Time Management Secrets for College Students

How can you truly thrive at college—not just survive it? In The Secrets of College Success, professors Lynn F. Jacobs and Jeremy S. Hyman reveal what college students need to know but rarely get told—the insider truths, habits, and practical systems that top students use to excel. They argue that success in higher education is not about innate genius or luck, but about learning the unwritten rules of the academic game and taking responsibility for your own learning.

Jacobs and Hyman’s central claim is simple yet powerful: college success can be engineered when you master a core set of habits, strategies, and attitudes that allow you to make the most of your education. They draw on over five decades of teaching experience to expose what professors really expect and how students can meet—and exceed—those expectations. The book is like having two veteran professors whisper every tip they wish their students knew.

Why College Success Feels Like a Mystery

Jacobs and Hyman open with an acknowledgement that colleges often fail to teach “how” to do college. Many professors think students should figure it out themselves, and overwhelmed advisers rarely have the time to offer detailed guidance. As a result, new students often show up unprepared for the unspoken cultural codes of higher education—where independence, initiative, and intellectual self-reliance are the real tests.

To fix this, the authors compiled hundreds of “top ten” lists—bite-sized, professor-level insights—covering everything from picking a major to writing research papers, managing time, emailing professors, surviving finals, handling personal crises, and even planning for life beyond graduation. Each chapter demystifies a different stage of the college journey.

College as a Journey—Not a Checklist

Jacobs and Hyman see college as a multi-year transformation rather than just an academic checklist. The early chapters focus on getting oriented: understanding what college really demands, building the mindset of a responsible learner, and developing the study habits that distinguish top performers. The middle chapters move into core academic skills—time management, studying, note-taking, reading efficiently, and class participation. Later, the book widens its scope to cover majors, mentorship, safety, inclusivity, and career preparation.

Underlying all of it is a call for intentional studenthood: consciously deciding why you’re in college, what you want out of it, and how to use every available resource to achieve your goals. The authors stress that in college, no parent or teacher will hold your hand—success depends entirely on your own initiative.

The Authors’ Big Promise

The professors make a bold guarantee in their preface: if you practice the strategies they teach, you will succeed. Their advice has helped thousands of students across diverse colleges—from community colleges and state universities to Ivy League schools—achieve better grades, greater confidence, and smoother transitions into professional life. Their “professors’ point of view” makes the book unique: instead of generic self-help, you get the insider’s version of what works in real courses, under real professors’ expectations.

“We’re out to change college in America,” they write, turning it from a place where students passively absorb information into one where they take charge of their learning and understand what professors actually want.”

What You’ll Learn

In this summary, you’ll learn how to identify the biggest myths that hold students back, and discover the winning habits that make high achievers so consistent. You’ll explore how to pick courses, balance time, conquer procrastination, and take masterful notes. You’ll see why talking to professors early can change your trajectory, what mindset to adopt when you bomb a midterm, and how to stay safe, confident, and focused amid the freedoms of college life. Finally, you’ll learn to view your education as an investment in your career and self-development, not just a credential.

Ultimately, Jacobs and Hyman redefine success: it’s not just the GPA on your transcript, but how completely you engage with your learning, community, and future. Their message is empowering—college isn’t a confusing maze once you have the map, and the Secrets they share can turn any student into a confident, skilled, and self-directed learner.

Jacobs and Hyman start their practical advice with a fundamental rule: you are now in charge. College, unlike high school, strips away the safety nets of constant adult supervision. The authors stress that your professors won’t chase you down for missed homework or remind you of deadlines. You decide your courses, show up to lectures, and manage your own study schedule. The sooner you see yourself as CEO of your own education, the faster you’ll excel.

What Professors Expect

Professors, the authors explain, expect students to take initiative. They assume you’ll attend every lecture, cover assigned readings, and ask for help if you’re confused. One hidden pitfall is believing professors care only about effort—how hard you studied or how late you stayed up. In truth, they grade the final product, not the process. A paper isn’t graded for hours worked, but for coherence and mastery. Understanding this early helps you align your expectations with theirs.

This ties directly to their insight, “The professor is not your enemy.” While many students fear their professors as gatekeepers, the authors remind us that most professors genuinely want you to succeed—they’ve chosen teaching over higher-paying fields because they care about learning. Seeing them as allies, rather than adversaries, can change everything.

Replacing Myths with Reality

The authors list common self-defeating myths: “I just don’t test well”; “I’m bad at math”; “I can get by cramming the night before.” These stories we tell ourselves create excuses for mediocrity. Jacobs and Hyman recommend flipping the script: treat skills as learnable, not genetic. If you’ve struggled before, perhaps the problem was teaching quality or lack of practice, not lack of talent. They show that confidence, study discipline, and persistence consistently trump raw IQ.

Building Productive Habits

The authors identify fifteen habits of top college students, which include having clear goals, setting priorities, dividing work into manageable pieces, staying organized, seeking feedback, and cultivating smart peers. The key isn’t perfection—it’s consistency. Successful students, they write, don’t just study hard during exam week; they study a little every week, reflect on feedback, and continuously adapt.

