Selecting Your courses part 1

Selecting your courses

Recommended classes for college success

Part 1

The academic rigor of your high school courses is an important factor in the college admission process. College admission officers see you high school courses schedule as a blueprint of your education. There looking for a solid foundation of learning that you can build on in college. To create that foundation, take a least five academic classes every semester. Start with the basics and then move on to advanced courses. Challenging yourself is part of what makes school fun; but you need to firm grasp of the fundamentals before going on to more advance work.

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The Power of Study Groups Part 3

The power of study groups

http://www.collegeboard.com/students/plan/high-school/50432.html

Part 3

Guidelines for getting a group together

Here are some guidelines for creating and running a study group: how many? Create a group of four to six people. in a larger group, it’s easy to get left out and smaller groups can easily get off track.

Who? Pick classmates who seem to share you interest in doing well academically. Look for people who stay alert in class, take notes, ask questions and respond to the teacher’s questions. Include someone who understands the material better than you can explain the concepts and someone who doesn’t understand it as well, to whom you can explain the material.

Where? Hold study group sessions in a place that is free of distraction and that has rooms to spread out books and notes. How long? Meet for no more than two or three hours at a time. Having a time limit helps the group focus. If you know you only have an hour, you’re more likely to stay on task.  

When? Try to meet regularly, on the same day and time each week. Treating the study session as you would any other activities help you to keep to a schedule and ensure that every one attends.

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Successful Student 10

Successful Student

10

10. Successful students are good time managers. Successful students do not procrastinate. They have learn that time control is life control and have consciously chosen to be in good control of their life.

An elemental truth: you will ether control time or be controlled by it! It’s your choice: you can lead or be led, establish control or relinquish control, steer your on course or follow others. Failure to take control of their own time is probably the no. 1 study skills program 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!

The 10 items listed above are paraphrased from an article by Larry M Ludewig called the Ten Commandments for effective study skills which appeared in The Teaching Professor, December, 1992.

“Learning technologies and online education”

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Successful Student 5-6

Successful Student

5-6

5. Don’t sit in the back of the room. Successful students. Minimize classroom distraction that interferes 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 temptation of inactive classroom experience 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, then, are you wasting your time? Push your hot buttons, is there 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 you to 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 more you use them, the more you’ll improve.

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successful student 1-2

Successful student

1-2

Successful students exhibit a combination of successful attitudes and behaviors as well as intellectual capacity. Successful students…..

1.   …Are responsible and active. Successful students get involved in their studies, accept responsibilities for their own education, and are active participants in it! Responsibilities mean control. It’s the difference between leading and being led. Your own efforts control your grade, you earn the glory or deserve the blame, you make the choice. Active classroom participants improves in grades without in cress in study time. You can sit there, act board, day dream, or sleep. Or, you can actively listen, think, question, and take note like someone in charge of their learning experience. Ether potion cost 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 letter provides at one sitting. The choice is yours.

2.   … Have educational goals. Successful students have legitimate goals and are motivated by what they represent in terms of career aspirations and life’s desires.

Ask yourself these questions: what am I doing here? Why have I chosen to be sitting here now? Is there some better place I could be? What does my present here mean to me? Answer to these questions represent your “hot buttons” and are, without a doubt, the most important factor in your success as a college student. If you’re 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 tired of being a student, nothing can stop you; if you aren't and don't, everything can and will!

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Study for Multiple Exams part 1

Study for Multiple Exams

Part 1

How I study for multiple exams, deal with multiple projects: Really it is my time management that I explained above. If I see I have multiple things due or to study for all at the same time I spread out my time beforehand. For example, if I have a test on Monday, and 2 tests Tuesday then I will study for Mondays test on Thursday and part of Friday. Start studying for my tests on the second half of Friday and part on Saturday, then my second Tuesday test on Saturday as well and part of Sunday. Then Sunday night I can review for my Mondays test because I already studied for it. When that test is over I can begin reviewing for the other tests.

My overall study method: I try to break up over several days or at least two. I get bogged down if I try to pull an all nighter.

How I’ve overcome an initial bad grade: if I receive a low grade I probably knew it was coming because I didn’t use the right study habit for that class. I usually try to go over what I did wrong and sometimes discuss with the teacher what I can do differently on the next exam or what they suggest I do for studying for the next exam.   

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Sarah's Academic Success Story Part 2

Sarah’s Academic Success Story

Part 2

          My test study methods: I have different strategies for different types of test or subject. For me, any type of math is exceptionally difficult so I had to spend extra time on that. I would go back through the homework problems focusing on the problems that I had extra difficulty on. Many times I would ask the teacher for an additional study materials they could provide. If it was a class that required memorization or applying concepts I would create a shot study guide for myself many times focusing on what were key focal points in the class. If I knew their where we going to be essays I would try to take the terms and apply them to an example or create different questions on the concepts focused on throughout the semester.
          My time management secret: I always, always, always carry a planner with me. I even use different color highlighters to show what each event on my calendar is for. Example, pink is personal, yellow is school, orange is work, blue is for appointments and green is for my sorority. Although I use white-out frequently, I can see in bright yellow that is I have that project for finance due on Tuesday, I need to start working on it on [the previous] Wednesday so I can just get it done. My friends have always been amazed on how early I get things accomplished but that is really all I do.

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sarah's Academic Success Story Part 1

Sarah’s Academic Success Story

Part 1

Time management became a key factor in my study skills for college. In high school, there where time I was able to study for an hour or two the night before a test and get away with it. This is not the case in college. I made sure in college I was prepared for each class. Sometimes that meant writing out the terms for the chapter we read (even if when it isn’t required) to better understand them. That way when the midterm or test comes around I was able to understand what I was studying. I started excellent notes in class in college. I may have done this in high school, but in college I started typing up notes after class. This helped me remember what I just went over in class then when I had a test one week later I was more likely to remember then as well.

My overall study method: structured. One thing I learned was I had to adapt or charge my study methods according to the class. I couldn’t study for a religion class the same way I studied for a finance class. But make sure I had enough time to study for each class—even if it meant carrying a planner with me at all times was a big part of my success.

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Work Together Part 1

Work together

Part 1

I can and will work as part of a team as long as everyone in the team is willing to do his work. I don’t like having to pick up the slack, but I will if I know that my grade will be harmed otherwise. My greatest academic success was in my first semester when I had to write a 10-12 page research paper. It was the longest paper I have ever been assigned and I was a little scared. Also, it was the first paper where they were like, here you go, just write about something. I had to argue in favor of or agents something, but it could be anything from the sky is blue to hypnotism. I wrote mine on hypnotism. I worked on this paper for weeks and weeks. Every night I would be doing research or writing. I put so much effort into this paper. It ended up being just under 12 pages but it was full on information. I turned it in and when I got it back a week or so later, I had received the first A+ of my college career. All my hard work paid off because I got the grade I deserved. I was really proud and happy for myself.

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