The semester planner
| English | Chinese | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| assessment deadline | 考核截止日期 | kǎo hé jié zhǐ rì qī |
| start date | 开始日期 | kāi shǐ rì qī |
| buffer | 缓冲时间 | huǎn chōng shí jiān |
Plan backwards from the deadline
- A semester planner built forwards from today lists what you feel like doing. Built backwards from deadlines, it lists what has to happen.
- GAC003 assesses the planner as a document, so the method is the mark.
- Start by writing in every assessment deadline 考核截止日期 for every module, before anything else.
What goes into a semester planner first?
Everything else is planned backwards from the deadlines, so the deadlines must be there first.
Working backwards
- For each deadline, ask how long the work takes, and mark a start date 开始日期 that far back.
- A report due in week 10 with three weeks of work begins in week 7 — and the planner should say so in week 7's row.
- Now the plan answers a question you cannot otherwise answer: is it already too late to start?
A report is due in week 10 and needs three weeks of work. In which week should it start?
Ten minus three. Writing that start date into week 7 is what makes the plan usable.
Three deadlines land in week 12: a maths project, an English seminar, a science report.
Working backwards: the report needs its experiment run in week 9; the project needs data collected in week 10; the seminar needs rehearsal in week 11.
The three tasks do not actually collide. What collides is the finishing — and only a backwards plan shows that in week 8, while it can still be fixed.
Find the collisions early
- Mark the weeks where two or more deadlines land. Those weeks are the whole reason for planning.
- Move the start dates, not the deadlines. The deadlines are not yours to move.
- Leave one buffer 缓冲时间 slot each week. A plan with no slack breaks on its first bad day.
Three deadlines land in the same week. What should you move?
The deadlines are not yours to move. Starting earlier is the only lever you actually hold.
Urgent and important are different. A task is urgent because of its date and important because of its weight. A 10% quiz tomorrow is urgent; a 50% journal is important. Most bad semesters are spent doing urgent things.
Match each task to what it is.
Urgency comes from the date, importance from the weight. Most bad semesters are spent on the first row.
A planner that fills every evening of the week is a strong planner.
It will be abandoned by week three, and an abandoned planner scores nothing. Plan the evenings you really have.
Do not plan in hours you do not have. A planner that fills every evening will be abandoned in week three, and an abandoned planner scores nothing. Plan four realistic evenings, not seven imaginary ones.