Korean 10-minute planner: how to adapt it to your study routine
This method is inspired by the 10분 플래너, or 10-minute planner, commonly used by students preparing for exams in Korea. The day is divided into small boxes so you can separate what you planned from what actually happened. Here, we adapt it to Spanish-style schedules: classes, commuting, meals, academy lessons, work shifts, and study time at home or in the library.
The point is not to fill in a neat-looking grid, but to know how much net study time you had and what might need to move to the next day. If tracking every interruption stresses you out, use a lighter version: fewer time slots, fewer colours, and a short daily review.
Where the method comes from and how we’ll use it
The basis is a daily grid with several boxes for each hour. Before you start, you mark what you intended to do and, during the day, you colour in what really happened. That comparison separates intention, being present, and real progress.
We’ll work with a simple idea: net study time is the time when you are actively doing something with the material, not just being in class, sitting in the library, or having your notes open.
What to colour and when
First, you write down the plan: from 9:00 to 10:20, new topic; from 10:30 to 11:10, practice test. Then you mark what actually happened: if you started at 9:10 or replaced the test with correction, the grid shows it.
You can use a thin line for the plan and full colour for what really happened. If that feels confusing, start by recording only what happened for three days.
What counts as net study time
Net study time includes reading attentively, solving problems, memorising, doing practice tests, correcting mistakes, writing a case response, or revising by trying to recall without looking.
Classes, tutorials, academy lessons, or lab sessions should be counted separately. Commuting, meals, sorting papers, preparing materials, or sitting in the library without moving forward also go in a separate category.
- Counts: active study, exercises, practice tests, mock exams, reasoned correction, and retrieval-based revision.
- Count separately: classes, academy lessons, tutorials, practicals, or lab sessions.
- Does not count: commuting, meals, phone time, organising notes, or looking for resources before you have started studying.
Mistake: counting without rules in advance
If you do not decide beforehand what belongs in each colour, you’ll end up colouring based on how the day felt. Write a small key and keep it unchanged for a week.
A simple code could be: blue for net study, purple for classes or obligations, and grey for rest, commuting, and interruptions. If you need to separate theory, tests, and correction, add that later.
Set up a template that does not create extra work
The template should be quick to set up. Try a minimal version for three days. If it takes more than five minutes to prepare, reduce the hours, colours, or level of detail.
Do not track all twenty-four hours. Include only the part of the day where study, classes, travel, or breaks between blocks may actually happen.
Choose your real time range
If you study in the morning and afternoon, you might use 8:00 to 22:00. If you work, 7:00 to 8:30 and 19:30 to 22:00 may be enough. The grid should resemble your day, not an ideal timetable.
Leave out the hours you are never going to use. A page full of impossible gaps only adds noise.
Draw six boxes per hour
Each hour can have six boxes: 00, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50. Draw one row per hour and leave a right-hand margin for the task, the real total, and a review sentence.
If you do not want to draw it every day, prepare a base template to reuse during the week. The important thing is that it is easy to read.
- Left: time.
- Centre: six boxes.
- Right: planned task, real total, or brief note.
Create a short colour code
Start with three categories: net study, class or obligations, and rest or interruptions. If you later need more detail, separate theory, practice, and correction.
A slightly fuller version could be: blue for theory, green for revision, orange for tests or exercises, purple for class, and grey for rest, commuting, or daily life.
Plan the day before colouring it in
Planning should not take up half the morning. Do it the night before if you already know your schedule, first thing if the day depends on how you wake up, or just after class if the afternoon is your main study window.
Choose no more than three study tasks. For each one, write the task, planned duration, and closing criterion. “Study administrative law” is not the same as “topic 12, sections 1 to 3, first pass”.
Turn an intention into a closed task
A closed task has limits. For EBAU, the Spanish university entrance exams: “20 differentiation problems and correct mistakes”. At university: “read the seminar text and extract five ideas”. For an oposición, a Spanish public-sector competitive exam: “40 questions from block 3 and review errors”.
That level of detail lets you compare the plan with reality without relying on a general feeling at the end of the day.
Place meals, breaks, and journeys
Meals, the bus, a shower, academy lessons, work, or picking someone up also take up boxes. If you do not include them, the plan starts off distorted.
Example: 7:45-8:20, commute; 8:30-9:30, theory; 9:30-9:40, break; 9:40-10:20, test; 10:40-11:20, correction; 14:00-15:00, lunch; 16:00-20:00, class or work; 21:15-21:45, short revision.
Mistake: filling the whole day
The common mistake is turning every free gap into study time. Then a call, an errand, or a topic that takes longer than expected appears, and the whole day looks like a failure.
Keep a buffer block. It can be used for corrections, delays, or ordinary life. If you do not use it, place some light revision there or close the day without dragging tasks forward.
Colour what happened without dressing it up
The record is useful when it captures the real day: actual start, actual finish, interruptions of one box or more, and task changes. The grid is not there to look good, but to show what happened.
If you dress up the record, it becomes less useful. If you use it as punishment, that does not help either. Keep a practical tone: mark, add up, and adjust.
