Challenges for College Freshmen - Part 2 of 6

As a college student you will actually spend less time in the classroom than in high school but receive a greater amount of information.  Also you will often be expected to learn the information in the textbook on your own.  The responsibility for learning the information is entirely the student’s.

One challenge facing students, then, is exactly how to go about successfully learning the information.  When you are sitting down to study and learn, what should you be doing, how should you be interacting with the text (both the textbook and your lecture notes)?  Most of the students I have worked with on academic probation do not know how to learn – their basic strategy is rereading and then rereading again.

The keys to learning are to be actively processing the information and working with it in different ways, self-testing, repetition and then spacing the learning out over time.  (Sorry, but this eliminates ignoring the class during the semester and then pulling an all-nighter before the exam!)  Here is what I mean:

Actively processing the material (not just rereading):

• When reading your textbook, take notes either in the textbook margins or separate notes
• When studying lecture notes, highlight main topics
• Rewrite your notes or combine them with the textbook material for new notes
• Rework the information into a review chart, study cards, or some other format

Self-testing both as you are learning the material and after you fully understand it:

• As you are reading the textbook or your lecture notes, stop after each main topic and restate in your own words what you have read without looking at the information.  Check yourself and try again if not totally correct.  This is recitation.
• Once you have mastered the material continue to self-test – make study cards and go through them, create a quiz for yourself, continue to practice recitation with the material, cover up the information on your review chart and try to remember it.
• Form a study group and quiz each other.
• Use a computer app such as Quizlet and create various quizzes.

Another key is that you have to review the information many times.  Do not quit when you feel you have mastered it.

• Make study cards and use them several days every week. (Remember to use self-testing: read front, think about information on back, check yourself, go over any you miss until you know them, repeat tomorrow.)
• Learn notes after each class and then review the previous notes to see how the information all fits together.

The final piece is that you have to space your learning out over time – one session before the exam will not do it.  Your memory needs time to fully consolidate the information.  And it is important to forget and work to relearn the information later.  This speaks for itself.  Start learning after the first class and keep up your efforts throughout the semester.

The next blog will deal with a concern of my grandson’s and almost every college student – procrastination!

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First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.