Or.. How to not flunk out of College Study Tips Or.. How to not flunk out of College
#1 Show up to class, take good notes, and pay attention. Seriously. Do this alone, and you pretty much have a guaranteed C. Spend time with the material-the general rule of thumb is to spend a minimum of 2-3 hours study per hour of class per week.
#2 Take good notes. Be sure to write down every major point in enough detail that it will make sense a week later. Copy any figure/graph/etc. Taking notes 1, 2, 3, 4 Rewrite them. Be sure to include any figures I may have covered. Simply looking at ppt slides does not confer knowledge. Copying them helps a LOT. Ask questions if something simply makes no sense to you
#3 Do NOT rely on your text or published powerpoints. The online book is an excellent second source. And the ppts are only outlines – they lack content. Do NOT take notes on a computer (research shows writing results in better comprehension). Do NOT only write (or photograph) what the prof puts on the board. Again, that should only serve as an outline, not as content. Do NOT rely on a friend’s notes. What they write will be a reflection of what they know/understand, not necessarily what you know/understand. Shut off your phone.
#4 Do all the assignments. On time. Every time you don’t turn something in, you lose points and understanding of the material (which means losing more points on exams).
#5 Study! Study! Study! First suggestion, recopy your notes. Notes are easy to skim and not understand. They are hard to rewrite if you don’t understand. This includes recopying onto flash cards. Get somewhere quiet. Eliminate distractions – including music (except classical), reddit, your phone, etc. Use multiple sources (notes, textbook, links from prof, google, etc) Study in small chunks. About 30 minutes. Every day. Cramming has been proven to be pretty much worthless on a lot of levels (especially if you skip sleep). http://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/how-study-smarter If you can, join or form a study group
#6 When you don’t understand something Check your textbook (or links in the ppt, or the online text) Check with friends (the smart ones) There’s this thing called google. Use it. It’s freaky how much info is out there. But remember to filter! See your prof. We’re here to help.
#7 Don’t fall behind. I know, you think you’ll catch up. In my experience, that’s about 1 in 20 students.
#8 Got problems? See your prof. There is little to nothing we can do at the end of the quarter. But we might well be able to help earlier. See #7.
Multitasking? Yeah.. No. You can’t do it. Focus on one thing at a time, be it lectures, studying, etc.
Get involved in something Sports, IM, clubs, something (anything, really) to get you out of your standard routine a bit. But not too much. Plugs for B2B: https://www.cwu.edu/b2b/ Sisters: http://www.cwu.edu/clubs/club-page/SISTERS