1. Introduction In this tutorial, we will take a closer look at a few commonly excuses held by students for not studying or not studying well.

2. Excuses Students have all sorts of excuses to explain why they are not studying. Lacking ability: I haven’t got the ability. I am not going to do well. I don’t need it: Why should I study this? I’m not sure I need it in the future. Not in the mood: I’m not in the mood to study. I don’t like it: I don’t like the subject. Class too large: The class is too large and that affects how much I get from the lecturer. Class boring: The class is boring. That’s the main cause of my not doing well in the subject. Test unfair: I didn’t do well because the test was unfair. Forced to miss class: Things happen and make me miss classes, but, anyway, missing a class or two is not a big deal.

3. Solution : Lacking ability Hardship and right leaning strategies are equally important. Believing that ability is the only factor to success is dangerous. That may lead you to give up paying effort in your study. There are numerous cases that average or even low ability persons become successful because of their persistence. There are also many cases that geniuses fail in face of their weakness in personalities.

4. Solution : I don’t need it Many students are not sure what to do in the future and that is normal. That is also exactly why you should study hard because you never know whether you need the knowledge or not in your future job or you need a high grade in the course for your future academic development. Don’t make any decisions that may limit the opportunities that are open for you. Study well now and you can find you can take many different paths.

5. Solution : Not in the mood It can very well be only an excuse that you have used for not studying. Your mood is very often controlled in your hands. For example, if you find that you don’t like to study late at night, rearrange your schedule and find an earlier study time. If you are not in the mood to study all six chapters of a course one day, study only one and use the rest of the time for other courses. If you lost your interest in studying because of some environmental distractions (like disturbance from TV or friends), find a more suitable place to study. To sum up, you can always find ways to eliminate the factors affecting your mood.

6. Solution : I don’t like it Well, you will soon know that many people at work are doing things they don’t like doing, but they still have to work hard, not only because of money but also because of the fact that they know they will get a better job only after they have shown competence by doing the present work well or they have accumulated enough experiences so that they are good for other work more important and interesting. Studying is the same. If you do not know the basics or fail in studying even the basics, you will never get the more interesting parts that you want. Also, you can always find some parts of the subject that interest you. Start from there, read more, and you may find more parts of the subject interesting as well.

7. Solution : Class too large Think of ways that you may benefit more from large classes. Sit in the front row, or ask lecturers questions to clear your doubts whether there is a chance. Get away from distractions in large classes by sitting away from talkative friends or restless classmates. Learn actively so that you link the newly learnt information with the information you have already learnt before to see whether you understand. Take notes, use diagrams to help you organize concepts and ideas, generate questions and drop down unclear areas to guide your follow-up study.

8. Summary We have looked at a few excuses that students commonly use. They are repeated below, the bold-typed ones are those you also sometimes use: Lacking ability I don’t need it Not in the mood I don’t like it Class too large Class boring Test unfair Forced to miss class