“Look, there are only 168 hours in a week,” they quip. “No one can use any hour twice.”

By seeing time as your most precious resource, and applying structure to your studies, you set yourself up to achieve not just good grades, but a calmer, more balanced college life.

(This echoes advice from Cal Newport’s How to Become a Straight-A Student, which similarly emphasizes systems over last-minute heroics. Both books agree that deliberate, planned effort beats marathon cramming sessions every time.)

Once you’ve committed to taking responsibility, Jacobs and Hyman teach what they call Skills 3.0: advanced, professional-level academic behaviors that elevate your learning. Think of this as the difference between an amateur and a master artisan—same tools, entirely different execution.

Time Management That Works

Their number-one orchestrating skill is time management. They recommend blocking your schedule—taking all classes back-to-back if possible—so that you create long, uninterrupted work sessions. You should also map every assignment into your calendar from day one. The goal is not to memorize tasks, but to see your academic life as a series of planned commitments rather than chaos.

Jacobs and Hyman also attack procrastination head-on. They provide ten reasons never to delay work: it increases stress, limits feedback, and shrinks your window to recover from mistakes. Instead of waiting to feel motivated, use “structured procrastination”—a technique popularized by Stanford philosopher John Perry—to redirect your avoidance energy into easier, productive tasks. The authors’ own advice complements this: break tasks into “digestible chunks” and celebrate every small victory.

Learning How to Learn

In their sections on studying, reading, and note-taking, Jacobs and Hyman offer a crash course in metacognition—thinking about how you think. They teach that good studying is active, not passive: focus on understanding and applying concepts, not rote memorization. They mock the idea of “studying” with social media open, reminding readers that divided attention is pseudo-studying, not real engagement.

To read “like a pro,” they suggest questioning every paragraph, annotating actively, and coding your notes in separate notebooks rather than scattering highlights across margins. They recommend combining visual structure (like numbering and underlining) with sustained comprehension—training your brain to prefer depth over speed.

Interpreting Lectures Like a Scholar

Their tips for lectures are deceptively simple: show up on time, stay fully present, and keep writing. “Write more, not less,” they advise. A strong student processes the lecture live—by summarizing, labeling, and linking ideas. They also teach students to pick up professors’ verbal cues—phrases like “the key point is…” or “it’s crucial to note…”—which signal test-ready concepts. Every professor, they note, has tells that reveal what will show up on exams.

The outcome of mastering Skills 3.0 isn’t just better grades; it’s feeling in control of your intellectual growth. You move from passively reacting to assignments to actively constructing your education—something few students ever achieve.

Grades are the currency of college, Jacobs and Hyman acknowledge—but they’re not mysterious. Great students don’t rely on luck; they apply tested systems to consistently perform well. Their section on grades reveals the 11 “secrets” that transform B students into A students.

Strategic Learning, Not Memorization

They argue that successful students “study like they mean it.” Real studying is focused immersion, not background noise. When you study, treat it like professional training. Shut out distractions, reread strategically, and make sure you can explain concepts in your own words. Passive repetition doesn’t build mastery—understanding and retrieval practice do.

Another hidden grade booster, they reveal, is understanding exam construction. Professors test what they personally emphasize and what they think you should know. The book’s chapter “So What’s Going to Be on the Test?” teaches you to reverse-engineer exams by analyzing syllabus focus areas, repeated themes, and instructor hints.

Preparation Over Panic

They recommend preparing for each test over a full week, rewriting notes, predicting questions, and even writing a personal “pre-test” under timed conditions. This rehearsal reduces fear and reveals blind spots early. They humorously warn: “It’s a 15-week semester for a reason—it takes that long to learn things that matter.”

Their guidance on papers continues this strategic theme. Every paper must start with a strong thesis, logical structure, and evidence-driven argument. Professors value clarity over flashiness. A short, tight five-page paper with original thought will always outperform a verbose one padded with quotes.

“Show your work, not your word count,” they advise. “We grade product, not effort.”

Their ultimate grade-boosting secret? Build a relationship with your professor and ask for feedback early. A single office hour conversation can lift your paper from a B+ to an A, because you’ll catch errors before they ossify. (Similarly, in Make It Stick, Brown et al. emphasize feedback as the most powerful lever of learning.)

Many students sabotage their college experience by picking courses randomly or chasing easy A’s. Jacobs and Hyman devote several chapters to helping you design an academic program that aligns passion, ability, and practicality.

The Art of Course Selection

Start by researching each class: read the syllabus, check reviews, and ask who’s teaching it. Not every “Intro” course looks alike—some are service courses meant for non-majors, others are rigorous gateways to the field. Always match your goals to the course level.

They advise balancing schedules with both challenging and lighter classes, so you can sustain energy throughout the term. Resist parental pressure to front-load all your “requirements” early. Mixing requirements with genuine interests creates motivation—your enjoyment fuels persistence. They add: if you hit a bad professor, drop early rather than wasting a semester’s worth of frustration.

