Help!! Really struggling with organising reading, essays etc - advice please!!

[thirtysomething]

Am half way through a very skills-based MA with a research component and 4 essays a year (over 4 years)
I'm really struggling to get through all the reading and write the essays in the time we get (about 6 weeks) as there's so much on the reading list. I seem to spend hours writing notes then when it comes to doing the essay I don't know where to start.
I'm not new to all this either but this is the first time I've had to study around the demands of work and children so time is at a premium!
Any advice? especially about how to make notes and read effectively etc! Thanks!

set aside some time evry week and stick to it

my time is Sat and Sun mornings before anyone else gets up
my Dc are older now DD12 and DS19 but I still work full time and struggle fitting it all in.
I have lost count of the books I have taken back to the library having not even read them.
I do tend to skim read books though, just picking out interesting bits

thanks pp - do you find that if you skim read you get enough material for essays? I tend to panic and think that if I don't read most of the stuff we're given or on reading lists then I won't be able to do my essay - then always find most of the reading isn't that useful but I don't know till I'v read it - catch 22!!

I do get enough for essays
I tend to make notes now as I read the books
because I find I tend to get books out too early and hand them back in the library and then panic because I can't remember which book I read the quote in!

Confession, I never read all the books on the reading list

maybe that's why my tutor said I have to read wider?

I think however much you read they always say you could read more - it's the University equivalent of "has made good progress but now needs to focus on x, y and z..." on school reports!!

For me if I do not feel motivated I struggle, but sometimes just going to the uni library and walking around campus and reminding myself how damn lucky I am to be here makes me highly motivated!

And reading all the books on the reading list??? NO WAY!!! Pick out key texts and chapters, Speed Reading, by Tina Konstant, is a really good book for both tips about how to get through reading quickly and effectivly, and made me feel far less guilty about not reading from cover to cover.