3 answers
Suup
Student
Johns Creek, Georgia
2
Questions
Asked
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When can I take up most my college credits?
How do I develop good study habits for my first year of college? I want to be as successful as possible.
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3 answers
Stephanie LH Greer, MHRM, BBA, CMCS
Career Development Coach
33
Answers
Greenwood, South Carolina
Updated
Stephanie LH’s Answer
Study habits for college are in some ways as unique as you. First, find out your primary and secondary learning styles. You can go to a school counselor for help finding the right assessment. Then review and try the study and learning techniques for those styles. If your kinesthetic try incorporating scents, movement, clear post-it notes to trace visuals, or fidget toys. If you are auditory ask to tape the sound of a lecture and replay it as you do other things (driving to and from school, walking your dog, etc.). Then like the person said before, may your time. I like tools that break it down into half hour blocks (that's all you can effectively study 1 topic at a time anyway) and color code it so you can see where you are spending your time and can make changes. Ask your teachers for a syllabus with due dates at the beginning of class to plan ahead. Remember the physical aspect too. Eat nutritional good meals for you, get 8-10 hours of sleep a night, make a study play list of songs that remind n at 60 beats a minute, study for 25 minutes and take 5 min to take a break (get a glass of water, or get a healthy snack, do a minute yoga routine, or practice your tic-toc dance).
Draw your schedule in half hour intervals
Find the time to study, do homework, and do projects for each class.
Ask for your syllabus in advance
Learn your learning style and research ways to learn for you
Balance school work with your mental and physical health. If you or your parent/ guardian have questions you have a school counselor who has resources.
Stephanie LH recommends the following next steps:
Niha D
Physical Therapist
60
Answers
Detroit, Michigan
Updated
Niha’s Answer
Sorry, I'm a little confused by your question so I'm going to answer it a few different ways.
1) To get college credits early: you can often apply to one or two college classes as a high schooler. Look into possibly getting general courses out of the way, or something that interests you, but would not fit into your major!
2) To get the most out of your semester: Colleges have cap limits to avoid overwork by students, but depending on what classes you are taking and what your college counselor says, you can apply for a pretty high number of credits per semester to get more credits done each semester. (WARNING: the classes may not be difficult, but if you plan on doing other things, like events, clubs, sports, make sure you can handle the homework and exam workload + the other stuff BEFORE you add credits)
3) To get college credits with finances in mind:
a) Think about community college. Many of them have really good programs, and can be more financially stable for you. Remember, after your first or second "career" job, people aren't talking about college except to reminisce.
b)If you are at a large university: colleges will have stipulations on how many credits you have to take with them to graduate as part of their university, but within those limits, you can take some general or introduction courses with community colleges, which will save you a ton of money and can be done online, early, during break times. Be cautious and check that the course you take will transfer to your university if you go this route, using a transfer course list, which is usually available on your school's website.
I hope this answers the first question!
Regarding creating good habits:
1) Look at what works for you now. You can't create an entirely new habit from nothing, that would be immensely difficult (it's like asking someone who only walks around the neighborhood to run a half marathon). Make note of what you do when you come home from school. Do you relax first, or jump right into homework? Do you listen to music when you study or do you need it private and completely silent? Do you work in small increments or large bouts of hyperfocus? What foods and drinks do you consume when doing your school work?
2) Be honest with yourself. Do you need more time to study a subject? Less time with another? Do you find yourself procrastinating on presentations/studying/other areas of school work? Makes notes on this so you know what to expect from yourself realistically.
3) You're going to be on your own if you're not living at home. So make a list of what you need to get done outside of school. Are you responsible for cleaning, cooking, laundry, etc? Do you have clubs or events you have to/want to participate in?
4) What does your daily schedule look like? When do you get up, when do you sleep, when do you eat? Fix a sleep and food schedule early on and stick to them during the weekdays (you can give yourself some leniency on weekends, everyone deserves time to let loose). Look at your week and put your class times in. Put internships, work hours, observation hours, etc in. Now, look at all the empty slots left, those will become study and break times.
5) Now, fill those slots in! Be realistic, not optimistic. Don't assume you can fit an hour study session into a 45 minute slot because it "didn't seem that hard" in class. As you settle into your classes the first week and half, you'll figure out what classes are harder for you and what's easier. I encourage you to review material from the harder classes each week to make exam studying easier. Make sure you slot in time for review, for actual exam studying, as well as for reading materials, doing worksheets, and presentations. If you study better with people, make sure you have free time to slot with others, as they all will have their own schedules to contend with. Don't try to double up study time with another activity.
a) If you have anxiety or feel more at ease with a more organized schedule over a more flexible one, I encourage you to have 2-3 types of schedules. One is a calendar that exists month by month (paper or mobile) for events, birthdays, appts, etc. The next would be a weekly schedule that you have a fixed time each week to go over (ie, you create next week's schedule every Saturday at noon).
b) If you're more flexible, I encourage you to set study goals for the week! List all the things that are due (including exams) for a particular week, possible in order that they are due, and check them off as your complete. If you need to jump around because you can't focus or need to multitask, this way you can work on different things and maintain that energy, but still have a relatively focused list of relevant items for you to be working on.
c) Break times are important! Whatever that slot is, from going out with friends or taking a nap or watching your favorite show every week at 8 PM, make sure you maintain them. If you fill every free moment with studying, you'll not only burn out, you'll fail your study schedule immediately. [TIP: if you can convince your friends to join a club with you, you can double up hanging out with them and doing club activities!]
