Time is Gold: Time Management Techniques of Student-Achievers of Regional Science High School for Region I During the Pandemic

In contrast with the past, students are struggling with the distance learning. The distance learning will assess the skills of students on independent learning. The students struggle in the absence of teachers. Many students are also complaining about the number of activities that the teachers are giving during this new way of learning, resulting to unfinished or missing activities of students. Contrastingly, during this new normal way of learning, there are still students who can still shine and study well despite the hard situation.

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A Blueprint to Success

Education is a vital factor for every student especially in opening new doors to better opportunities in life. But the emergence of the recent COVID-19 pandemic resulted in many consequences, one of which is that almost all the schools have shifted to a new mode of education which we call distance learning. In this day where students have no choice but to remain in their homes, distance learning is an important element for them to continue learning efficiently. Distance learning, however, isn’t suitable for every student as they all differ in terms of their ability to learn.Belousova et al. (2022) mentioned in their study that it was found that students have become more focused on independent time management, the ability to balance employment and personal obligations, and the financial benefits of distance learning.From the gathered answers of other respondents, a lot of them have managed to become more responsible with their studies by incorporating time management techniques such as planning and creating their own schedules, to-do lists, and checklists. All things considered, these factors have emphasized the importance of education and play a significant role in motivating as well as encouraging students to maintain and further develop their knowledge regardless of the circumstances that arises.

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The Techniques

According to research, procrastination has little to do with laziness or a lack of self-control. Instead, people tend to put things off to avoid unpleasant emotions. It’s unsettling to face a large task or project that people are not sure how to complete or that entails a lot of ambiguity.Pomodoro Technique
"Okay so, pomodoro technique you will allot 25 minutes. Then, you can take a break for 5 minutes. So, that is one pomodoro, the 25 minutes. Then I’ll do four sets of pomodoro. Some people said that you can just take 15-minute break, but in my case, I do 20-minute break. So, that is pomodoro technique, it is about 1 hour studying for a task,” a respondent said. To clear things up, Pomodoro Technique is a cycle wherein a person will work on a task for 25 minutes, then take a break for 5 minutes.Knowing Your Priorities
Finishing the ones that require more time so that this way, proceeding with the next activities becomes easier. Based on the other obtained responses, students who become aware of their goals and priorities as well as what comes first make their work lighter and quicker, especially when responsibilities at home coincides with their study time. Knowing one's priority is also a technique collected from this study.A Fixed Program
Being able to follow through with a schedule can be difficult especially when tasks become overloaded. Likewise, stressful events happen to students on a day-to-day basis due to the number of tasks and obligations they need to work on especially during distance learning, and this is the reason why students find it hard to finish their tasks. Despite these struggles, some students can still work and even perform better under pressure. Several research even suggests that working under pressure can also have a positive effect on someone’s performance. If a stressful event occurs, the existing knowledge of students is activated and they can do well by applying what they have learned previously, thus forming a study habit.

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Changing for the Better

According to the wise remarks of Publius Syrus, “To do things at once is to do neither.” One issue that students frequently experience is not finishing their curriculum on time. This causes people to cram all of the chapters right before the tests, resulting in lower-than-expected grades. Students that use effective time management skills can not only finish studying the chapters in their syllabus on time, but also to have some additional time for revisions (Team Leverage Edu, 2021).Time management doesn’t just affect a person’s academic achievements, rather it may also affect in other ways. Take behavior as an example. Most of the respondents may have said that time management made them a student-achiever, but traces of behavioral change were also found. It is also possible to deduce that time management can also change the perception of people in realizing what they can do more. One respondent revealed that, “It made me productive and I was also able to do all my activities while doing my tasks or chores in our house. Before, I- before I incorporated time management techniques, I was so stressed due to the pile of activities I wasn’t able to finish, because of distractions, and doing things that are waste of time.”

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With Flying Colors

Accomplishments and goals are what serve as the driving force for students to maintain their academic performance. With the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, they were forced to change and quickly adapt to the situation, turning this crisis into an opportunity. Thus, being able to stay on top, maintain grades, avoid procrastination, and succeed in reaching people’s expectations are already considered huge achievements for students amidst this chaos.According to a research conducted by Khan (2015), students who have good time management are successful. It was discovered that student conduct in the category of time planning was at the highest level, while behavior in the category of time management was at the lowest. Students who performed well above average. There was a strong and favorable relationship between time management, time planning, and student academic success. Time consumers and academic accomplishment had a low and positive relationship, while time management and academic achievement had a substantial and moderate relationship.With their responses, it can be said that even though facing obstacles during distance learning, even though responsibilities both at home and at school became overwhelming for them, after learning how to manage their time, students were able to overcome these and carry-on learning or acquiring knowledge along with achieving their different goals in life.