Time Under Pressure: An Importance - Urgency Matrix Analysis of Student Time Management
Purpose: The study examines how university students organise their time before an examination session, with particular attention to the relationship between the perceived importance and urgency of planned activities and between perceived time organisation and satisfaction with it. Design/Methodology/Approach: A pilot survey was conducted among 120 students of the Faculty of Management and Transport. Twenty-four activities were rated for importance and urgency on five-point scales. The analysis combined the interpretative logic of the Eisenhower Matrix with a matrix-based importance-urgency mapping procedure. Pearson’s chi-square test was used to examine associations, and Cramer’s V was used to assess their strength. Findings: Statistically significant associations between importance and urgency were found for all analysed activities (p < 0.001). Perceived personal time organisation was also significantly associated with satisfaction with that organisation in the full sample (χ² = 111; Cramer’s V = 0.482; p < 0.001). The highest-priority area included examination preparation, project work, professional work, and selected health-related and social activities. Practical Implications: The findings indicate that explicit prioritisation of activities according to importance and urgency may support students during periods of intensified academic workload. The results may inform educational interventions, orientation programmes, and practical tools designed to improve planning and prioritisation. Originality/Value: The study combines the interpretative logic of the Eisenhower Matrix with quantitative positioning based on mean importance and urgency ratings. This approach provides a compact way to visualise students’ competing academic and non-academic priorities while linking the resulting map with statistical tests of association.