1. Get at least 8 hours of sleep. And no,
you aren’t the exception. If you're having trouble staying awake in
class, it's not because you're bored. It's a sign that you're not getting
enough sleep. Do you need an alarm to wake you up to keep you from over
sleeping? Then you aren't getting enough sleep. To find out how much sleep
you really need, pick a night when you don't have to get up in the
morning. Go to sleep at your regular bedtime. Disconnect the phone, turn
off your pager, and use the bathroom before going to bed so that nothing
wakes you up. How long did you sleep before you woke up naturally?
2. Attend all classes unless your absence can’t
be avoided. Students who rarely miss class are usually the students
who do well. There is a correlation between attendance and performance.
3. Be on time to all classes.
4. Bring materials to class. Be prepared
to participate. I don't give exams in most of my courses. Because of this,
many students show up to class empty-handed without even the textbook.
They just sit and stare at me or spend 50 minutes looking around.
Apparently they believe that they don't have to remember anything covered
in that class since they won't be tested on it with exams.
5. Sit near the front of the class.
Research shows that you are more likely to pay closer attention the closer
to the front you sit. And there are fewer distractions up front.
6. Force yourself to listen. Listening
requires a conscious effort. Focus your attention on the teacher or
material to be learned. And remember that just because you're hearing, that doesn't
mean that you're listening.
7. Take notes. Taking notes is an
effective way to force yourself to listen. Make sure that your notes are
clear and complete enough so that you can make sense of them when you look
at them later.
8. Review your class notes within 24 hours
after taking them. If you quickly review all
class notes you've taken since the last exam and review what you've
underlined in text chapters before the next exam, you will have actually
learned the material and you won't have to cram for the exam. This daily
review will take only a few minutes.
9. Write down assignment due dates and assignment
instructions/tips, unless, of course, you have a photographic memory.
Make sure you have the assignment's description/instructions in front of
you while completing it.
10. Begin reviewing for a test a week before the
test. Study actively. Make flash cards, take notes on your notes
and on textbook assigned readings, recite to yourself or to someone else.
11. Ask teachers for help if you don’t understand.
Unlike high school, in college no one will chase after you to
attend class, turn in assignments, or study.
12. It’s your textbook, so underline
important points and make notes in the margins.
And no, if you underline and mark up your text, you don't reduce its value
when you go to resale it.
13. Do some homework and studying every night,
even if nothing is assigned.
14. Make school your top priority and stick to
it. Your formal education is an opportunity that comes
around only once. Everything else will still be there.
EDUCATION MYTHS
·
Students who get high grades, who always have the answers in
class, who always do well on exams who get high grades on assignments, and
who retain most of what they have learned are just naturally smart.
FALSE: The percentage of intellectually gifted students is no higher than
the percentage of intellectually gifted people in the general population.
The majority of successful students work harder, study more, take school
more seriously, are more self-disciplined than less successful students.
It’s not IQ; it’s attitude.
Consider this: Successful students attend all their classes unless they
are unable to for valid reasons, hand in all their assignments on time,
usually get good grades, and learn and retain what they have learned.
Students who work full time, have family responsibilities, and have a full
course load are more successful than full-time students who have no job or
family responsibilities. Think about the reasons for this.
And here’s another one: When employers call teachers for a job
reference, they rarely ask about a student’s grades. They almost always
ask these questions: What was the student’s attendance like? Was the
student on time for classes? Did the student hand in all the assignments?
Were they handed in on time?
·
Final course grades or GPA’s are the best indicator of how
much students have learned.
FALSE: The best indicator is how much new knowledge and information
students have learned and retained. This can be especially true if most of
a course grade is based on exam scores.
Many good students don’t do well on exams for a variety of reasons, and
many students who do well on exams are merely good at cramming. . .and/or
cheating. Effective cramming might result in a high exam grade, but very
little of what was crammed is learned and retained.
·
Often students don’t do well in a course because they had
a “bad” teacher
FALSE: This might be a valid reason in grades 1-5, but after that, this
reason begins to lose credibility, and by the time a student gets to high
school or college, it’s a full-blown cop out.
How much a student learns in a course depends on how much time the student
studies outside the classroom. In college, education is 90% learning and
10% teaching.
·
Often students don’t do well in a course because the
teacher or the course’s subject matter is boring.
This one’s closely related to the “bad teacher” myth. Teachers
aren’t there to entertain students, and remember, education is 90%
learning and 10% teaching. Besides, the subject matter’s importance and
relevance are not determined by whether or not students find it
interesting.
Consider this: A student decides to join a health club. The membership
dues include weekly meetings with a fitness instructor. The fitness
instructor tells the student what to do and shows the student how to do
it, develops an exercise program for the student, but if the student
doesn’t put in the workout time, her/his physical shape won’t improve.
The instructor can provide guidance, suggestions, and tips, but ultimately
improvements in that student’s physical shape and health depend on how
hard the student works, not on how competent or interesting the instructor
is. But what if the instructor offers little help, is a bad instructor? Is
that instructor the only source of information? What about books,
articles, and Internet resources that provide fitness advice?
· Students have trouble staying awake in class because
the teacher is boring, the subject matter is boring, or the room is stuffy
and hot.
FALSE: This is an easy one. These students aren’t getting enough sleep.
Eight hours is the recommended minimum for everyone, and this is based on
extensive research. Students who believe they are the exceptions to this
are fooling themselves.