Record when you change activity
The easiest approach is to colour when you change activity. You finish theory, so you mark those boxes. You rest, so you change colour. You return with a test, so you mark another block.
At night, do not recreate the whole grid. Just add up boxes and write one sentence: “tomorrow I’ll put the test before lunch” or “correction needs more space”.
Handle interruptions and phone use
If an interruption is very short and you return to the same point, you can leave it inside the block. If it takes up a full box or changes your concentration, mark it separately.
If there are lots of tiny breaks, make one concrete decision for the next day: phone off the desk, messages grouped into two moments, or one interruption box per hour.
Example of an oposición morning
You had planned: 8:30-10:00, topic 8; 10:10-10:50, test; and 10:50-11:30, correction. The real day: you start at 8:40, work on the topic until 9:50, rest until 10:10, do the test until 10:40, correct until 11:00, and then have a medical appointment to sort out.
Result: 70 minutes of topic work, 30 of test, and 20 of correction. In the afternoon, you can finish the correction, review mistakes, and remove the new-topic block you had placed later.
Add up net study time and compare it with the plan
At the end of the day, count boxes by colour. Each box is ten minutes; six boxes make one hour. You do not need more calculation if the aim is to adjust the next day.
Look at the total and also the distribution. A day with lots of theory and no correction may be unbalanced: if you do tests but do not review mistakes, that block is not finished.
Count ten-minute boxes
Count only the net study boxes: active theory, revision, exercises, tests, mock exams, and reasoned correction. To avoid counting them one by one, group them in sixes.
Example: you had planned 90 minutes of theory, 40 of test, and 40 of correction. Real: 70 of theory, 30 of test, and 20 of correction. The adjustment is to protect correction time tomorrow because it came up short.
Compare by subject or task type
Separate by subject and by type of task. In an oposición, a Spanish public-sector competitive exam: syllabus content, tests, correction, and revision. At university: reading, practical work, exercises, and assignments. In EBAU, the Spanish university entrance exams: subjects and exercise type.
If one subject always drops out in the afternoon, do not leave it until the end. Put it before lunch, just after class, or in a short block with a very closed task.
Mistake: counting presence as study
Being in the library from 9:00 to 14:00 is not the same as five hours of net study. Going to class is not the same as studying on your own either, even if it is part of your preparation.
For one week, separate library time, class time, and net study time without changing anything else. That separation helps you see whether the issue is long classes, interruptions, commuting, or badly placed blocks.
Examples for a day in Spain
Imagine the grid applied to three different routines. These are not fixed models; they simply show how transport, classes, shifts, meals, and tiredness can fit together.
Oposición
One possible morning: 8:30-10:00, new topic; 10:10-10:50, test; 10:50-11:30, correction; and 12:00-12:40, revision of legal articles or flashcards. If you have academy lessons in the afternoon, mark them as class.
If you have errands or family responsibilities, put them in the grid. A 20- or 30-minute block to correct five mistakes after dinner may be more realistic than pretending the whole afternoon is clear.
EBAU or university
If you have classes in the afternoon, use the morning for tasks that require more attention: 9:30-10:40, problems; 10:50-11:30, reading or outline; and then a break or lunch. Classes from 16:00 to 20:00 go down as class, not net study.
Before dinner, you might fit in a short closing block: review mistakes, prepare questions, or decide what goes into tomorrow. If you mark it, it becomes clear whether that review exists in your real day.
Work and study
With a split working day, use small, specific time slots: 7:30-8:00, flashcard revision before leaving; and 21:15-21:45, exercise correction after dinner. If you work in the afternoon, 9:00-9:40, revision; and 9:50-10:40, test, may fit better.
Useful tasks can fit into 20- or 30-minute blocks: correct five mistakes, review flashcards, redo two exercises, prepare questions for class, or read a short section.
Use it on paper or on your phone
On paper, it is easy to colour when you change activity and see the whole day at a glance. On your phone, a task list or calendar can be enough to note the main blocks and the manual total at the end of the day.
You can also combine both formats: paper for intense study days and a calendar or task list for weeks with changing schedules.
Hand-drawn paper version
For an exact grid, draw six boxes per hour. At the bottom of the page, add three details: total net study time, important task completed, and adjustment for tomorrow.
Keep the week’s sheets together and review them in this order: see which block falls through most often, choose one action, and do not change colours, template, and goals all at once.
Daily closing note on your phone
In any task list or calendar, you can close the day with a short note: “net study: 3 h 40 min; theory: 1 h; tests: 1 h; correction: 1 h 40 min”. If you also place the main tasks in the calendar, you’ll have enough of an overview to decide where each block should go without carrying a full grid.
How to keep what is useful from the system
Keep five actions: prepare a simple template, choose a few colours, record activity changes, add up real boxes, and write one adjustment for tomorrow.
The practical rule is this: if recording takes longer than deciding the next block, simplify. Fewer colours, fewer hours, or just a daily closing note. The system should help you choose the next block better, not give you another pending task.
For the bigger picture, the article what time management is covers principles and methods for organising tasks, priorities and breaks.