How To Plan For Uni Deadlines

When you ask people about university, they will always tell you about the amazing time they had, the amazing friends they made and how you can go into you overdraft and it won't cost you a penny, but what they don't tell you about is the stress, sleepless nights and lack of a social life that comes with deadlines.

Deadlines are literally the worst. I cannot tell you how many times I've wanted to scream and tear my hair out, how many times I've pitted myself against other people's work and how many times I've nearly just got up and quit. I sound like I'm exaggerating but trust me, whoever you meet, especially art/design/fashion students, will agree.

This is not my first deadline though, so I have learnt some things about coping with it all. So I'm going to share my top 5 tips on planning/getting yourself through.

1. Read your brief/assignment
I'm not sure how it works with exam based courses, but as FCP is all coursework, all of our modules are based on briefs. I start by reading over the brief and highlighting key points to get an understanding of what it actually is that I'm being asked to do, and if there's one things I've learnt from FCP, ALWAYS keeping going back and re-reading.

2. Compile a checklist
From the brief I will usually come up with a check list of things I need to do in order to get to the end result. Having it in a basic list format rather than paragraphs in a brief makes it visually easier to see what you actually need to do. And mini goals makes it seem a little bit easier to handle.

3. Create a spreadsheet
This sounds so anal and I sound like my dad, but I have started to put my checklists in a spreadsheet. I'll have what I need to do down the left hand side and then every day up until the deadline along the top, and then match each task to a date with a highlighted cell. You don't have to stick to it perfectly and you can change it around whenever you want, because what I planned to do over Christmas definitely didn't happen. I personally get so much more done when I've told myself what needs to be done when rather than just trying to remember off the top of my head or doing the tasks I prefer and putting the others off.

4. Lists, lists and more lists
I had so many lists lying around my desk last week it almost defeated the point, but what is more satisfying than ticking them off?!

5. Have enough snacks
Having deadlines is the perfect excuse to stock up on snacks. Wrote a sentence for an essay? Have a snack. Got out of bed and took yourself to the library? Have a snack. Managed not to cry for two hours? Have a snack. Little rewards keep you motivated.