Scheduling and being better organized are routinely listed as among the most important skills that students would like to improve.  It’s not surprising either that one of the leading sources of stress for students is ‘not managing the workload.’ There are a number of strategies that can help students manage the workload, including storyboarding, using to-do lists, and making concrete action plans — including backwards scheduling.

What is backward scheduling?

The figure below illustrates the idea behind backwards scheduling. You will need a whiteboard or poster with at least four months on it — enough room for an entire semester. The idea is that you should be able to visualize every major deadline — test, exam, paper or assignment — on this one page. This bird’s eye view will help you see what’s coming up next week, what’s right around the corner, and which weeks are going to be very, very busy.

Step #1: Start with the deadlines.  The first step is to write down all your deadlines (e.g., when the papers get submitted).

Step #2: Breaking tasks into chunks. The next step is to break the task into smaller meaningful chunks (e.g., final draft, outline done, research done) and give each chunk its own deadline. See the figure below. It is always a good idea, when writing a paper, to have the final version of your paper ready four days before the actual deadline. Setting your own personal deadline four days before the assigned deadline will ensure that you are never, ever late — even if something comes up. It will also leave you time to just re-read and be sure what you have written is clear and free of grammatical and spelling errors.

For papers, the other chunks will include selecting a topic, doing the research, making an outline, and writing different sections. It may also involve checking in with the teaching assistant, instructor or prof.

For tests and exams, the other chunks will likely include finishing the readings, making flashcards, doing practice problems, meeting with classmates, etc.

Step #3: Reviewing the weeks. Once you have listed every deadline for every test, exam, paper or assignment on this one page, it will become very clear which weeks are going to be busy, painful, and perhaps even a potential nightmare. For those weeks that are overloaded, you may be able to spread out the smaller tasks or chunks, moving them ahead a week or so or back a few days. If you are not going to be able to spread things out, then you need to do other things to free up some time. That can include moving the day trip to the spa with friends to a different weekend, visiting parents or having guests another weekend, and cancelling your volunteer hours for that week.