Step 4: Map Out Your Time and Schedule

Once you have your practice problems and study materials organized, you need to figure out:

• How much time you have until the test or exam
• How you will break up and use that time

Once you establish how many days you have until the exam, you're ready to start filling out these columns in the study plan spreadsheet:

• Study Days: The days that you are setting aside to study for the selected topic.
• Retention Review: Review sessions after the initial study days.

Deciding on Your Study Days

As far as deciding which days you will devote to each topic, I would suggest working on your biggest and highest-prioritized problem areas first. Some people might argue that starting with easier topics helps you get some early, easy "wins" under your belt, boosting your confidence and making you feel more productive. However, let me explain my logic for starting with the higher priority items first.

First, this approach gives you more time to focus on the difficult and important areas, with more of a buffer between the exam time. One of the worst feelings is leaving these areas to the last minute, and then feeling stressed and panicked because you realize you don't have time to adequately cover them and feel comfortable. If you find that you need to give a subject more time than you planned, this way you're not leaving it until the last minute, so you have more time and space to make the proper adjustments.

Also, around exam time, tutors and instructors will probably be a lot busier, so you want to make sure you have plenty of time to schedule any help sessions with them. The earlier you can get this help, the better off you'll be and more confident you'll feel.

How Much Time for Each Topic?

It probably goes without saying, but make sure that you're allocating enough time to the big topics. The sequence and order of your review is important, but some areas will require more time than others. Make this time decision based on:

• The amount of material for each topic: If you have a topic that has tons of questions and problems on previous assignments and exams, you'll probably want to spend more time on that topic. If you've only mentioned the topic briefly or seen just a few questions or problems about it, it's probably not going to have as much of an impact on your exam.
• Topic importance: Some topics are foundational; they build the major basis for a lot of other topics, and thus are critical to your understanding of the programming language or concept as a whole. For example, in a language such as Java or C++, you'll find that topics like methods or classes provide the backbone of understanding the language.
• Your personal needs: If you're really feeling uncomfortable with a topic, you might want to give it extra time so that you're not rushing through it.

These factors should help you understand which topics will get most of your time.

Retention Reviews

I also recommend that you include at least one retention review, which is a follow-up session to review a given topic, at least a few days after you've done the first study session for the topic. The point is to make sure that you retain what you learned, like a "sanity check" before the exam.

Instead of doing one retention review for a subject, you might want to do several sessions scattered throughout the study period (kind of like the "spaced repetition" concept of learning: https://collegeinfogeek.com/spaced-repetition-memory-technique/).

You might not want to leave retention reviews for difficult topics to just right before the exam, because if you're still having trouble and it's the night before the test, now you'll set yourself up for panic. Make sure you have set aside plenty of time to do the retention review well before the exam, so that you can address any problems or confusions with lots of room before the test day.

Office Hours and Tutoring Sessions

If you need to, make sure you make and leave time in your schedule to meet with a tutor or teacher for help. You can use your study sessions to write down questions and problems that you need help with, so that you have a plan and make the most of your time with the teacher.

Often, an instructor or teaching assistant will have set office hours, in which students can visit and get assistance. I would suggest planning to attend at least one of these sessions, as well as any review sessions they might have planned.