The next part of planning is to work out the timing of your course. There are three questions that you need to consider:
· Completion goal. When do you plan to complete the course?
· Time needed. How much time do you need to complete the course?
· Available hours. How much time do you have available to spend on the course?
Use this information and the course map to lay out a basic schedule for your course. Then decide whether it’s all going to fit. You may need to adjust your answers to the questions above, or your expectations, to make it fit.
Keep in mind though that your schedule is a plan. Events will occur that you don’t expect. Come back to your schedule during your training to see how you are tracking. If there are significant variations, look at what is causing those variations. If it’s an underestimate in your original plan, update your estimates so you are more accurate in the future. If it’s because you are spending too long on some parts of your material, consider whether you need to.
There are two more considerations when planning. One is to build in time to learn Memletics, and the second is to understand the effect of exams and tests.
Include some time in your schedule to learn more about Memletics. If you are just starting out, you may want to plan more time so you can explore more of the system. Plan some time to do the Learning State quiz (if you haven’t already), and review the Learning Checklist for other ideas ý.
People often underestimate the time needed for exams and tests. This may be because most people don’t like them and so prefer not to think about them. If this sounds like you, see some of the points I make about exams and tests in the Challenges chapter.
If your training uses tests, make sure you build in time for the pre-test preparation and post-test review. You may also want to use these as markers or checkpoints in your plan. Use them to split your goal into a series of smaller objectives.