Let’s consider two typical college students. Mary feels passionate about getting an “A” on the next economics test. So for one week solid, she studies in three hour increments. She scarcely takes a break during these marathon study sessions. Yet, to her exasperation, she still only manages to get a C+. Rodney is in the [...]
You’ve been studying hard all semester, but now that mid-terms are almost upon us you want to kick your study habits up to 11. While some students like to cram the night before, slam energy drinks, or listen to audio textbooks while they sleep, those methods won’t get you very far—and they’re not good for [...]
Have you been floating through life? If so, here’s a warning for you: Students can’t float through their classes and do well. You must be organized and disciplined. In short, you must have a plan. The “study plan” has different meanings to different people. At the college level, a study plan is a formal, highly-structured [...]
To be honest, even if you’re a good study-er, you’ve probably not really taken time to think about what it is that makes your study skills so much better than your friends’. It’s just one of those things where some students seem to naturally grasp what’s needed to study effectively, without even thinking about what [...]
It’s 6 p.m. and you’re behind in your studies. Tests and papers are coming up, so that means it’s not to hit the books and study, study, study. But then you hit a few roadblocks. You look around the house and can’t find a pen. Then you need some scratch paper, and can’t find it. [...]
The study “strategy” for most students is the same: Wait until the night before an assignment is due or before a test to hit the books and study. Unfortunately, for most of us, that strategy eventually catches up and hits our grades—hard. Good news: There’s a better way! Here’s a systematic approach that in 30 [...]
If you’re struggling in one of your classes, or even many of them, that’s no reflection on your intelligence level. It doesn’t even mean that you’re not working hard and trying to study for your classes. It might just mean that you’re learning style is different from how the instructor teaches.
No matter how easy or hard the class, no matter the topic of the course, you can’t get away from them: Lists are everywhere. Whether you’re required to memorize the Elements, the systems in the human body, or the capitals of the fifty United States, any time you take tests, you can expect to have [...]
Reading a textbook is not like reading a novel. A whole different kind of reading has to be employed to really understand the material. To study your books effectively and be ready for your class exams, try the following suggestions. – Don’t just read it; re-read it. You’ll find that the material often gets easier [...]
Most of us know how to study for a science or language or social studies / civics course. You simply learn the historical or scientific facts, and you should be good to go. But how do you study for a calculus or trigonometry course? Is it even possible to study for a math exam? It [...]