Deciding on a Major

Picking a major may feel like a life sentence, but Jacobs and Hyman remind you that it’s not. Most people change careers several times. Still, they urge self-awareness: pick something you excel at and enjoy. Your transcript is your marketing document—major in a field where getting A’s feels challenging but fun. They humorously warn, “Majoring in misery is a bad strategy.”

The best majors, they note, develop transferable skills—critical thinking, analysis, writing, quantitative reasoning—that prepare you for multiple jobs. The authors echo the perspective of professional educators: what matters is not just what you study, but what competencies you gain along the way.

By treating course and major selection as both art and strategy, you chart a path through college that sustains curiosity while serving your long-term goals.

Everyone hits rough patches in college, Jacobs and Hyman admit. What separates survivors from dropouts is the ability to rebound. Their emergency chapter—“In Case of Emergency…”—reads like a crisis manual for modern students, covering everything from bombing an exam to burnout and real-life emergencies.

Responding to Failure Wisely

When you flunk a midterm, their first commandment is: don’t panic. Analyze the damage. Most midterms count for less than you fear. Then perform a “post-mortem”: figure out what went wrong—studying too little, misunderstanding the format, or missing lectures—and correct it before the next exam. Professors respect self-aware students who show initiative to improve.

They even normalize asking for extensions or incompletes when life hits hard—but stress honesty: professors respond better to truth than to tales of “dogs eating printers.” For more severe setbacks—health crises, family emergencies, mental health struggles—they remind you colleges have many untapped resources: counseling, tutoring, disability services, and dean’s offices dedicated to helping students recover.

Dealing with Overload

Modern students often juggle jobs, classes, and stressors. For them, the authors propose a triage system: prioritize essentials, cut commitments that drain energy, and create recovery habits—sleep, exercise, and small wins. Overwhelm, they note, isn’t a sign of weakness; it’s data that your system needs adjusting.

“You can’t study effectively if you’re exhausted, anxious, or malnourished,” they remind readers. “Physical wellness and academic performance are inseparable.”

In short, resilience in college means integrating academics and self-care. When you treat your mind and body as your main assets, success becomes sustainable.

(This holistic message aligns with Angela Duckworth’s idea of grit—stamina and passion sustained over years. Jacobs and Hyman’s message: resilience isn’t toughness; it’s smart maintenance of your whole self.)

Jacobs and Hyman dedicate an entire chapter to what no one teaches explicitly: how to interact with professors. Since they’re the ultimate gatekeepers of grades, research, and recommendations, learning this social art can redefine your college experience.

Why Relationships Matter

Students who build respectful, curious relationships with their professors tap into mentorship, insider knowledge, and referrals. The authors’ “15 Ways to Make Your Professor Love You” include showing interest, asking real questions, and thanking them when they help you. Professors notice engaged students—they often become the ones nominated for awards or internships later.

They also detail what not to do: don’t challenge your professor publicly, send sloppy emails, or dispute grades aggressively. As Hyman puts it, “Courtesy takes you further than brilliance.” Even small gestures—like greeting them before class or referencing their research—build goodwill.

Office Hours: The Hidden Goldmine

The professors reveal that only about 10% of students regularly visit office hours. Yet those who do gain a massive advantage. They remind readers that office hours exist for you—professors like intellectually curious students. Go early in the semester, come prepared with specific questions, and be yourself. The more you practice these interactions, the more comfortable you’ll become.

They even coach students on email etiquette: use professional salutations, avoid excuses, and keep your messages concise. “Politeness,” they quip, “is your fastest route to an A.”

Learning this skill doesn’t just improve grades—it prepares you for professional communication beyond college. (As Adam Grant argues in Give and Take, productive relationships, built on generosity and respect, compound over time.)

In their later chapters, Jacobs and Hyman pivot from college survival to post-graduation thriving. They show that higher education isn’t an end in itself but training for a meaningful life. Graduates who succeed aren’t those who memorize the most material, but those who translate college skills into career momentum.

Building Transferable Skills

They identify twelve “career-transferable” skills you should consciously build: writing clearly, speaking effectively, researching, managing time, collaborating, and thinking analytically. Employers care less about your major title than your ability to solve problems, organize data, and communicate ideas. Every class and project can double as a résumé line if approached intentionally.

They also suggest adding practical experiences: internships, undergraduate research, or leadership in clubs. These test-drive career paths and show employers you have initiative. Summer internships, they warn, aren’t coffee-fetching jobs—they’re mini-auditions for future careers. Treat them as seriously as a full-time position, and you’ll earn both experience and recommendations.

Lifelong Learning and Next Steps

For those considering graduate school, Jacobs and Hyman lay out a ten-step plan: assess motivation, research programs, build writing samples, and secure glowing letters of recommendation. They repeat a common refrain: plan early. Graduate admissions, like college success, reward forethought and authenticity.

Finally, they coach readers through job hunting: networking, crafting résumés, interviewing, and maintaining professionalism. “Good job searches,” they note, “are marathons, not sprints.” That patience mirrors the discipline you’ve honed all through college.

By graduation, if you’ve followed their map, college will have prepared you for far more than exams—it will have trained you for a life of curiosity, resilience, and impact.