Time management and timetabling 

A degree course at Cambridge should be the equivalent of a full-time job; you can expect to be doing around 40-50 hours’ work a week. If you’re doing greatly more (or greatly less!) than that, you should talk to someone (the Tutorial Office, your DoS or Tutor, Wellbeing Service, or the Head of Academic Skills). Many students struggle to fit everything in, and first years in particular often leave things till the last minute. A weekly timetable is a very good way of scheduling your work, and making sure you get enough downtime, too. Here's a sample timetable from a first-year Natural Sciences student. 

This fits 42 hours of work into five and a half days, with an hour for lunch every day, no work earlier than 9am or later than 6pm, a half day off on Saturday, and a full day off on Sunday. Some activities happen every other week, which is why some days are split. It doesn’t allow for extracurricular activities in day time during the week; when there are such commitments it’d need reshuffling to put some work earlier in the morning, later in the evening, or at the weekend.

Here's another sample, this time for Modern and Medieval Languages, taken from the Cambridge Alternative Prospectus. Here there are slightly fewer work hours per day, but more at the weekend, still totalling 42 hours. 

There are fewer contact hours in the second timetable, but just about as many working hours. This can be a major adjustment for students who are more used to being given a structure: you have to develop that structure yourself now.

A key thing is not to leave work till the last minute. In the Natural Sciences timetable pictured above, the MathBio supervision is on Tuesdays, yet work is done on Wednesdays (odd weeks) or Fridays (even weeks), with either six or four clear days between work and supervision. But doing it then means no work on Saturday afternoon or Sunday…

And remember: this is only a guide – everyone will have a different take on their timetable, and sometimes you’ll need to flex it for one-off events, or to accommodate occasional changes in supervision times or if someone comes to visit you.

Procrastination, motivation and working effectively

The move from structured lessons at school to a more freeform timetable with fewer contact hours gives students much more freedom to plan their days and their own work. But it also means there are more opportunities to put things off, to feel there is so much to do that it’s impossible to know where to start, or to work in an unfocused fashion.

There are vast numbers of self-help websites, techniques and videos available which give tips and tricks for combating these. This is a bit of a double-edged sword: there’s lots of help available, but it’s easy to spend lots of time watching these videos or trying things, instead of actually doing your work. In a bid to not add too much to the resources out there, here are a few brief ideas which you may find useful.

Procrastination

  • Timetables are your friend. Make them, follow them. And follow them tightly – if you’re scheduled to be doing supervision work between 11 and 12, make it between 11 and 12, not 11.10 to 11.50. But if, for whatever reason, you don’t manage to start on time, there’s no need to beat yourself up about it – just crack on when you sit down, don’t delay.
  • To-do lists are great because they get things out of your brain onto paper (or computer). Every day, make the first thing you do be ‘Write today’s to-do list’. Then, put them in the order you’re going to do them (it’s up to you how you order them – maybe a couple of quick wins first, then a big thing, then another quick win…). Then, follow that order. Assuming you have a period of time where you’re working your way through the list, when you finish one, cross it off, start the next.
  • Big things like ‘Write dissertation’ look unapproachable, so it’s easier to avoid them than start them. Break them down. Even ‘Plan dissertation’ is too much. Aim for chunks which take an hour or two to complete – that way, you get the dopamine boost of being able to say ‘I did x’ several times a day.
  • Social media is designed to hook you in and keep you scrolling. Set a time when you’re allowed to use it, then keep off it at other times. If you find that hard, use an app like Screen Time to block your access.
  • If you’re really struggling with procrastination, talk to people. Tell your friends; they may have advice, or offer solidarity or sympathy. They could even act as a point of accountability: tell them when you’re going to work and what you’re going to do, and then get them to check in on you to make sure you’ve done what you said you were going to do. You can also make an appointment with someone in the Wellbeing Service, or the Head of Academic Skills, for a non-judgmental chat.
  • Procrastination can be a particular issue for people with ADHD and some other neurodiversities. If you’ve tried a few things and found they’ve not worked, or if you know have a diagnosis of ADHD, it’s very much worth talking to the College’s Wellbeing Service, or the ADRC (if you’re already in touch with them) – they’re able to offer more specific help and guidance.