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My Study Life is exactly what you need to organize a study schedule. It has several important advantages. First of all, it’s free for anyone to use. Second, the structure of the application is very simple and user-friendly. It took me half an hour to create an account and set up my study schedule for two subjects. Third, it’s a perfect app for students of all levels:

• College students;
• Undergraduate students;
• Master and Ph.D. students;
• Continuing education students.

I always look for opportunities to learn something new and further my skills. Here are a few online websites that offer free classes online. The classes are taught by professors from various universities worldwide. For example, I’m taking a Financial Management class on Coursera that is taught by professors from the University of Geneva.

I’ve used these three websites in the past. Coursera is still my favorite, but it’s just a matter of personal preference.

1. Coursera
2. Future Learn
3. EdX

There are other similar resources, and I expect to see more open source education hubs in the future. All three websites offer both free online courses and paid certificate programs. You can find a class on almost any subject.  Most of the time, you can audit any course in a certificate program for free. If you want to receive feedback on assignments and get a certificate in the end, you will need to pay a fee.

Here is how I’m using My Study Life. I received my doctorate degree in Economics a decade ago, but it doesn’t mean I stopped learning when I was in graduate school. I’ve taken many online classes since then to advance my professional skills or just to satisfy my curiosity about a certain topic, such the connection between education and technology, robotics and emotions, neuroscience, and so on. Even though I will never become a neuroscientist, I have a general understanding of the subject area now and can maintain a casual conversation about it.

Now I’m working on fulfilling education requirements for becoming a Certified Financial Planner ™. As a part of this process, I’m taking the Financial Planning Capstone class at Texas A&M University. In addition, I have signed up for an Investment Management class on Coursera.com. My Study Life has been very helpful to manage my study schedule.

As an adult student, it is easy to get distracted from my coursework. Looking at my entire schedule in front of me on my computer or phone helps me to stay on track and focus on moving forward one step at a time. It also helps me to organize the rest of my life better.

As I already mentioned, My Study Life has a very user-friendly design. Once you set it up, you will be able to do the following:

• Color code each subject;
• See what assignments are due each day and week;
• Add class schedule, breaks and holidays, assignments, and exams;
• View daily, weekly, or monthly calendar;
• Access the schedule on your phone, when you download My Study Life app.

I love everything about this app! Even though it doesn’t synchronize with Google Calendar, I wouldn’t want to have this feature. It is convenient to have a separate online planner for everything related to studying. That way I know exactly where to go to find my next assignment, reading, or class time.

Let me walk you through the process of setting up a study schedule in My Study Life.

After a quick registration, you will see a pop-up window that says “Welcome to My Study Life.” You can choose your preferred time format, starting time for your school day, and default class duration. Only the first option was important for me, because my classes are self-paced and I submit all my work online.

Here is how an empty dashboard looks in My Study Life. It has three sections – Today, Tasks, and Exams. When you add class details, these areas will be populated with your custom information.

On the left-hand side, you can see the menu icons, which allow to navigate from dashboard to calendar, tasks, exams, and academic year. We are going to look at each section in more detail below.

I like how easy it is to enter information in My Study Life. When I entered assignments for my two courses, they immediately showed up under tasks in my Dashboard. The assignments for each class are color-coded. I can see how many assignments are due this week, and what is happening today and tomorrow.

As my classes are not face-to-face, I entered my own study times for each class based on my availability and the amount of workload in each class.

The next section of the menu contains Tasks.

Here is how you can add an assignment. When you go to Tasks and click on “New Task”, the popup window will show up. Choose an existing subject or enter a new one.  Set a due date for an assignment and give it a title. Other than an assignment, you can add revisions and reminders. When you added your tasks, you will see them in Tasks and on Dashboard.

You may want to change the due date for an assignment or its completion status. I like that My Study Life has an option to adjust the completion status of a task in 5-percent increments. For example, if you are working on a long assignment, project or a paper, you can indicate how much of it is already done.

To edit the details for a task, just click on it. The following screen will appear.

Then, click edit and you can change the assignment.

This is Tasks section with added tasks. To do that, I just reviewed the syllabi for each class and added every quiz, assignment, or project as a new task. We will get to exams in a moment.

All current tasks for the week are highlighted in yellow, which helps manage time accordingly.

To add an academic year, click on the Academic Calendar link on the Menu on the left-hand side,  choose “New Academic Year” at the top right corner. You can select the start and end date of the academic year and the frequency of classes in the popup window.

Even though my academic year will end in December because I’m taking short continuing education classes now, the standard semester would end in Spring. Then, you can organize academic year by adding Terms.

Below you can see my Academic Year section with the two classes I added. Overall, it’s is a very straightforward process to add classes, holidays, and breaks. Let’s do it together.

To add a class to academic year, click on “New Class” and add class information. All class details will be available, whenever you need them.

I added another subject by clicking on the plus sign next to Subject.

Here is the Calendar view with two courses. If you have 4 or 5 classes, they will be color-coded and arranged by times and days of the week. You have an option to look at your day, week, or month.

Finally, there is an Exam view. I have a final project in my Financial Planning class that is due on December 6.

Enter all exams by clicking on the “New Exam” button and entering the details.

Yay! We are done! Now you have your entire study life at your fingertips. As I said, it took me about 30 minutes to enter all my information. If you have more classes with many assignments in each, it might take a little longer.

Now it’s time to download My Study Life app and login to your account. You are going to see the same sections on your phone. You can make changes to your calendar either from your phone or your computer.

I’ve been a loyal fan of Erin Condren planner for two years. Using it always puts me in good mood. Any task seems easier when you have a smile on your face. It’s the first planner that I like enough to use consistently. To me, it says a lot!

You will understand what I mean when you get your first Erin Condren planner. By the way, they have a 25% sitewide sale now. Erin Condren doesn’t have sale events very often, so it’s a good chance to get a discount on a 2018 planner. There are 18-month planners and you can start from any month you want. Erin Condren planners are fully customizable. You can choose from many cover design or upload your own. There is an option to add a name or a saying on the cover and choose a horizontal or vertical layout.

Another reason I like Erin Condren planners is that they are fully customizable. You can choose from a variety of cover designs or you can upload your own. You will have an option to add your name or a saying on the cover and choose a horizontal or vertical layout.

Here is my referral link that gives you a $10 coupon after registration at Erin Condren website.

There are many other planners to choose from. When you find your own, you will know it. It’s a matter of finding a good match between your personality and the style of a particular planner. Here are just a few options to consider:

The Passion Planner  

The Bullet Journal                 

The Happy Planner Student Edition        

Bloom Daily Planner