Success In College

Section One

Managing Your TIME

The frist thing that a new college student must learn how to do is to stay organized and learn to decipher their priorities. By doing so you will make sure you never; miss an appointment, forget to do a homework assignment, and loose sight of time when doing a project or paper. (Waiting to the last minute never allows for your best work to be done) A planner is the best way to keep everything in order and well organized. Withier it be a monthly schedule or weekly or even daily, the use of a planer is huge tool for your success.

Now you might ask your self, "what goes into a planner besides, my homework assignments?' And good answer would be your daily appointments, a list of all your test and quiz's, even final dates. With every class there is always syllabus and on the syllabus is a list of project and papers and a number of test. If you read closely you will find the dates of ever paper, project and test. This information is very useful in planning out your week and monthly schedule. If you know that you have a test in your history class on Friday and a religion paper due the same day you can plan out time to prepare for both. The best type of planner to use is one that is well equipped with a small month calendar that you can write on and a large weekly and daily schedule that is easy to write on with lots of space. Another easy way to stay organized to keep a semester calendar in your dorm room over your desk with all the important dates on it such as test dates, due dates for papers and project due dates. The purpose to be organized is to make you life a lot easier, and more efficient, with the planner you can now be prepared for what lies ahead at Calvin College.

Section Two

Reading Your Textbooks

When it comes to textbook reading, preparation is just as important as reading the material. It is easy to find yourself just reading the textbook and then looking back at what your read and not remembering anything you just read. Not every class demands a thorough reading of the textbook, so it is very important to ask the professor to see what he/she will be testing on, either notes in class or the readings form the textbook. For example in a psychology class the professor expects his/her student to know the textbook inside and out, form front to back. With a class like that you are going to have to use special tools to study with. The best way to read a textbook for a class like psychology is by first skimming the chapter and asking question, and finding main themes of the topic, after that the next step to follow is by taking notes while reading the book, and highlighting while you read. This will allow you to refer back to the important detail that you will find int the chapter. It is always important to make sure your mind is fit for reading. If you are tired after a long day of drivng and you are tired then it is going to be very difficult for you mind to focus on reading a very intense chapter. Try to choose the right time to read for certain classes. In the example earlier it is not wise to read a psychology book at in the morning, when the bulk of the information is important. Your mind will not be focused. Now on the other hand do not try to over due it with classes that do not need the same attention. In most cases you will not need to spend the same amount of effort into a religon textbook as you do a Phsychoology textbook. With a subject whose main focus maybe emphasized on lecture notes its best to take a highlighter to the text and highlight the main points so when you do need to go back to the book for reference you can find what's important.

Trying to find a place to read is as important as reading the right book. If you try to read the textbook on your bed, your body is going to recognize that this is the same place you sleep and subconsciously your body is going to get tired and start falling asleep. Find a well-lit area with no distractions so you are able to focus on the reading. Do not try to do all your assigned reading at once give yourself time to break and come back to what your doing. Trying to cram in all the information at once has never worked for anyone.

Section Three

Taking Lecture and Class Notes

Besides being punctual to class and showing up to every class, taking great notes can really improve your ability to study for test and quizzes and even help with papers and projects. Knowing what to write is just as important how to write and take notes. Now there are several different styles of note taking, there is the cornel note taking style, there is the paragraph style (which I find difficult to study from), and there is the column method, which happens to be the easiest for studying from. While taking notes in class you may quickly realize that it is difficult to keep pace with the professor, a very helpful tool is abbreviation, such as (w/- with or b/c- because) using these types of abbreviation can rally help the note tacking process and help with a sore hand. Quickly in your first few classes you will find that the college class room setting quite different that what you might be used to in High school. College is a very fast paced environment and you are expected to keep up, now the best way to make sure that you do not miss any important information is by comparing notes with someone in your class who takes good notes. Combining notes is not cheating, actually it's a great way to learn, sometimes another student my understand a certain topic better then you and with their notes it may in fact help you understand what the professor was trying to say. Finding someone to pare up with to exchange notes is great because you can develop a study partner when it comes to test times and then the two of three of you can help each other prepare for a big examine.

Rewriting your notes is also a great way to help you study for a big examine. In class your focus may not be always on your handwriting but on making sure your getting all the information, so taking the time outside of class to rewrite your notes is a wonderful way to stay on top of your preparation process for the test.

Section Four

Where to Study/ How to Study

Knowing when to study is a very valuable part of learning. Trying to study late at night and early into the morning is not the optimum time for your brain to be working. Lately Scientist has discovered that the best time to study is approximately three to five in the afternoon when the mind is most awake and active. Dividing what your trying to study into separate topics allows you