College Search: Studying Effectively
Your most important activity in college is studying. Efficient study skills separate the inept student (who may spend just as many hours studying as an “A” student) from the excellent student, who thinks while studying and who uses common sense strategies to discover the important core of courses. The following suggested game plan for good study has worked in the past; it can work for you.
- Make a commitment. It is universally recommended that you spend two hours studying for every hour in class. At the beginning of your college career, be determined to do just that. It doesn’t get easy until you make up your mind to do it.
- Do the tough jobs first. If certain courses are boring or particularly difficult, study them first. Don’t read the interesting, enjoyable materials first, saving the toughies for the last sleepy twinges of your weary brain.
- Study in short sessions. Three two-hour sessions, separated from each other by a different activity, are much better than a long six-hour session.
- Use your bits of time. Use those minutes when you’re waiting for a bus, a return call, laundry to wash, or a friend to arrive. Some of the best students I know carry 3 × 5 cards filled with definitions, formulas, or equations and learn during brief waiting periods. Most chief executives form the habit early of using bits of time wisely.
Digesting a Textbook
1. Preview chapters. Before you read a chapter in your textbook, preview it. Quickly examine the introductory paragraphs, headings, tables, illustrations, and other features of the chapter. The purpose is to discover the major topics. Then you can read with increased comprehension because you know where the author is leading.
2. Underline the important points as you read. Underlining should never be overdone; it can leave your textbook almost completely marked and less legible to read. Only the major ideas and concepts should be highlighted.
3. Seven categories of information are commonly found in textbooks. Be particularly alert when you see the following; get your marking pen ready. Definitions of terms. Types or categories of items. Methods of accomplishing certain tasks. Sequences of events or stages in a process. Reasons or causes. Results or effects. Contrasts or comparisons between items.
4. Repeat information you need to learn. When the object is to learn information, nothing is so effective as reciting the material, either silently or aloud.
5. Don’t read all material the same way. Decide what you need to learn from the material and read accordingly. You read a work of fiction to learn the characters and the narrative; a poem, to learn an idea, an emotion, or a theme: a work of history, to learn the interrelationships of events. Do not read every sentence with the same speed and concentration; learn when to skim rapidly along. Remember, your study time is limited and the trick is to discriminate between the most important and the least important. No one can learn everything equally well.
6. The five-minute golden secret. As soon as possible after class is over—preferably at your desk in the classroom— skim through the chapter that has just been covered, marking the points primarily discussed. Copy what was written on the board. Now you know what the professor thinks is important!