How do UPOU students cope with their FMAs, TMAs, papers, work, family and other things that matter? Here’s some excerpts from this interesting thread at www.upou.kapehan.net.

   A post from MIS major Jerrold Donato inquired about time management in OU:

Guys, how do you do this? Can you give me some tips, lalo na sa mga laging over time sa work, then stil need time for family, then time for the module and projects sa OU? Tapos at the end of the sem with good grades pa?   2funny 2funny

   Here were the replies he got:

   From Dean Cortiguerra  (MIS):

“Time management has been my challenge since i started with OU… My previous semester was terrible as work-life-education balance was hard since unending ang overtimes… would appreciate if you guys could share your best practices. as for me, weekends lang talaga ako nakakapagbasa ng modules. reading on my spare time om week days doesn’t help me at all because of distractions….”

   From Monching Litonjua (MIS):

“We call this skill different things in different fields - optimizing, economizing, prioritizing, budgeting, or what we just called it here… managing (time). they all refer to managing (maximizing) returns among competing limited resources. The key for most people is to never take a bigger bite than you can chew because at that point, the pressure will be overwhelming on everything else. If in fact one has taken a bigger bite, then your resilience to other pressure is where your focus needs to go. In the case of time management, once you realize that you actually took more classes than you actually can prepare for, then it becomes a question of how much of the other things you can forgo temporarily. Clearly, family affairs are the last area one would be willing to squeeze more time from…It’s the actual desire to squeeze from them that is challenging. unfortunately, only the individual involved in the process of optimizing, economizing, prioritizing, MANAGING, who can make as accurate an assessment as anyone could about him- or herself. truth is, you’ll be surprised at how much even your own family will be willing to sacrifice for you, if you will just be willing to sacrifice yourself - or your self.”

   From Geoffrey (MIS):

“This is my 2nd sem in UPOU. is this your first time in OU? Mag aadjust ka talaga. Be sure na you spend a time for reading the IMs and others reading materials provided by our FICs. always follows the time table set by our FICs in our subjects. It helps a lot!!!. Like yung kay Dr. Albacea, spend at least one hour reading a day.”

     From Arbie (MIS):

 “Learn to multitask sa work!! Alt+tab, Alt+tab, Alt+tab, Alt+tab, Alt+tab, Alt+tab…”

     And lastly, from Grace Feraer (MIS):

“As much as possible, ayoko mag access ng IVLE pag nasa work, medyo nakakaguilty kasi (charing!) Pero once in a while, instead na mag yosi break (I already stopped), “sumisilip” ako sa mga forums at alt+tab na lang kapag… :) What Monching said is true; you have to know just how much you can chew. Enrolling in three subjects is really tough and requires very good time management skills, and sacrifice as well. Kailangan mong malaman kung saang subject ka dapat mag focus. Usually, what I do is kung alin ung mas mahirap, dun mas marami yung time ko. I agree with Geoffrey. Dapat sundin ung time table ng FIC kasi mahirap maghabol. Last sem, isang buwan akong nawalan ng pakialam at nawala sa sirkulasyon. Na-late yung majority ng mga FMAs ko at akala ko nga e di na tatanggapin. I don’t want to go through the same stressful rush mode again. Plus, I have this one FMA at a time mentality. When I go through a module, I skim first, hehe. Hinahanap ko muna yung mga sagot sa FMA. Kung may mga lessons na hindi naman nabanggit sa FMA, hindi ko muna pinapakialaman unless nararamdaman kong ready akong mag absorb ng lessons. Kung wala pang guidelines, di ko muna pinapansin kagaya ng IS226. hehe. Just set a time for studying. Yung wala kang ibang iniintindi kundi yung module na kailangang aralin. Kahit isang oras lang yan, kung nasa kondisyon ka, marami kang maa-accomplish, kesa naman wholeday na “nagpapanggap” lang na nagbabasa dahil maraming ibang concerns ang inaalala. Let the course guide guide you. Plus our discussion boards. =)