Student Story #2

One of my students emailed me asking to be excused from my class because he had to study for exams in two other classes.  He wrote that he had stayed up all night studying and was not quite ready for the exams.  This student was on a sports team, but could not participate until he was off probation.

My response to this student was that he did not understand learning, time management or how his body works.  

First - He could not learn the information he needed to know the night before the exam.  Learning takes time.  He should have been learning the information over the past five weeks of the semester, not just the night before.

Second – He was not using his time properly.  Again, he should have been studying all along.  He is getting into a very bad habit by skipping one class to study for another.

Third – There is more and more information about the importance of sleep.  Sleep is important to memory – both for the learning and the output of the information.  Also, because he was tired he was not able to think properly during both exams and it took him more than a day to get back on track.

How did things turn out?  One exam has not been returned.  My student earned an A on the second exam, but made the statement that he hoped the final was not cumulative because he already had forgotten everything he had studied. 

So the moral of this story is:

• Understand how you learn.
• Manage your time.
• Get proper sleep.
• Hope you have an understanding professor who will help you succeed by giving you the information explained above that you need for sustained academic success.