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How To Study
You are now in business for yourself - the important business of getting a college education. You are "on your own" possibly for the first time. How successfully you emerge from this new enterprise will depend upon you alone. But because the business of securing a college education does demand some adjustments and new habits, there are several hints that may be helpful in making your college venture most beneficial to you. This page contains a number of such suggestions, designed to aid you in improving your study habits and in making a better adjustment to your new environment. Read them carefully and apply those that fit your own needs.
NO SUBSTITUTE
There is no substitute for education and you will attain a better education by faithfully keeping up daily with all your class assignments, that is by following this important commandment: THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR DAILY PREPARATION.
Get started on the very first day - do your work on time - attend class regularly - get help when you need it and always remember THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE - YES, NO SUBSTITUTE - FOR DAILY PREPARATION.
BUDGET YOUR TIME
In college you will need to budget your time more carefully than you have ever done before.
A well-planned schedule will save you time by telling you what you are going to do and when, by making sure you do things in the proper order, by helping you utilize the whole day, by letting you work intensively for reasonable periods of time.
You will need to experiment with study schedules until you find a reasonable schedule that you can follow completely which will allow sufficient time for study and adequate time for recreation.
In addition to your study schedule, you should keep a calendar of test dates, meetings, and important events throughout the quarter, term, or semester. This will allow you to plan ahead and avoid conflicts.
You will need to spend on an average approximately two hours of study for each hour in class. Time schedules are usually blocked off in one-hour periods. Since most courses are scheduled for fifty-minute periods with ten minutes between classes, the gaps in a student's schedule are often an hour. Also, a period of fifty minutes is about the maximum length the typical student can study intensively before needing a ten-minute break.
Do not be discouraged if your first few attempts at scheduling do not become ideal. Keep working at it and you will succeed in making a good schedule which you can faithfully follow.
NOTETAKING AND NOTEKEEPING
Accurate, legible notes are invaluable aids during college and in most occupations. Notes should be taken during lectures and during textbook reading sessions. The keynote of good notetaking is to listen much and write a little. Learn to identify main points and ideas and write them out in outline form. Other pointers are important, too:
(1) Use an 81/2 x 11 notebook preferably. Use dividers to separate the various subjects. Keep notes on one subject together.
(2) Strive to take good notes the first time. Do not plan to recopy notes - recopy only when clarity and conciseness demand it.
(3) Doodling is bound to distract your attention - avoid it.
(4) Review your notes for about five minutes the same day you take them, and at least once a week for about an hour at a planned time.
YOUR STRATEGY FOR SUCCESSFUL STUDY
What can you do to make your study more efficient? Extensive experimentation has led to better study methods which you can use for your textbook assignments. This experimentation has shown the advantages of the quick summarization of the reading assignment and the reading for answers to questions. Here is a brief presentation of steps you can follow while studying your textbook assignments:
1. Make a hasty survey of the chapter assigned by looking over the various headings in the chapter and by reading the summary paragraphs at the end of the various sections and at the end of the chapter. This quick survey will acquaint you with the major thrust of the chapter. 2. Take the heading of the first section and turn it into a question or take the first question among the exercises at the end of the chapter and start reading for an answer. When reading for a specific answer you can read more intensively and more rapidly.
3. After you have finished the first section or found the answer to your first question, stop! Without looking at your text, try answering the question in your own words. if you cannot do this, go back over the section again. If you can, proceed to the next step.
4. Write the question in your notebook and, as briefly as you can, your answer.
5. After having repeated this questioning and answering for the entire chapter, go back over the questions to see how many answers you recall. For any that you have forgotten, go back to that section of the chapter and study it again.
After conscientiously practicing this strategic study method you will find your assignments less imposing and the length of time for effectively completing them shortened.
YOUR PLACE FOR STUDY
Where will you study? That you have a comfortable place with good lighting and no distractions is important. Your desk or study table should contain no letters, pictures, mementos or anything else that will distract you - cause you to dream of other times other places. Your table or desk should contain only the tools of study - textbooks, notebooks, paper, pencils, pens, latest edition of a good college dictionary.
Although your dorm room can be made into the best place for study, noise and other distractions may often cause interference. Therefore, it is best to have alternate places; libraries often provide a good study atmosphere, as do rooms within the dorms, monitored dining halls, empty classrooms, or other quiet places you may have access to.
WHERE TO GET HELP
There are numerous places you can get academic help. Workbooks are written specifically to be used along with textbooks. If there is one available, you could get considerable assistance from it even though your instructor does not require its use. It could supply you with good questions for your strategy-for-successful study approach.
Reading in sources beyond the textbook can be helpful and very enriching. Many textbooks will suggest books related to the subject which would give you valuable additional information. journals and magazines in the general field of study can also be beneficial sources of information.
Other students can be helpful in study review sessions, and instructors and faculty advisors can often make the suggestions which will bejust the help you need. Do not hesitate to get assistance from your instructors or advisor.
HOW TO BE HELPFUL
Be willing to assist other students who are having difficulty understanding and completing assignments. Each time you explain something to another person, you are getting an opportunity for oral recitation and you are reinforcing you own understanding. There is probably no better way to learn something than to teach it to someone.
Be helpful by getting to class on time, by being a good listener, by participating in discussion, by doing all your work on time.
Be helpful by getting to any appointment with your instructor on time. After completing your business be friendly but leave.
DOING YOUR BEST ON EXAMINATIONS
The one unalterable rule for doing your best on examinations is BE PREPARED. And this is a good place for you to recall that commandment, There is no substitute for daily preparation. if you have obeyed this important commandment then examinations will pose no threat to you.
Schedule review periods. For hour exams two or three hours will be sufficient; for final exams four to six hours should be sufficient.
Review the notes you have taken in class and on the textbook, the main ideas and important details you underlined, the lists of technical words you have acquired. This review should emphasize recitation - oral or written or both.
Get sufficient rest so you can be fresh when you take your exam.
Be sure to find out from your instructor what kind of an exam he will give.
If you are taking an objective exam, first survey the test, be sure you understand any and all directions, make certain you understand the scoring rules, answer the easy questions first, then return to the harder ones, guess only if there is no extra penalty for wrong answers, and remember your first idea about the answer was probably your best.
if you are taking an essay exam, survey the questions, plan your time and give time to the questions in proportion to their value, follow directions and pay careful attention to the keywords in each question, be complete and concise in your answers, write in your best style and write legibly. Do not destroy your exam papers when they are returned to you. Keep them and learn from them so you can avoid similar errors on future exams.
When do you start preparing for examinations? You start the very first day of class, and you keep that most important commandment always before you: There is no SUBSTITUTE for Daily Preparation
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