Successful Students 9

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, concentration 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?

When you cram, you are taking the shortcut and the shortcuts never produce and real worthwhile results. Also, when you take shortcuts, you feel rather rotten knowing that you could have done better but didn't  Shortcuts cut you short. You can’t plant watermelon seeds and harvest fresh watermelons the next day. It takes time. Cramming for a test or project and expecting to make a high score the next day is like planting watermelon seeds and expecting to harvest and eat fresh watermelon the next day. Plus cramming for a test or project doesn't help you academically, so why even do it. Plan ahead, prepare ahead. Give yourself plenty of days and weeks to prepare for upcoming accountability opportunities.

Choose the right!!!

Student success statment

"What's right isn't always popular. What's popular isn't always right."-Howard Cosell

This statement is true because the things that are popular are mostly wrong. Things that we copy off of is something wrong. For example, if a kid in a 1st grade class starts cussing and other kids start cussing, it doesn't mean you have to cuss too, you don't have to follow friends that are bad influence. You choose the right.

Successful Students 5-6

5. Don’t sit in the back of the room. Successful students minimize classroom distractions that interfere with learning.

          Students want the best seat available for their entertainment dollars, but willingly seek the worst for their educational dollars. Students who sit in the back cannot possibly be their professor’s teammate. 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 there something else you should be doing with your time?

6….. Take good notes. Successful students take notes are understandable and improve, 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 whole purpose of taking notes is to use them, and use them often. The more you use them, the more you improve.

Choose the right!!!

Student success statement

"The time is always right to do what is right."-Martin Luther King Jr.

Reflection:

                 He is saying that whenever you choose the right, the time is all the time 24/7. All day for the rest of you life. You choose the right whenever and all the time. You got all the time in the world.

Successful Students 3-4

3…. Ask questions. Successful students ask questions to provide the quickest route 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 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 you material, the instructor takes some justifiable pride in teaching. Join forces with your instructor, they are not an enemy, you should share the same interests, the same goals-in short, and your 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!

Choose the right!!!  

Successful Students 1-2

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

1…. are responsible and active. Successful students get involved in their studies, accept participants in it! Responsibility means control. It’s the difference between leading and being led. Your own efforts control your grades, you earn the glory or deserve the blame, and you make the choice. Active classroom participations improve the grades without increasing the 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 costa 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. The choice is yours.

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

Ask yourself these questions: what am I doing? Why have I chosen to be sitting here now? 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 you success as a college student. If you are familiar with what these hot buttons represent and refer to them often, especially when you lie of being a student, nothing can stop you; if you aren’t and don’t, everything can, and will!

Choose the right!!!

Student success statement

"My strength is as the strength of ten because my heart is pure"

-Alfred, Lord Tennyson

I think he is trying to say that his heart has the the top number of a scale from 1-10 which is 10. He has that much of strength because his heart is still pure. His heart is pure because he never did anything wrong and isn't  a bad person and always chooses the right.

                                                          Choose the Right!!!!!

Study for multiple Exams part 3

English, math, foreign language tips: practice--especially foreign language. It is hard to succeed in a foreign language class if you are just showing and doing the work. But if you are in your room and look at objects and try to say them in the language you are learning it actually helps. Or if you send a simple text to a friend think about it, can you translate that to German or Spanish? These are the little things that will help.

Here are my final words of wisdom for students who want to get better grades in college: time management and organization are critical key factors to success in college. They have office hours for a reason-use them!

Choose the right!!!

Study for Multiple Exams part 2

My strategies for written assignments: Everyone has their own writing styles. I generally come up with an idea and do massive amounts of research before I ever think about writing. I then organize my research then sometimes prepare and outline before actually writing. I always print out the paper and come back to it the next day and reread it. That is the easiest way for me to catch my own mistakes. I have to give my eyes a break from it, and if I just wrote it I think it looks perfect. But if I look at it a day later I almost always find grammatical errors or phrases and sentences I just want to reword.

How I succeed in team projects: Never assume some one is doing what they are supposed to be doing. Have regular meetings and have each member show their work, not just give you or the group their word for it.

Choose the right!!!!

Study for Multiple Exams part 1

How I study for 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 the time I spread out my time before hand. For example, if I have a test Monday, and 2 test on Tuesday then I will study for my Monday and Thursday and part of Friday. Start studying for my next test on the second half of Friday and part of Saturday, then my second Tuesday test on Saturday as well and part of Sunday. Then Sunday night I can review for my Monday 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 it 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 prepare properly or 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.

Choose the right!!!

Sarah’s Academic Success Story

My test study method: I have different strategies for different types of tests or subjects. 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 any additional study materials they could provide. If it was a class that required memorization or applying concepts I would create a sort of study guide.

My time management secret: I always carry a planner with me. I even use different color highlighters to show what each event on my calendar is for. For example, pink is personal, yellow is school, orange is work, blue is for appointments