STUDY HABITS DEVELOPMENT

In almost all college courses, if you really don’t like to read, you are in serious trouble.

Your study habits formed in high school may steer you toward failure because you’ve never experienced what it takes to perform at the college level. That’s why the freshman year is the hardest year you will ever experience in college.

It takes about one year to learn how to learn at a college level.

An hour of study is defined as studying for 45 minutes and a break of 15 minutes.

If you were offered $1,000,000 to earn an A in a college course, could you accomplish the goal? Probably! Why?

You don’t have to be a genius to graduate from college. You have to work hard, be persistent, and pay attention to details. These traits are ultimately why a college degree is valuable. A college degree demonstrates your capacity to learn.

Here are some pointers to help you improve your study habits…

Survey Before you start your learning task, read over the major headings and summaries of the chapters in the textbook. This gives you a feeling for the whole picture and to what material you should pay attention to while reading the chapters. Research shows that students who do this make higher grades, and this simple step may be the most powerful thing you can do.

Reading, underlining, and taking notes: You must always be ahead of your teacher in your reading.

As you read the material, take written notes and underline. Use only the left half of the page. Transfer to the right side of the paper comments your teacher made about the material during lecture. (The Cornell System!)

Don’t highlight or underline main points while you read. Most students make too many marks. Wait until you've finished a paragraph or section, then mark.

Research shows that the more different ways you present information to the brain the easier it is to learn. In other words,

hear it see it say it write it practice it highlight it quiz it (with flashcards, etc.).

Underlining is a skill that must be developed. The tools of underlining should vary based on your preference. Use highlighters or colored pens. One study skills expert recommends red and blue felt tip pens. Use red for extremely important material or to offset important material, and blue for moderately important material. You should use a pink and yellow highlighter when reading the material the second time.

The 3"x5" card system Using the colors of red and blue, make 3"x5" cards, putting the vocabulary of the course, long lists of items, experiments, and lecture items on the cards. Key words should be written in red. Put one theory, concept, or vocabulary word per card.

The biggest problem with textbooks and lecture notes is that we cannot separate the material that we know from the material that we do not know. Because of this, we waste hours studying what we already know, rather than concentrating our valuable time on what we do not know.

Writing the material stores the information in the brain in a way that is not normally used. On the back of the card, write the definition of the material on the front. After numbering the cards so you can put them back in order later on, you should start studying the cards until you feel you know the material.

Now turn the cards over and try and answer your fill-in-the-blanks orally. If you get the questions right, place the material into a "I know this material” stack. Now continue working on the material that you don't know until you can answer the questions on all the cards.

The process of reading and deciding if the material is important enough to be underlined increases memory for that material. It is the decision and thinking that creates the memory.

Reread If you are not comprehending an idea, go back and reread. Restate difficult ideas in your own words. Say the idea again in a different way.

READ to the end. Don’t get discouraged and stop reading. Ideas can become clearer the more you read. When you finish reading, review to see what you have learned, and reread those ideas that are not clear.

Audio option The more different ways that the material to be learned can be experienced, the easier it is to remember the material. If you have time, read the material that you have underlined to a tape recorder. Then play back and listen to it.

Overlearning: The more you overlearn the material, the easier it is to take a test with confidence and in a relaxed manner. In addition, the more you overlearn something, the longer you will remember it.

Do rote memory tasks and review, especially details, just before you fall asleep.

Study with a friend. Quiz each other, compare notes and predict test questions.

What are the colors of the rainbow – in order?

Chunking: An effective way to simplify and make information more meaningful. For example, suppose you wanted to remember the colors in the visible spectrum (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet); you would have to memorize seven "chunks" of information in order. But if you take the first letter of each color, you can spell the name "Roy G. Biv", and reduce the information to three "chunks".

Acronyms and Acrostics: (for information involving key words) An acronym is an invented combination of letters. Each letter is a cue to an idea you need to remember. Example: BRASS is an acronym for how to shoot a rifle--Breath, Relax, Aim, Sight, Squeeze.

An acrostic is an invented sentence where the first letter of each word is a cue to an idea you need to remember. Example: EVERY GOOD BOY DESERVES FUN is an acrostic to remember the order of G-clef notes on sheet music--E, G, B, D, F.

Applications of private speech (saying this stuff to yourself, either silently or out loud) in learning include;

memorizing vocabulary by saying the words out loud appreciating poetry by "dramatizing" it editing papers by reading the text aloud talking through math problems to arrive at solutions

Other Really Great Tips…

"I'm Gonna Stay Up All Night 'til I Get This" Avoid Mental Exhaustion. Take short breaks often when studying. Before a test, have a rested mind. When you take a study break, and just before you go to sleep at night, don't think about academics. Relax and unwind, mentally and physically. Otherwise, your break won't refresh you and you'll find yourself lying awake at night. It's more important than ever to take care of yourself before an exam! Eat well, sleep, and get enough exercise.

"This Stuff Is So Dry, I Can't Even Stay Awake Reading It" Attack! Get actively involved with the text as you read. Ask yourself, "What is important to remember about this section?" Take notes or underline key concepts. Discuss the material with others in your class. Study together. Stay on the offensive, especially with material that you don't find interesting, rather than reading passively and missing important points.

"I Guess I Understand It" Test yourself. Make up questions about key sections in notes or reading. Keep in mind what the professor has stressed in the course. Examine the relationships between concepts and sections. Often, simply by changing section headings you can generate many effective questions. For example, a section entitled "Bystander Apathy" might be changed into questions such as: "What is bystander apathy?", "What are the causes of bystander apathy?", and "What are some examples of bystander apathy?"

Set aside a specific time to study. Many students find it easiest to go home, have something to eat, then study right away, but if you have other activities at that time you'll need to find what works for you.

Study every day. If you don't have assignments to do, take a few minutes to review topics that you find hardest. This may sound like a drag, but it's good to get into the habit of doing it every day.

Don't do other things while you are studying. This includes watching TV, fixing a snack, and talking on the phone. Some people claim they can study better with music playing. That's a matter of personal preference. If it's just quiet background music that doesn't make you want to play the drums on your books, it's probably not too distracting.

Finally, ask for help if you need it. Teachers and friends are usually willing to go over something with you again if you didn't quite get it the first time.