for example) are entered in your weekly schedule first. First of all, it doesn't matter whether these events take place in person or online.

Outside the times reserved for these fixed events, you can now mark additional time slots that you would like to use as work phases for the remaining events. However, these should not be before 6 a.m. and not after 10 p.m.
The day and time originally given in the lecture timetable can be of initial help.
However, if a lecture time of 8:00-10:00 in the morning does not fit your preferred daily routine, you can adjust it in light of the current situation.
Make sure that you do not work more than 6 hours per day.
You should also take into account personal fluctuations in your ability to perform and concentrate: Can you study better in the morning or in the evening? You should also consider that you may feel tired after lunch.
However, make sure you plan enough breaks in your schedule.

There is certainly a danger of taking things a little easier at the beginning of the semester. The number of lectures that you have not worked on yet will increase quickly in this case. It is therefore important to resist this temptation as much as possible and to work continuously on the teaching content of the semester.

Planning the writing of a thesis or the preparation for a final exam

The creation of a learning plan always starts “from the final deadline”. This means that you look backwards from the exam or submission date to see how much time you have available.

You then break down the material to be studied or the pages to be written into the available weeks.
If you are studying for an exam, you should also allow enough time for revision.
Writing a thesis, on the other hand, requires other specifics: It is important to allow enough time for the final formatting. Moreover, the time that your family or friends need to proofread your thesis must be taken into account alongside the time you need to enter the corrections into the final version of your thesis.

If you want to plan a specific week, take a blank weekly schedule.
First you should enter all fixed times: lecture or seminar times, working hours of your part-time job and whatever other fixed, regular appointments you have.
And of course, each week has its own special features as well (a doctor's appointment, for example). You enter all this first.

No matter how good and elaborate a plan is, something unforeseen will always come up.
This refers to events that you cannot foresee in advance: you fall ill; you are lovesick; you have to replace a colleague at work, or there is a burst water pipe in your flat.
But it also includes delays in learning: you just didn't progress as well as you thought you would.
Therefore, it is advisable to include one ‘catch-up day’ per week.
 
This serves as a buffer and provides you with a time reserve.
Thus, delays or unforeseen events cannot throw you off track. If you don't need a catch-up day in a week, feel free to use it as a reward bonus and allow yourself more free time.

Next, think about when you want to take a day off and enter it in your schedule accordingly.

Now you distribute the material to be learned (or the pages to be written) over the free time slots.
Because this is often not so easy, we will introduce you to a method that can help you with this in the next step.