Raising the Grade: It's All About Study Skills
By Don Rauf
Devote some time to mastering study skills, and you’ll be making the “A” list.
47% of students said they have sought help to improve their study skills. —Student Health 101 survey
Sophomore Michael Dion was a top student in high school and graduated as a Presidential Scholar. But when he started at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts, he found himself tanking grade-wise.
“My first semester grades were really poor,” says Dion. “College is not just doing homework and passing tests like it was in high school.”
Dion desperately needed help to turn things around, so he went to the school’s Academic Support Center. Here he learned how to change his study behaviors, and he identified barriers to his academic success.
“I developed a new way to learn and my grades really improved,” says Dion. “I learned time-management skills and got more reinforcement outside of the classroom. I now go to the library after class instead of heading back to my dorm. I’m not doing study groups any more because they don’t work for me. I learned what’s best for me when it comes to studying, and it’s showing up in my grades.”
Like many students, Dion had trouble shifting into college courses. In a Student Health 101 poll of 1,000 college students, 47% of students said they have sought help to improve their study skills. And while 46% said they have good study skills, they added that they can definitely use some pointers. No matter what year you are in, you may need help with your study habits, and most colleges offer the necessary support.
It’s About Time
The fact is college courses require much more time than high school courses, and while students have a lot of free time in college, they don’t use enough of that time for studying.
“Some students come to college ready to double the amount of time they’re going to put into the studying they do outside the classroom,” says Allen Bruehl, director of the Academic Support Center at Assumption College. “What they need to do is at least triple it.”
Writing out a schedule in a date book or planner is essential to making sure you’re devoting enough time to studying. Make a daily to-do list and stick with it.
The Nuts and Bolts of Studying
While we all differ in the ways we learn best, there are certain skills that all students need to sharpen:
• Reading. You have to be ready to spend time poring over books. “I definitely had to learn how to read faster and more intently,” says Beth Neiser, a sophomore at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. The academic support center at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri, recommends that students take a break every 45 to 60 minutes to refresh themselves, but to steer clear of Internet breaks because students tend to get sucked in for long stretches.
• Writing. “You always need to take another look at your writing and view it critically as the reader,” says Dr. Donna Berger, coauthor of Self- Management for College Students: The ABC Approach and an instructor at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. “You want to see if it’s well organized and logical. Is there a way to make your paper even more interesting? If you’re bored by your own writing, you’re in trouble. Reading aloud is a good way to critique your writing and see if it flows well. Also, ask a friend to read your paper and give honest feedback.”
• Note-taking. Make sure you take notes that are going to be useful to review. Dr. Berger recommends you actually take each page in your notebook and draw a straight vertical line down it from top to bottom. Put key words/ideas (for study questions) on the left-hand side, and then use the right-hand side for detailed notes.
• Test-taking. If you can’t get old tests for practice, make up your own from the highlights and questions in your textbooks and notes. Beyond the basic skills, students have to find study styles and places that work best. It takes some trial and error, but eventually you can find study techniques that can lift your academic performance.
DON RAUF IS THE CO-EDITOR OF STUDENT HEALTH 101.
Author Video: Chris Strobel, University of Missouri-Columbia
"Hey guys, what’s up this is Chris Strobel I go to the University of Missouri Columbia and I’m going to talk to you a little bit today about study skills. A couple of easy things you can do to really stay on top of school is to utilize a planner which is usually very easy to get, usually your university will give them out for free at the beginning of every semester and that can really allow you to stay on top of things and keep dates in order and tests you know on file and things like that. Another really great thing to do is to study in small increments like one or two hours. This really allows you to absorb information better and help you to remember it and it’s better than just trying to jam a whole bunch of information in your mind you know over an eight hour period right before a test. One of the great things you can do in class to absorb information also is to just try and keep the notes you take in class down to about two pages. That keeps the information really consolidated and allows you to listen to the lecture more, which typically is more important; you can learn a lot more from. And another great thing you can do is review your notes you’ve taken in class, at home, right after the class. It’s been proven in studies that location really plays a big part in your learning so if you take the time to just real quickly review your stuff at you know, at home or wherever you’re going to do a lot of your studying outside of class it will really help you out. And another really important aspect that you have to focus on, which is difficult in college is to make sure that you get good deep, good quality sleep. And sleep has been shown in studies also to have a big impact on learning and memory. And this sort of comes down to the wire and you’re down to the last minute studying for a test, there are a couple things you can do. You should spend about 25 percent of your time learning the material and then about 75 percent of the time memorizing it. So, there you go, there are some easy study skills and tips for you and hopefully you can utilize them for your finals and everyone good luck."
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