1. HOW TO BE A SUCCESSFUL STUDENT
Student, noun, 1: scholar, learner; one who attends a school 2: one who studies: an attentive and systematic observer.
Being a successful student involves consistent attendance, quality focusing/attention, note taking, class participation, studying, preparing for and taking tests.

2. What kind of student are you?
To find out what kind of student you are, take out a sheet of paper and number it
1 – 10.
Read the following 10 questions and write ALWAYS, SOMETIMES, or NEVER for each statement.
Only you will see your answers so be honest with yourself.

3. ALWAYS, SOMETIMES, or NEVER
1. I complete homework assignments.
2. I have all materials needed for class.
3. I use time in class to start homework.
4. I take good notes.
5. I ask and answer questions in class.
6. I use tricks to memorize information.
7. I know what I’ve read after reading an assignment.
8. I get along well with teachers.
9. I am good at taking tests.
10. I am happy with my grades.

4. Scoring Give yourself: 2 points for each ALWAYS response.
1 point for each SOMETIMES response.
0 points for NEVER response.
Add up your score.

5. What your score means. 20 – 15 points = You are an excellent student.
14 – 10 points = You are a student, with some extra effort could be getting excellent grades.
9 – 5 points = You are a student that needs to do better to get good grades.
4 – 0 points = You are a student that needs to work a lot harder to get good grades.

6. HOW TO BE A SUCCESSFUL STUDENT
Student, noun, 1: scholar, learner; one who attends a school 2: one who studies: an attentive and systematic observer.
Being a successful student involves consistent attendance, quality focusing/attention, note taking, class participation, studying, preparing for and taking tests.

7. WHILE IN CLASS Be seated in your place before class begins.
Have your textbook, notebook, pen / pencil, homework out on your desk and ready.
Focus your attention on the teacher and not on friends or neighbors. Social time is between classes not during.
Take notes on everything written on the board or overhead and what the teacher is discussing.
Remember, only you are responsible for your success. No one else.

8. WITH ALL TYPES OF NOTES:
Review the notes soon, within 24 hours.
Use a separate notebook, sectioned notebook, or three-ringed binder for each subject.
Refer back to the notes as the course progresses. Ask yourself what still seems to be important, and what seems trivial.
Periodically combine your reading notes and your lecture notes into a single set of notes, which you can use to study for an exam.

9. Be Prepared.
Skim your notes from the previous class. Good teachers have some continuity from one class to the next. So should you.
Do The Reading. Lectures usually coincide with a specific reading assignment. If you’re already familiar with the new vocabulary and the new material, following the lecture will be much easier.
Get To Class On Time. This may seem obvious, but it bears repeating. When you arrive late, it may take you several minutes to get settled; even more unsettling is the sense that you have missed something.
Another reason to get to class on time: often teachers will put information on the board before class. If you write this information down before class begins, you will not be distracted by it during class.
Bring your textbook, class notes, and additional reading assignments that may be referred to during class.

10. Make Friends.
It is a good idea to make a regular habit of exchanging notes with a friend – particularly with a meticulous friend. See what your friend has written down, and decide for yourself if it seems important. Your classmate can be your biggest resource. Explaining the material to each other is an excellent way to ensure you really understand it. Nothing forces you to think through what you have learned like having to explain it to someone else

11. If you miss something or don’t understand:
Make a mark in your notes or along the margin – like a large question mark.
Leave a blank space for something you haven’t been able to write down. The space is a reminder that you’ve missed something and need to get it from someone else in your class.
Raise your hand, if appropriate, and ask for clarification or repetition.
Approach the teacher after class with your question.

12. IN CLASS DISCUSSION
You want to learn the most you can from the discussion experience, and you want your participation in class to be both useful and recognized.
Do the reading. You will have something informative to say, reactions to express, and questions to ask about points that weren’t clear in the reading.
Intelligent questions are useful to you and your classmates as are intelligent answers. Remember, there are no stupid questions. Someone else may be wondering the same question, but afraid to ask.

13. Discussion Etiquette.
A good in class experience, and good class discussion etiquette, involves finding a happy medium between the extremes of being highly invisible to yammering that annoys everyone around you.
As a minimum, be prepared with one thing to say for each class. Do not try to out wallpaper the wallpaper.
Don’t feel you have to comment on every subject. Be aware of your contribution and try not to dominate the discussion. Try to keep you comments grounded in the class materials, or at least relevant to the topic at hand.
If the teacher asks a question and everyone sits around like mimes, chime in.
Listen attentively. Respond to what people say; refer to previous comments if they relate.
Respect other people’s opinions. Try to avoid eye rolling, snickering, snorting, and mocking laughter.
Basic ideas of good communication apply to classroom discussion. Raise your hand to be acknowledged. Speak up. Don’t cut people off. Make eye contact with people.

