Part 2 of the TOEIC Test Preparation, group help-sheets.
This post’s subject is: I Scored High on the TOEIC by using a time management Idea
In the previous blog, we talked about procrastination. I showed you how you can use your procrastination so called "skills" to ensure that you complete all your things to do so you
score high on your TOEIC test. Just be doing this you will be ahead of about 50% of the other TOEIC test takers if you organize your test preparation activities with the most important
activities first and allow enough time to prepare. These help-sheets contain some strategies and tips that will greatly increase your test score if used and not just read and then forgotten.
In this blog, we're going to look at a subject that's closely related to procrastination: TOEIC test time management. Look, if you don't use your time efficiently when preparing for the TOEIC,
you won't be prepared enough to get a high score. If you like using your time inefficiently you could waste 8 months before you're finally ready to take the TOEIC test and get a high score.
It's your up to you. What I'm going to suggest is that you slay the dragon on the test with good TOEIC test preparation time management. One of the first things that people tell you when
you start preparing for the TOEIC exam is to make a schedule and make sure you stick to it. Nice idea in theory. Everyone makes a schedule but only a few TOEIC test takers stick to it. It's not
just the procrastinators who have a problem prioritizing the order in which they do things (although once you've taken those people out, there are not many left), it's just about everyone.
The fact is, you can't possibly schedule every minute of your day, despite what some TOEIC study guides might tell you. People are always going to be stopping by, the phone will ring and
small tasks that you scheduled to complete in half an hour will take you forty or fifty minutes. Every time something happens that you didn't schedule, your TOEIC preparation timetable gets
thrown off schedule. When you give yourself a tightly-constructed schedule with no room for flexibility, all you do is provide yourself with frustration and anxiety when you fall behind. When
you can't stay with a schedule that's not realistic you can end up abandoning time management altogether and that's a big mistake. The practical way to manage your time isn't to try to
schedule every single minute so that you don't waste a single second. It's best to draw up a not so tight schedule that consists only of the most important things. The less important things
will take care of themselves. Here's how you do it:

1. Write out a list of everything you think you have to do, from going over previous TOEIC practice tests to putting out the cat. What do you think the odds are that you'll keep
to that schedule at the end of the day? Putting all the things you need to remember on paper rather than trying to carry it around in your head can help you drop at least half of
your test stress and anxiety. You'll probably sleep a lot better at night and worry a lot less about forgetting important things you have to do tomorrow.

2. Highlight the three most important things on the list and cut your schedule down to a realistic size and complexity. Use the technique from the previous blog on procrastination to
list the three most important tasks that you want completed by the end of the day and ignore everything else. Decide what tasks
are the 20% of the items on your list that will give you 80% of the results you're looking to achieve. Don't confuse movement with achievement. You need to focus
on the results you want to achieve for the day, not a group of activities.

3. Create A new schedule now! Create a brand new schedule that only has those three tasks on it (or 20% of the activities that give you 80% of the results that are most important
to you - like getting a high score on the TOEIC). You may say that you have a lot more than three things to do! Yes you do, but you must choose the top three things that, if completed
 today, would move you closest to your goal of doing well on the TOEIC exam. This strategy has tremendous power of focus that will yield the greatest progress towards your goal of a
high TOEIC score. Your schedule won't have more than three things on it: 9:00am Review part 2 of the TOEIC study guide. 10:00pm Review grammar index cards. 11:00pm Do the practice
questions.. You will most likely do a lot more than those three things. You will probably also to look at your emails, read the news headlines, make yourself some coffee and have lunch.
Maybe even wash the car.

4. Complete 100% of each cctivity before moving to the next thing. Make sure you do activity number one first (before reading the news, checking your e-mail, etc.) and make sure it
to 100% completed before starting on activity two. Do activity two to 100% completion before starting activity three. You're going to do those things no matter what else happens.
Whether the kitchen is cleaned today won't have much impact on you in one year, but scoring high on the TOEIC will!

5. Work in blocks of uninterrupted time. Turn off your mobile phone and put a do not disturb sign on your door. Let others know that during certain blocks of time, you can't be disturbed.
 You absolutely need uninterrupted time to fully concentrate on the task at hand when you're doing your top 3 items for the day. Every time the phone is answered, or a person comes in
to talk, it wastes a lot of time. Then it takes even more time to get back to where you were. This destroys your productivity and jeopardizes your success.
Remember our discussion of procrastination? Even if you do procrastinate, you'll simply find yourself doing the TOEIC practice test in the morning in order to avoid reviewing Chapter 2
of the TOEIC study guide, or working on a practice test in the afternoon when there's nothing left to do.

Good luck!