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MG110

Guidelines on what to prepare for

Tutorial 3 to be held during the week commencing

16-Nov-09Analyse the following case while considering the questions posed at the end:

John is from Cork and is a first year Commerce student in NUI Galway. He doesn’t

go home very often but he is aiming to go home on Friday for the weekend for his

grandmother’s birthday (and also to get his laundry done and stock up on home

 baking!).

He lives in Corrib Village and he enjoys living with the gang of other lads in his

apartment. He plays football twice a week and his parents paid for his gym

membership for the first term on condition that he get a part time job and pay them back after Christmas. At the end of September he managed to get a part time job in

the local video rental store and he works there 2 nights a week (Tuesday & Thursday)

from 8pm – 12pm. John’s girlfriend Sarah is in first year too, studying Science, so

they try to meet at least once a day even though that can be difficult sometimes as

their lecture schedules often clash.

Overall, he is happy with his course and with most of his subjects. However, he is

finding Economics difficult and, while he is managing to keep up with most of the

others subjects, with Economics, he is really just going to the lectures and plans to

spend a couple of weekends cramming it before the exams.

Wednesday!!!

John has got an Accounting assignment due in for tomorrow at 5pm and plans to start

some work on it tonight. He gets back to the apartment at 6pm, has something to eat

and opens the books at 6.45pm, planning to be finished by 9pm and then go to the

gym.

He is 15 minutes into the assignment when his flat mates come home and remind him

that there is a Champions League match on and that they are all going to the college

 bar to watch it. The temptation is too great for John and he packs up the books andheads off to watch the match promising himself that he will get back straight after,

work late and do an hour and a half on the assignment. Even though he only drinks

orange in the bar, the lads have had a few and by the time he gets home, he doesn’t

really feel like working (he was never really good at studying late). His friends are

laughing and talking anyway, watching a late film so he can’t settle into studying.

John goes to bed around midnight and his last thought is to get up early, get to the

gym by 7.30am, into the library by 9, work on the assignment and be ready for his

Economics lecture at 11am.

Thursday

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John doesn’t sleep very well as there is a lot of talk next door and plenty of passers-by

making noise also. He turns off the alarm when it goes off, just to get another few

minutes and wakes with a start at 8.30am. “**!!***, I won’t get to gym now this

morning and I better hurry to get a place in the library”. Rushing out the door, (not

having had time for breakfast) he mentally plans the day ahead – 

- study till 10.30;

- Breakfast before the economics lecture at 11;

- Meet Sarah for lunch at 12;

- Lectures and tutorials in the afternoon;

- Finish Accounting assignment by 5pm and head to the gym;

- Grab something to eat on the way to work for 8pm.

What actually happens is …….

He gets to the library and discovers he has left a key textbook at home and can’t finish

the assignment fully. He bumps into Sarah on the way to the canteen at 10am andends up losing track of time. He gets in late to the Economics lecture and can’t follow

it as he missed the previous one. He skips afternoon tutorials and the gym to work on

the assignment before work. He makes some headway buts it is more difficult than he

thought and he misses the 5pm deadline. By 8pm the assignment is still unfinished as

he has to go to work.

Friday

John can’t get the 11am bus home as planned as the assignment has to be handed in

 before the weekend because it is already late. He gets it in by lunchtime but feels it

isn’t his best work. He gets the next bus at 4pm and is in the bad books when he

arrives home because he had promised to help out with the preparations for the party!

A. Answer the following questions, bring a printed copy of your answers to the

tutorial and be prepared to discuss them

1. Identify points in his days where John makes poor decisions

2. What impact do these decisions have on John’s academic performance?

3. What simple strategies can John employ to manage his time more effectively?4. Are there any similarities between John’s story and your approach to time

management? Are there ways you could plan to avoid them?

B. In addition, bring the following with you to your tutorial

1. Your current study plan, diary and /or timetable

2. A list of all the tasks and activities (academic, leisure and work) that you want

to achieve over the next 3 weeks.

 Both A and B are essential for your full participation in the tutorial and will be

checked for at the start of the session.