Successful college study habits
Studying is a skill. Being successful in school requires a high level of study skills. Students must first learn these skills, practice them and develop effective study habits in order to be successful. Very often the study habits and practices developed and used in high school do not work for students in college. Good study habits include many different skills: time management, self-discipline, concentration, memorization, organization, and effort. Desire to succeed is important, too.
The key to becoming an effective student is learning how to study smarter, not harder. This becomes more and more true as you advance in your education. An hour or two of studying a day is usually sufficient to make it through high school with satisfactory grades, but when college arrives, there aren't enough hours in the day to get all your studying in if you don't know how to study smarter. Therefore, if you want to become a successful student, don't get discouraged, don't give up, just work to develop each of the study habits below and you'll see your grades go up, your knowledge increase, and your ability to learn and assimilate information improve.
1. Don't attempt to cram all your studying into one session.
2. Plan when you're going to study: Successful students schedule specific times throughout the week when they are going to study -- and then they stick with their schedule. Even if you're all caught up with your studies, creating a weekly routine, where you set aside a period of time a few days a week, to review your courses will ensure you develop habits that will enable you to succeed in your education long term.
3. Each study time should have a specific goal. Simply studying without direction is not effective. You need to know exactly what you need to accomplish during each study session. Before you start studying, set a study session goal that supports your overall academic goal (i.e. memorize 30 vocabulary words in order to ace the vocabulary section on an upcoming Spanish test.)
4. Never procrastinate your planned study session: Successful students DO NOT procrastinate studying. If you procrastinate your study session, your studying will become much less effective and you may not get everything accomplished that you need to. Procrastination also leads to rushing, and rushing is the number one cause of errors.
5. Start with the most difficult subject first.
6. Make sure you're not distracted while you're studying.
7. Review your notes, schoolwork and other class materials over the weekend.
