Study Tips for Your First Year in College
Your first year of college can bring many challenges. You may be moving away from family, adjusting to dorm life, and above all, learning how to balance classes with work. If you aren’t equipped with the right study habits, you can fall behind quickly. Study habits that you used in high school may not work in college. With the start of the semester around the corner, we provide you with a few study tips to hit the ground running.
Find Your People to Study With
You probably have a core group of friends in college - do you study with them? Are they the best people to study with? If you get distracted together way too easily, then the answer is no. Try to find other groups of people that you can study with. Make sure to discuss expectations and formats ahead of the meetings. If there is too much information to study from class, split and assign sections of information.
Read Ahead & Explain it to Others
Read all materials related to the concepts you were assigned or will be discussing before the meeting. While in groups, try to work through any homework questions together, review any study guides, and go over major concepts. If you can teach a concept to your colleagues, then you’ve mastered the concept.
Find the Best Environment to Study In
Whether it’s a bustling coffee shop, quiet library room, or at home, you need to find the most comfortable place to study for you. If you know what that is, then great! If not, try a couple different places and mentally jot down whether the place was conducive to studying or not.
Schedule Your Study Time Into a Calendar
While this may be a no brainer, it’s something that can be overlooked. In high school, you had structured days and were taking 6 or more classes. In college, you may be taking less than 6 classes and have them spaced out. Initially, it may seem like less studying and that you have more time, but in reality, the extra time needs to be spent on studying. Start early with studying for classes and schedule time into your calendar for each class. Make sure to prioritize which classes to study for depending on when the exams are. Also schedule your study groups into your calendar.
Monitor and Self-Evaluate Your Study Habits
Once you’ve established a study routine, check-in with yourself. Ask yourself whether the approaches you are taking work or not? This process is called metacognition, where you are cognizant of and reflecting on the comprehension of your own knowledge. Studies suggest that assignments that promote metacognition can have an impact on students learning.
We hope that with these tips you find a great study group and stay ahead of the curve in your classes.
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