A lot of university students study more than one subject at a time - a ‘regular’ load might look something like four uni subjects per semester, for example. Each of those subjects will have its own demands and run to its own schedule. That means that, at times, your subjects may compete with each other for your attention.

Striking a balance between subjects is hard. This article features some practical tips you can implement to achieve subject consistency and, ultimately, not neglect any of your university subjects.

 

Let’s look at planning and time management

Long-term planning

If you’re looking for consistent results across your subjects, university time management is really important. Part of this is knowing your subject commitments in advance.

"If you're looking for consistent results across your subjects, university time management is really important."

Let’s say you have your first assessment for each of your four subjects due on the dates below:

  • Subject 1: due 25 March

  • Subject 2: due 2 April

  • Subject 3: due 4 April

  • Subject 4: due 5 April

 

These due dates look quite clumped together, but the reality is that that’s often how it happens at university; the teaching period is only so long, so time is limited, and it’s difficult for individual subjects to cater for your own assessment timetable.

Without planning ahead, you might find yourself studying for one assessment at a time. That would work fine for Subject 1, and then probably also for Subject 2 - there is more than a week between those due dates. But what happens then?

If you didn’t realise you then had two more assignments due in the next three days, you’ve left yourself a lot to do in a short period of time - and that’s when things become really stressful. So how can you avoid that situation?

One idea is to take 10 minutes at the start of each teaching period to work out when all of your assessments are due for that semester, plus any other commitments (compulsory labs, placement periods, hurdle presentations etc.). Bookmark the sheet, or even print it out to have it handy with your notes - anything you can do to ensure your schedule is clear and front of mind. Add the due dates to your calendar.

"Bookmark the sheet, or even print it out to have it handy with your notes..."

If you know you have a busy period later in the semester, making an early start can really make things easier for future you. This article on starting early in the semester is really relevant.

 

Day-to-day planning

Then we have planning on a different level: the more day-to-day stuff. This is where you can think realistically about what subject or subjects you need to prioritise on any given day. What assessments are due next? Are you behind on readings or lectures for any of your subjects? What content do you not yet understand?

It’s important to recognise that subject consistency doesn’t mean you need to tackle every single subject every single day. Sometimes, you might go several days without thinking about a subject at all, if your priorities are elsewhere at that time - and that’s totally fine. It’s crucial, however, to keep balance - if you haven’t studied for one of your subjects for a while, that should come into consideration when you’re putting together your day-to-day priorities,

 

Let’s look at study motivation

It can be really hard to get motivated to study sometimes, which makes it really easy to fall into the trap of studying disproportionately for the subjects you enjoy most, or are best at. If you have the option between studying for a subject you find interesting and a subject you find a bit blander, it’s natural to opt for the former.

But if you’re looking for subject consistency - if you’re trying to get good marks across all of your subjects - doing this will probably result in some subjects being neglected.

"... doing this will probably result in some subjects being neglected."

And if subjects get neglected, things can unravel pretty quickly.

Instead, try using subjects as ‘breaks’ for one another. That is, if you’ve studied for one subject for a while, mixing it up and moving across to something new can freshen your mind and give you something different to look at. If you try to study nothing but one subject for an entire week, it seems pretty likely that you’ll get a bit over the content, and study motivation will drop.

 

Let’s look at subject selection

You can set yourself up for subject consistency even before the teaching period, too. We’ve established that you’ll probably be more inclined to study for subjects you enjoy, which makes subject selection so important.

We recently put together some tips on how to use Uni Notes subject reviews to help with this process, and we recommend that you give it a read! 

Best of luck for your studies this teaching period.