Posted On: June 3, 2010
Making the grades in college is the most important part of going to school. If you don’t practice better study habits it can be much easier to fall behind and even harder to catch up. While some might argue that your GPA doesn’t matter in college as much as graduating with that degree, they would be terribly wrong. Many students reach academic probation due to slipping grades and others will find that progressing into a master’s program can be almost impossible with a low test scores.
Forming good study habits from the beginning can be a great way to safeguard yourself from scholastic downfall. Almost everyone has to study for their classes. So, should you decide to improve your GPA, the changes you make to your personal schedule will never be a drastic one. With a few alterations you can find that you have retained information much more quickly and the stresses of deadlines and performance have waned.
For a lot of college students the crunch of time becomes a major problem. Classes can begin as early as 7 a.m. and others can end as late as 10 p.m., all with hours of free time scattered in between. This can seriously disrupt one’s schedule when they are trying to study, work a job, or even sleep. Fortunately, your class times don’t change for the whole semester. This means that even though you might have an unusual schedule, you can work with it. Using your free time wisely is a key step to improving your study habits. Setting aside 15 to 30 minutes to review your class notes for the day can greatly develop your retention of material, especially during exam time.
As important as time is, place is just as important. Some students can work in busy atmospheres with talking, music, or white noise around them. Most, however, need a quiet place to concentrate. Libraries are generally a great setting for studying, but you can find them to be pretty packed during the weekdays. Your bedroom or isolated spots outside can be a comforting alternative, allowing you to focus properly.
Repetition is a very powerful tool in the study process. Anything to help you consistently repeat the information over and over again can be extremely helpful. Some students prefer to make flash cards and carry them around for quick reviews during their free time. Others will tape them around their home so that they are constantly reminded of it. A more serious approach to your memorization methods is to always recite what you have reviewed and then read the material over again. Small steps such as these almost seem tedious, but by breaking these exercises into tiny intervals you can relieve monotony and still be successful.
An incredibly powerful study habit that most students either neglect or try to find a way around is simply reading the assigned material. Professors and instructors draw their test questions from the same books and articles that they assign their students, so it makes sense that if you want to ace those exams, you should become familiar with the work. Teachers aren’t ignorant to the fact there are cliff’s notes, and summarized articles available to give you the bullet points. That’s why they make test questions that require you to know the details of the material. By merely scheduling a time each week to read the chapters from beginning to end you could improve your test scores from a low C to a high A overnight.
Studying can feel like a tedious chore when you’ve got so many fresh experiences flooding your life in a brand new environment, but you should never forget the main reason why you are there: to learn. Plan out your routine and stick to it as much as possible. Your dedication to studies will allow you to be more spontaneous with the rest of your time and you will enjoy college much more if you’re acing those classes.