Advices from friends
Last year, a first year student told me during the first day of class: “ You talk like my parents, study, study and study more. Life is NOT just study and as college student, I do NOT need advises that sound like my parents”. I told him: “ Please explain to me what are you doing in college? Why are you going to spend the next four years here if you do not want to study? You may do many things in college but if you do NOT study, you will fail. As professor, I do not want to see you fail and that is why I give advices”. However after that incident, I asked other students who already spent few years in college to come up with “friendly advices” that they can give to other students. Following are their advices:
From a second year student: “There is a difference between studying in high school and college. I only need to study about an hour for a test in high school but several hours or several days for a test in college”.
From another second year student: “I only read textbooks and easily passed tests in high school but to do well in college, I had to read textbooks AND take a lot of class notes, about sixty pages a week. I found that college professors do not follow textbooks but focus more on their own lectures, textbooks are for references. You can NOT just read textbooks and pass tests but must attend all lectures and take a lot of notes to do well in college”.
From a third year student: “Today many of us bring a laptop to class to take notes. However, we also check E-mail, read “Facebook” and “Twitter” during class too. The problem is when you bring laptop to class, you will also do other things instead of listening to the professor. My advice is you may bring laptop to take note but DO NOT CONNECT to the internet then you will NOT be lure into doing something else”.
From another third year student: “During my first year, I read textbooks and required readings AFTER lectures. However, I learn quickly to do the reading BEFORE each lecture so I know what the professor is talking about. If I do not understand something when reading, I can ask for clarification during class lecture. In that case I am really learning and not just listening”.
From a second year student: “Many of us do NOT like to ask questions during lecture, we are afraid of asking the “wrong questions” or give the impression to the professor that we are not smart enough. That is a big mistake. I find out that most professors are happy to answer questions during lecture because they do not want their students to fail. Sometime, they even tell students what are the important things which means these information will surely be on their tests. So do NOT hesitate to ask questions. Some professors also have review sessions before a test. Do not miss them as they are “hints” to what will be on tests. Make sure that you study well before the review sessions”.
From a second year student: “In the first year, I write down everything the professor says which is NOT necessary. Later, I find out that most lectures are available to students, especially the PowerPoint slides of the lecture. I learn quickly that by print out these slides before class then read them to know what are the key point then annotate them with the professor’s comments during lecture then I will have a very good note. Immediately, after class I would review them to identify additional important things that I missed during the first reading. In that case I am really learning the class material three times. By reviewing these notes, it help me to “internalize” them so I will remember them better. If you adopt this study style, you will learn things faster and better than just reading”.
From a second year student: “During my first year, I liked to borrow class notes from friends, especially when I “skipped” lectures to go to movies. Some of my friends even take turn to take notes and we share them so we did not have to go to classes all the time. In the end, I almost failed most classes if my boy friend did not help. He taught me how to study and told me that I must learn class material at least three times to “internalize” them. I learned that nothing is better than see and hear the professor explain something in class and take your own note as it helps me to retain the knowledge better. Attending lecture and listening what the professor says will “imprint” these words into the brain then by reviewing them will allow “memories” to be made and that is what learning is all about”.
From a second year student: “Many of us adopt a habit that after school, we go to sleep then wake up at night to study until early morning. Because we only sleep a few hours so when we go to classes we are tired and fall asleep during lecture. Soon we all get behind in class, even we drink a lot of coffee to stay awake but I do not do well in tests then some of us just give up and drop out of school. I learned that it is important to set up a time management when study time and sleep does not interfere with each other. We need to sleep and we also need to study and having a good sleep will allow me to study better”.
From a third year student: “We like to study in the library but there are places that are too distracted because you will see so many people that you know. If we start some conversations then we will waste a lot of study time. My solution is to move far from the first or second floor and find a quiet place at upper library levels where few people gather so I can study”.
From a second year student: “Study groups do NOT work for everyone because you can NOT work at your own pace. If the group members are your good friends, you might end up not studying at all. You must select the team members carefully and set up rules and schedule to make sure that we really learning from each others. When preparing for a test, especially math or computer tests you must practice by doing the exercises yourself NOT in group. The more exercises, the better because practice will help you to master your skill”.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
