Reading and comprehension

Under pressure: how do you manage your time?

Do you sometimes feel that you’re wasting a lot of your time and not getting enough done?

• Not alone: Don’t worry – you’re not alone. Most of us fail to manage our time effectively.
• Books: There are lots of books about time management on the market, but you don’t need to waste time (and money) reading them.
• The tips: Here are some tried and tested tips for getting things done.

Five tips follow. Read them, then choose a title for each.

The first tip: excuses and the ‘right time’

• TIP 1:
• It’s so easy to make excuses and find ways to avoid the thing you know you should be doing.
• Experts advise us to break this habit by becoming aware of our own excuses.
• The ‘right time’ to do something never arrives: the best time to do something is usually now.
• Once you’ve got started, you’ll probably find that it wasn’t as hard as you thought.

The second tip: lists and priorities

• TIP 2:
• It’s important to make yourself a ‘to do’ list or exam revision timetable, but remember that listing things isn’t the same as doing them (see Tip 1!).
• Once you’ve worked out what needs to be done, decide which tasks have the highest priority and which can be left till later.

The third tip: when things don’t go well

• TIP 3:
• It’s inevitable that things don’t always go as well as you expect them to.
• If you find that you’ve ‘hit a wall’, there are two things you can do.
• First, persevere: with a bit more effort, you may find that you break through the wall.
• But if that doesn’t work, try having a (short) break.
• Do something completely different, and come back to the task.

The fourth tip: stress and your health

• TIP 4:
• Even if you’re under stress, there’s no point making yourself ill – that will just make the pressure worse.
• Make sure you remember to eat regularly and healthily, and, even though it may be hard, try to get enough sleep.

The fifth tip: your brain and big tasks

• TIP 5:
• You can’t always make your brain work ‘on demand’.
• Don’t spend too long on one task, and learn to recognise when you’re slowing down.
• Divide large tasks into smaller parts that are easier to manage, and reward yourself for completing them by doing something fun.

Match each tip with its title

Using the tips: words, then which tip fits

Now use the words of the tips, and match each student to a tip.

3 Replace the underlined parts of the sentences below with words or phrases from the text.

(The part of the text where you can find the words / phrases is given in brackets.) 1 (Introduction) With all the new products available to buy nowadays, it’s very hard to decide which to buy. _

2 (Tip 1) She’s starting to notice the impact of things that she says and does on other people. _

3 (Tip 2) Studying before an exam can be very stressful, but it’s necessary. When asked to say what they want in the future, most people say health and happiness are the most important. _ _

4 (Tip 3) If you’re finding a job difficult, it’s important that you don’t give up. _

5 (Tip 4) There’s no purpose in trying to open the door. It’s locked. _

6 (Tip 5) Young babies expect to be given food whenever they want it. Some parents give their children something good if they do well in exams. _ _

1 There’s so much to do that it gets confusing and I don’t know where to start. Tip _

2 I sometimes reach a point where I get bored and information just stops. Tip _

3 I get worried and my head starts hurting. Tip _

4 I always seem to find other things to do and time just runs out. Tip _

5 I sometimes think it’s all too hard and want to give up. Tip _

What do young Australians worry about most?

When young people in Australia were asked what they worried most about, the seven answers below were the most important.

Why finding a job beat the environment

Now read the news story again, more carefully.

• First: ‘finding a job’.
• Top six: getting into debt (6th) and passing exams (4th=).
• Also in the top: relationships (2nd), health (3rd) and ‘fitting in with peers’ (4th=).
• Seventh: the environment.

Words from the news story, and a summary

2 Use the words in Part 1 to complete the sentences below.

1 Don’t be so ___ , I’ll be finished soon.

2 We all make mistakes sometimes, so it’s ___ that you will too.

3 There are some problems with this idea. I’m not really ___ it will work.

4 He was ___ because he thought he would get better results than he did.

5 She didn’t go to a private school because her parents couldn’t afford the ___ .

6 The form asks for a lot of ___ details like age and nationality.

7 Students have more money worries ___ than they had in the past.