What's the Secret of Getting Good Grades?
1.Set Up a Study Place. Those students you see "studying" in the cafeteria or game room aren't learning much. You just can't learn when you're distracted by people and noise. Even the library can be a bad place to study if you constantly find yourself watching clouds outside or the students walking through the stacks. It takes guts to sit, alone, in a quiet place in order to study. But you have to do it. Find a room at home or a spot in the library that's relatively quiet-- and boring. When you sit there, you won't have much to do except study.
2. Get into a Study Frame of Mind. When you sit down, do it with the attitude that you're going to get this studying done. You're not going to doodle in your notebook or make a list for the supermarket. Decide that you're going to study and learn now, so that you can move on to more interesting things as soon as possible.
3. Give yourself Rewards. If you sweat out a block of study time, and do a good job on it, treat yourself. You deserve it. You can "psych" yourself up for studying by promising to reward yourself afterwards. A present for yourself can be anything from a favorite TV show to a relaxing bath to a dish of double chocolate ice cream.
4. Skim the Textbook First. Lots of students sit down with an assignment like "read chapter five, page 125-150" and do just that. They turn to page 125 and start to read. After a while, they find that they have no idea what they just read. For the last ten minutes, they've been thinking about their five-year-old or what they're going to eat for dinner. Eventually, they plod through all the pages but don't remember much afterwards. In order to prevent this problem, skim the textbook chapter first. This means: look at the title, the subtitles, the headings, the pictures, the first and last paragraphs. Try to find out what the person who wrote the book had in mind when he or she organized the chaper. What was important enough to set off as a title or in bold type? After skimming, you should be able to explain to yourself what the main points of the chapter are. Unless you're the kind of person who would step into an empty elevator shift without looking first, you'll soon discover the value of skimming.
5. Take Notes on What you're Studying. This sounds like a hassle, but it works. Go back over the material after you've read it, and jot down key words and phrases in the margins. When you review the chapter for a test, you'll have handy little things like "definition of rationalization" or "example of assimilatio" in the margins. If the material is especially tough, organize a separate sheet of notes. Write that boils the entire chapter down to a digestible lump.
6. Review after You've read and Taken Notes. Some people swear that talking to yourself works. Tell yourself about the important points in the chaper. Once you've said them out loud, they seem to stick better in your mind. If you can't talk to yourself about the material after reading it, that's a sure sign you don't really know it.
7. Give up. This may sound contradictory, but give up when you've had enough. You should try to make it through at least an hour, though. Ten minutes here and there are useless. When your head starts to pound and your eyes develop spidery red lines,, quit. you won't do much learning when you're exhausted.
8. Take a College Skills Course If You Need It. Don't hesitate or feel embarassed about enrolling in a study skills course. Many students say they wouldn't have made it without one.