14. STUDY TACTICS.
Studying isn’t just putting in time with a book in front of you. Worthwhile studying requires an attentive, active mind that’s focused on the task at hand.
Environment. In order to get the most of your study time, you need to work in an environment that helps you focus.
TURN OFF THE TV. Television makes demands of your eyes and ears. If you are studying while you watch television, you’re shortchanging yourself.
Work out rules of study time. Decide when and where you can best study. Discuss these with family and friends. If you have pets train them to leave you alone at these times.
Find a place free of distraction. If you are like most people and are distracted by people watching or other external influences, be honest with yourself and go someplace where you can study. Find a specific place with good lighting with as little noise as possible. If it is a room inside your house, or the local library, train yourself to go into “study mode” when you enter this space.
Procrastination. Procrastination can be very dispiriting. When you procrastinate, you have not done the schoolwork you were supposed to, and you must also face the fact you have spent hours doing something that will not help you be successful in school. You’re better off recognizing your tendency to procrastinate – and combating it cleverly.

15. When faced with a big task.
Break the task into smaller parts. Study one unit of a chapter. Memorize one subset of data. Track your progress.
Tell other people what you are working on. It is easier to backslide when only you know what you are supposed to finish.
Do first those parts you are most reluctant to do. When the parts you dislike are out of the way, it is much easier to finish the task and procrastinate completing it.
Rewards are a good idea. When you beat procrastination, reward yourself by taking time to do something you enjoy. You can train yourself with rewards to avoid procrastination and be successful.

16. Planning. Budgeting your time is a key to being a successful student.
Be honest. Only you know how you spend your time. Did you spend your time sleeping, eating, studying, sitting in class, participating in sports, working at a job, watching TV, playing video games, listening to music, feeding pets, or whatever?
Calendars. Have a calendar with standing obligations (sports, meetings, etc) that also includes due dates (papers, tests, projects). This will help you make a to-do list so you can check off tasks when they are done and allow you to better prioritize and plan your time.
Prioritize. What schoolwork is most important? What is most urgent? The answers will be different each week. For example, it may make more sense to work on a big research paper weeks ahead of its due date and less time on a minor assignment due this week.

17. TEST / EXAM PREPERATION
You should be reviewing your notes throughout the week, continually asking yourself what is important and how each topic fits into the big picture of the semester. When the exam rolls around, these strategies will help you be prepared.
Daily Review. Research indicates that a daily review of your notes is an effective way of moving ideas from short-term to long-term memory. Several short reviews are generally more effective than a single lengthy review session.
Weekly Reviews. Weekly reviews should be longer: allow about an hour of additional study time per subject.

18. Study Groups.
Some people work better on their own, some in groups. It may be that you study most effectively with a partner or three. If this is the case, pair up with a classmate or form a small group. Large groups usually are ineffective because smaller non-related discussions take place and interrupt the study process for others. Come prepared with questions, maybe on 3 x 5 cards, to quiz each other. Trade stacks of questions, keep at it until you can answer each other’s questions and explain the answers.

19. The Night Before and the Morning of.
Review before you go to bed. Your brain continues to work while you are asleep. Get a good night sleep if you can.
Review casually in the morning. You are not going to get serious learning done at this point.
Eat breakfast. Your brain needs the energy to function at its best.
Cramming in the morning does little, but if you must. Recite, recite, and recite. Use flash cards. You are trying to lodge as much into your short-term memory as you can.

20. General Test Taking Tips.
Approach the test calmly.
Scan the test. Look at what types of questions you have ahead of you. Remember, some questions may be worth more points than others.
Read the directions. Test takers not reading the directions make many mistakes.
Don’t spend too much time on questions you know the least about. You want to nail the stuff you know. Mark the ones you skipped over and go back to them at the end.
Keep track of your time. Spend more time on questions that are worth more points. The best move at any given moment is whatever makes the best use of remaining time.
Show your work. If you make a small mistake (on a math question for example) your answer is wrong. But, if you applied the correct formula and taken the correct steps, but made a clerical error, the teacher may give you partial credit. If you did not show your work the teacher cannot check where you went wrong and apply partial credit.

21. General Test Taking Tips
If you get stuck.
Rephrase the question in your own words.
Raise your hand and ask for clarification.
Get something down on paper. The little bit you do know and write down may trigger related facts. Ultimately, if what you know is not written on the test answer sheet you can’t get credit for it.
If you are running out of time and have to leave some questions blank, do so sensibly, by leaving blank questions about which you feel least confident.

22. General Test Taking Tips.
If you have no clue.
Say what you would do if you knew.
Try to write down what something isn’t.
Shrug your shoulders, laugh (internally) at the injustice of it all, and move on.

23. Tips for Different Types of Test Questions
Multiple-Choice.
When you take a multiple-choice test, you have the benefit of knowing the correct answer is in front of you. You need to recognize and recall it, but this is much easier than having to understand it or being able to explain it.
Read the question very carefully.
Try to answer the question on your own.
Read all the choices. Some answers may appear familiar or similar to the correct choice. But only one is correct.
Eliminate the obvious incorrect answers. If you eliminate two wrong choices you now have a 50/50 chance of selecting the correct answer.

24. Multiple-Choice
Don’t over-think the deep implications of multiple-choice questions, deconstructing its meaning, or wondering what the meaning of “is” is. These questions are normally straight- forward.
Don’t agonize over a question if you don’t know. Mark it on the answer sheet and move on. Time is running. Another question may jog your memory and help you answer those you don’t know.

25. Short Answer.
Your ability to discuss a topic in depth is not on display here. You want to keep your answers succinct and factual. State answers clearly about what is asked, briefly give the reasons.

26. Remember: This is school.
Laugh, learn and enjoy this experience! 