You're using a planner? You rock.

You make to-do lists? So radical.

If you're using these, you're already engaging in great techniques to keep yourself on task and manage your time.

Next question: do you have a comprehensive view of your entire term? If you don't, add the Term at a Glance to your method and level up your time management skills.

The Term at a Glance lets you see everything important for the term, in that single glance. This includes major assignments, midterms and finals, extracurricular commitments, or time away from campus to visit family or friends. Having this kind of comprehensive overview allows you to see how assignments, expectations and engagements will stack up throughout the term, and to plan proactively to accomplish what needs doing.

WARNING: The term at a glance doesn't work like a daily to-do list or a weekly planner — it works with them.

It’s not the place to track all of your appointments, or reminders, or meetings with your groups, or visits to the Fairbanks art galleries. It’s for all the major exams and projects and papers and events in your term. And when you keep it to that, it’s a pretty sweet little number that can help you throughout the term in so many ways.

Let's keep talking about this! Let us help you with this! Come over and visit and let's sit down and do this planning together! We have fun strategists, colorful pens, and loads of Term @ a Glance worksheets, so you can work on it here and really do it up: Waldo Hall 125 | Monday through Friday | 9 AM to 5 PM


TIPS for term-long planning:

  1. Gather all of your syllabi before you start. Seriously. And make a list of the other commitments you’ll have throughout the term, too. Think holidays, social events, clubs and orgs., information sessions, etc. Then, add all these events and deadlines to your Term at a Glance so you can plan for them, plan around them, and knock them out of the park!
  2. Integrate your tests and due dates into your weekly planner. Be sure to do this at the beginning of the term so you can plan ahead for these major assignments.
  3. Work backwards with your planning. Look at big projects and events and create sub-goals, smaller deadlines, and other manageable milestones along the way to break the project up. Remember to plan enough time for each project and to overestimate how long things will take if you're not sure. Then you'll have wiggle room and flexibility if things take longer than expected.
  4. Plan ahead. Identify spots in the term when you have a lot of commitments — personally, academically, and professionally. Ahead of time, decide how you'll prepare so you can avoid stress and overwhelm.
  5. Have fun with it (and make it more effective in the process!). Color-code your courses, projects, exams, time away, events, all of it. Develop symbols, if that’s helpful. Make it something not just helpful, but enjoyable to look at, too (trust us, this IS possible).
  6. Keep it in front of you. This is actually super easy. You have a phone? Take a picture and set it to your lock screen! If you don’t want to change your lock screen, take the photo and keep referencing it. At home, hang it up wherever you spend the most time. And then just keep glancing. Ten weeks fly by, but they fit real nice on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper.

Download a Term at a Glance!