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TIPS FOR
SUCCESS
With the
semester well underway, you have realized that the
pace of college courses is quite different from many
high school courses. Here are a few tips for
success:
1. Take a
speed reading course. Reading fast need not be
an end in itself. What Speed Reading teaches you to
do is to keep going through a text without
re-reading words, sentences and sections over and
over. It is really a form of self-discipline. You
will amaze yourself how much faster you can read and
still understand and retain information.
2. Never
go anywhere without a book. Time spent waiting
in line or in the car while someone is shopping or
playing soccer or whatever can be study time.
3. Keep a
tape recorder in the car. After reading a
chapter or a book sometimes the ideas flow when you
can't write things down. I have dictated entire
papers this way that then can be transcribed.
4. Find a
quiet place to study and be a little selfish with
your time. Learn to say no.
5. Use
post-it notes as bookmarks. Simply put a word or
two at the top to create your own reference index.
This saves you when writing a paper from having to
reread whole chapters.
6. Kill
your TV! There is very little you can watch on
TV that won't be a rerun or appear on ESPN Classics.
If you must, discipline yourself to tape a selected
show that you can watch later and zip through the
commercials. Don't waste time!
7. Be an
active reader. Take notes. In your own books
write in the margins. Highlight the most important
parts with your own code of x's, *'s or whatever.
Don't reread irrelevant stuff.
8. Find
time to rest. If you allow yourself to get
totally exhausted, not only will you be unable to
learn, but you could get sick, further hampering
your learning efforts. If you keep falling asleep
while reading, don't blame the text, don't tell your
teacher the course is "boring" get some sleep!
9.
Exercise a bit. It stimulates blood flow to the
brain and relieves tension.
10. Read
all your work aloud to someone else. It'll save
valuable time proof reading, and improve your
writing. If it sounds crummy, it is. |
