Time management ability refers to an individual’s ability to appropriately use, arrange, and master time.1,2 Time management refers to individuals’ planning and arrangement of time to use and manage it in a highly efficient and scientific manner, thereby preventing time wasting and improving their work effectiveness. Time management requires people to change their passive time use behaviors and begin actively allocating their time in a systematic, centralized, planned, and purposeful manner, thereby enabling themselves to perform efficient and creative activities. Time management requires people to persistently and purposefully apply reliable job skills to guide and manage their personal daily living and utilize their available time in a reasonable and effective manner. In general, time management can be defined as the act of applying available time in a planned, purposeful, efficient, and reasonable manner to perform creative activities.3
At school, students manage their time through self-restraint and the planning of their long- and short-term learning and personal goals, which constitute self-demand and self-expectation.4 Time management ability encompasses numerous dimensions, such as concepts on the value of time, demand for self-restraint, and the formulation and execution of plans. Generally, academic time management refers to students’ effective and purposeful use of time for their learning goals, which enables them to improve their learning outcomes related to major education goals within a limited amount of time.5 Time management ability also influences medical students tremendously; satisfactory time management ability improves students’ academic performance,1,6−11 work,12 and health.2,13
The basis of successful medical education lies in selecting medical students suitable for academic schools of medicine as well as ensuring they successfully complete medical and clinical learning and acquire core competencies. The selection of appropriate students is crucial for medical education; in addition to knowledge, students suitable for medical schools and professions must possess specific personality traits and attitudes, including lifelong active learning, self-discipline, altruism, adaptability, and compassion.14–16 These personality traits and attitudes cannot be assessed using written tests.17,18 When recruiting medical students, medical school authorities must pay attention to their personality traits and attitudes in addition to their knowledge. Therefore, in addition to assessing student candidates’ school and entrance examination results, admission supervisors must examine their self-statement and letters of recommendation to determine their eligibility to study in the school.19
In Taiwan, approaches of admission into schools of medicine are diverse but primarily involve the General Scholastic Ability Test (GSAT), the Multi-Star Project (MSP), and Advanced Subject Tests (ASTs). Participation in the GAST in January and February is required for admissions through the GAST and MSP each year. GSAT scores are the sole factor determining whether students admitted to schools of medicine through the GSAT can enter the second-stage examination for personal admission applications, which involve written reviews, oral examinations, and school-defined written examinations. Students admitted through the MSP must have their academic results in their 10th–12th grades taken into consideration, whereas students admitted through ASTs rely on their AST scores in July after graduating from high school.20,21
Students admitted into schools of medicine in Taiwan through the MSP typically have relatively poor GSAT scores. However, according to numerous studies on students admitted through diverse approaches in Taiwan, those admitted through the MSP—even those with poor GSAT grades—have performed as satisfactorily as those admitted through the GSAT and ASTs; furthermore, most have maintained their standing in the school among the first 50%.22,23
Through the MSP, the primary indicator for admission is candidates’ grades during the 3rd year of high school rather than their one-time college entrance examination scores. Therefore, while striking an optimal balance between long-term, sustained academic performance and student life, students must perform in the top 1–3% in high school through satisfactory and stable learning habits6 and self-adjusted learning ability. Research has focused on the relationship between medical students’ approaches to admission and their learning performance.22–24 This study focused on 1st to 4th year students in the School of Medicine at China Medical University, Taiwan, to explore the relationships between medical students admitted through different approaches and their time management ability.