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1.
. . . are responsible and active.
Successful students get involved
in their studies, accept responsibility
for their own education, and are
active participants in it! Responsibility
is the difference between leading
and being led. Active classroom
participation improves grades without
increasing study time. You can sit
there, act bored, daydream, or sleep.
Or you can actively listen, think,
question, and take notes like someone
in charge of their learning experience.
Either option costs one class period.
However, the former method will
require a large degree of additional
work outside of class to achieve
the same degree of learning the
latter provides at one sitting.
2.
. . . have educational goals.
Successful students are motivated
by what their goals represent in
terms of career aspirations and
life's desires. Ask yourself these
questions: What am I doing here?
Is there some better place I could
be? What does my presence here mean
to me?Answers to these questions
represent your "Hot Buttons"
and are, without a doubt, the most
important factors in your success
as a college student. If your educational
goals are truly yours, not someone
else's, they will motivate a vital
and positive academic attitude.
If you are familiar with what these
hot buttons represent and refer
to them often, especially when you
tire of being a student, nothing
can stop you; if you aren't and
don't, everything can, and will!
3.
. . . ask questions.
Successful students ask questions
to provide the quickest route between
ignorance and knowledge.In addition
to securing knowledge you seek,
asking questions has at least two
other extremely important benefits.
The process helps you pay attention
to your professor and helps your
professor pay attention to you!
Think about it. If you want something,
go after it. Get the answer now,
or fail a question later. There
are no foolish questions, only foolish
silence. It's your choice.
4.
. . . learn that a student and a
professor make a team.
Most instructors want exactly what
you want: they would like for you
to learn the material in their respective
classes and earn a good grade.Successful
students reflect well on the efforts
of any teacher; if you have learned
your material, the instructor takes
some justifiable pride in teaching.
Join forces with your instructor,
they are not an enemy, you share
the same interests, the same goals
- in short, you're teammates. Get
to know your professor. You're the
most valuable players on the same
team. Your jobs are to work together
for mutual success. Neither wishes
to chalk up a losing season. Be
a team player!
5.
. . . don't sit in the back.
Successful students minimize
classroom distractions that
interfere with learning.Students
want the best seat available
for their entertainment dollars,
but willingly seek the worst
seat for their educational dollars.
Students who sit in the back
cannot possibly be their professor's
teammate (see no. 4). Why do
they expose themselves to the
temptations of inactive classroom
experiences and distractions
of all the people between them
and their instructor? Of course,
we know they chose the back
of the classroom because they
seek invisibility or anonymity,
both of which are antithetical
to efficient and effective learning.
If you are trying not to be
part of the class, why, then,
are you wasting your time? Push
your hot buttons, is their something
else you should be doing with
your time?
6.
. . . take good notes.
Successful students take notes
that are understandable and
organized, and review them often.Why
put something into your notes
you don't understand? Ask the
questions now that are necessary
to make your notes meaningful
at some later time. A short
review of your notes while the
material is still fresh on your
mind helps your learn more.
The more you learn then, the
less you'll have to learn later
and the less time it will take
because you won't have to include
some deciphering time, also.
The whole purpose of taking
notes is to use them, and use
them often. The more you use
them, the more they improve.
7.
. . . understand that actions
affect learning.
Successful students know their
personal behavior affect their
feelings and emotions which
in turn can affect learning.If
you act in a certain way that
normally produces particular
feelings, you will begin to
experience those feelings. Act
like you're bored, and you'll
become bored. Act like you're
uninterested, and you'll become
uninterested. So the next time
you have trouble concentrating
in the classroom, "act"
like an interested person: lean
forward, place your feet flat
on the floor, maintain eye contact
with the professor, nod occasionally,
take notes, and ask questions.
Not only will you benefit directly
from your actions, your classmates
and professor may also get more
excited and enthusiastic.
8.
. . . talk about what they're
learning.
Successful students get to know
something well enough that they
can put it into words.Talking
about something, with friends
or classmates, is not only good
for checking whether or not
you know something, its a proven
learning tool. Transferring
ideas into words provides the
most direct path for moving
knowledge from short-term to
long-term memory. You really
don't "know" material
until you can put it into words.
So, next time you study, don't
do it silently. Talk about notes,
problems, readings, etc. with
friends, recite to a chair,
organize an oral study group,
pretend you're teaching your
peers. "Talk-learning"
produces a whole host of memory
traces that result in more learning.
9.
. . . don't cram for exams.
Successful students know that
divided periods of study are
more effective than cram sessions,
and they practice it.If there
is one thing that study skills
specialists agree on, it is
that distributed study is better
than massed, late-night, last-ditch
efforts known as cramming. You'll
learn more, remember more, and
earn a higher grade by studying
in four, one hour-a-night sessions
for Friday's exam than studying
for four hours straight on Thursday
night. Short, concentrated preparatory
efforts are more efficient and
rewarding than wasteful, inattentive,
last moment marathons. Yet,
so many students fail to learn
this lesson and end up repeating
it over and over again until
it becomes a wasteful habit.
Not too clever, huh?
10.
. . . are good time managers.
Successful students do not procrastinate.
They have learned that time
control is life control and
have consciously chosen to be
in control of their life.An
elemental truth: you will either
control time or be controlled
by it! It's your choice: you
can lead or be led, establish
control or relinquish control,
steer your own course or follow
others. Failure to take control
of their own time is probably
the no. 1 study skills problem
for college students. It ultimately
causes many students to become
non-students! Procrastinators
are good excuse-makers. Don't
make academics harder on yourself
than it has to be. Stop procrastinating.
And don't wait until tomorrow
to do it!
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