6) Be kind to yourself. Creating a habit, for anything, takes time. You are going to have to deal with so many changes, and sometimes studying may need to be put on the wayside for a little. That is okay! We are human, we make mistakes. As long as we learn from them, and try our best to fix it, we are getting better, and that's the real goal. Don't expect perfection from yourself when changing your study habits from the get go.
1) To get college credits early: you can often apply to one or two college classes as a high schooler. Look into possibly getting general courses out of the way, or something that interests you, but would not fit into your major!
2) To get the most out of your semester: Colleges have cap limits to avoid overwork by students, but depending on what classes you are taking and what your college counselor says, you can apply for a pretty high number of credits per semester to get more credits done each semester. (WARNING: the classes may not be difficult, but if you plan on doing other things, like events, clubs, sports, make sure you can handle the homework and exam workload + the other stuff BEFORE you add credits)
3) To get college credits with finances in mind:
a) Think about community college. Many of them have really good programs, and can be more financially stable for you. Remember, after your first or second "career" job, people aren't talking about college except to reminisce.
b)If you are at a large university: colleges will have stipulations on how many credits you have to take with them to graduate as part of their university, but within those limits, you can take some general or introduction courses with community colleges, which will save you a ton of money and can be done online, early, during break times. Be cautious and check that the course you take will transfer to your university if you go this route, using a transfer course list, which is usually available on your school's website.
I hope this answers the first question!
Regarding creating good habits:
1) Look at what works for you now. You can't create an entirely new habit from nothing, that would be immensely difficult (it's like asking someone who only walks around the neighborhood to run a half marathon). Make note of what you do when you come home from school. Do you relax first, or jump right into homework? Do you listen to music when you study or do you need it private and completely silent? Do you work in small increments or large bouts of hyperfocus? What foods and drinks do you consume when doing your school work?
2) Be honest with yourself. Do you need more time to study a subject? Less time with another? Do you find yourself procrastinating on presentations/studying/other areas of school work? Makes notes on this so you know what to expect from yourself realistically.
3) You're going to be on your own if you're not living at home. So make a list of what you need to get done outside of school. Are you responsible for cleaning, cooking, laundry, etc? Do you have clubs or events you have to/want to participate in?
4) What does your daily schedule look like? When do you get up, when do you sleep, when do you eat? Fix a sleep and food schedule early on and stick to them during the weekdays (you can give yourself some leniency on weekends, everyone deserves time to let loose). Look at your week and put your class times in. Put internships, work hours, observation hours, etc in. Now, look at all the empty slots left, those will become study and break times.
5) Now, fill those slots in! Be realistic, not optimistic. Don't assume you can fit an hour study session into a 45 minute slot because it "didn't seem that hard" in class. As you settle into your classes the first week and half, you'll figure out what classes are harder for you and what's easier. I encourage you to review material from the harder classes each week to make exam studying easier. Make sure you slot in time for review, for actual exam studying, as well as for reading materials, doing worksheets, and presentations. If you study better with people, make sure you have free time to slot with others, as they all will have their own schedules to contend with. Don't try to double up study time with another activity.
a) If you have anxiety or feel more at ease with a more organized schedule over a more flexible one, I encourage you to have 2-3 types of schedules. One is a calendar that exists month by month (paper or mobile) for events, birthdays, appts, etc. The next would be a weekly schedule that you have a fixed time each week to go over (ie, you create next week's schedule every Saturday at noon).
b) If you're more flexible, I encourage you to set study goals for the week! List all the things that are due (including exams) for a particular week, possible in order that they are due, and check them off as your complete. If you need to jump around because you can't focus or need to multitask, this way you can work on different things and maintain that energy, but still have a relatively focused list of relevant items for you to be working on.
c) Break times are important! Whatever that slot is, from going out with friends or taking a nap or watching your favorite show every week at 8 PM, make sure you maintain them. If you fill every free moment with studying, you'll not only burn out, you'll fail your study schedule immediately. [TIP: if you can convince your friends to join a club with you, you can double up hanging out with them and doing club activities!]
6) Be kind to yourself. Creating a habit, for anything, takes time. You are going to have to deal with so many changes, and sometimes studying may need to be put on the wayside for a little. That is okay! We are human, we make mistakes. As long as we learn from them, and try our best to fix it, we are getting better, and that's the real goal. Don't expect perfection from yourself when changing your study habits from the get go.
Stephanie LH Greer, MHRM, BBA, CMCS
Career Development Coach
33
Answers
Greenwood, South Carolina
Updated
Stephanie LH’s Answer
Study habits for college are in some ways as unique as you. First, find out your primary and secondary learning styles. You can go to a school counselor for help finding the right assessment. Then review and try the study and learning techniques for those styles. If your kinesthetic try incorporating scents, movement, clear post-it notes to trace visuals, or fidget toys. If you are auditory ask to tape the sound of a lecture and replay it as you do other things (driving to and from school, walking your dog, etc.). Then like the person said before, manage your time. I like tools that break it down into half hour blocks (that's all you can effectively study 1 topic at a time anyway) and color code it so you can see where you are spending your time and can make changes. Ask your teachers for a syllabus with due dates at the beginning of class to plan ahead. Remember the physical aspect too. Eat nutritional good meals for you, get 8-10 hours of sleep a night, make a study play list of songs that remind n at 60 beats a minute, study for 25 minutes and take 5 min to take a break (get a glass of water, or get a healthy snack, do a minute yoga routine, or practice your tic-toc dance).
Draw your schedule in half hour intervals
Find the time to study, do homework, and do projects for each class.
Ask for your syllabus in advance
Learn your learning style and research ways to learn for you
Balance school work with your mental and physical health. If you or your parent/ guardian have questions you have a school counselor who has resources.
Stephanie LH recommends the following next steps: