Successful students

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10. . . . successful students are good time managers. Successful students do not procrastinate. They have learned that time control is life control and have consciously chosen to be in control of their life.

       An elemental truth: You will either control time or be controlled by it! It’s your choice: you can lead or be led, establish control or relinquish control, steer your own course or follow others. Failure to take control of their own time is probably the no. 1 study skills problem for college students. It ultimately causes many students to become non- students. Procrastinators are good excuse makers. Don’t make academic harder on yourself than it already it has to be. And don’t wait until tomorrow to do it!

The 10 items listened above are paraphrased from an article by Larry M Ludewig called ten commandments for effective study skills which appeared in the Teaching Professor, December, 1992.

“Learning Technologies and Online Education”

Choose the right!!!

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Student success statement

“It is our duty to concentrate all our influence to make popular that which is sound and good, and (to make) unpopular that which is unsound (and not good).

Joseph Smith

Reflection: Marvelous quote by Mr. Smith. This means that we should make something that is significantly great even more popular. And to make something that has a horrible impact on us, make it unpopular and make it go away. An example can be students. Students always want to be the coolest or the best at everything. However, they will do anything to become popular, like ditching, doing drugs and alcohol, and failing their classes. That should be unpopular. We have to make this unpopular in today’s society. And great student who always do their work should get rewarded by being well known and making them an example of a perfect or close to perfect role model. 

Successful students

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9 . . . . Don’t cram for exams. Successful students know that divided periods of study method are more effective than cram sessions, and they practice it.

          If there is one thing that study skills specialist agree on, it is that distributed study is better than massed, late-night, last-ditched efforts known as cramming. You’ll learn more remember more and earn higher grade by studying in four hours straight on Thursday night. Short, concentrated preparatory efforts are more efficient and rewarding than wasteful, inattentive, last moment marathons. Yet, so many students fail to learn this lesson and end up repeating it over and over again until it becomes a wasteful habit. Not too clever huh?

When you cram you are taking the shortcut, and shortcuts never produce any real worthwhile results. Also, when you take shortcuts, you feel rather rotten knowing that you could have done better but didn’t. Shortcuts cut you short. You can’t plant watermelon seeds and harvest fresh watermelons the next day. It takes time. Cramming for a test or a project and expecting to make it a high score the next day is like planting watermelons seed and expecting to harvest and eat fresh watermelon the next day. Plus cramming for a test and project doesn’t help you academically, so why even do it. Plan ahead, prepare ahead. Give yourself plenty of days and weeks to prepare for upcoming accountability opportunities.

Choose the Right!!!

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Student success statement

“What’s right isn’t always popular. What’s popular isn’t always right”

Howard Cosell

Reflection: This is a great example to everyone and anyone who is judgmental and a bully. Another example is when students don’t choose to do their homework. Doing your homework is the right thing to do however it isn’t always the popular choice. By following everyone and trying to be cool, that isn’t right. This quote inspires me to always choose the right. This quote means that even though you might feel like an outcast, you are still doing the correct thing. And when you know you have done something bad just to fit in, now that is not the right thing. 

Successful Students

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7. . . . understand that actions affect learning. Successful students know t their personal behavior affect their feelings and emotions which in turn can affect learning.

        If you act in a certain way that normally produces particular feelings, you will begin to experience those feelings. Act like you’re bored and you’ll become bored. Act like you’re disinterested. So the next time you have trouble concentrating in the classroom, “act” like an interested person: lean forward, place your feet flat on the floor, maintain eye contact with the professor, nod occasionally, take notes, and ask questions. Not only will you benefit directly from your actions, your classmates and professor might also get excited and enthusiastic.

8. . . . talk about what they’re learning. Successful students get to know something well enough that they can put it into words. Talking about something with friends or classmates is not only good for checking whether or not you know something, it’s a proven learning tool. Transferring ideas into words provides the most direct path for moving knowledge from short term to long term memory. You really don’t “Know” the material until you can put it into words. So, next time you study, don’t do it silently. Talk about notes, problems, reading etc. with friends, recite to a chair, organize an oral study group, and pretend you’re teaching your peers. “Talk learning” produces a whole host of memory trace that result in more learning.

CHOOSE THE RIGHT!!!

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Success students

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5. Don’t sit in the back of the room. Successful student’s minimize classroom distractions that interfere with learning.

            Students want the best seat available for their entertainment dollars, but willingly seek the worst seat for their educational dollars. Students who sit in the back cannot possibly be their professors’ teammates (see no. 4). Why do they expose themselves to the temptations of inactive classroom experiences and distractions of the people between them and their instructor? Of course, we know they chose the back of the classroom because they seek invisibility or anonymity, both of which are antithetical to efficient and effective learning. If you are trying not to be part of the class, why, then, are you wasting your time? Push your hot buttons, is there something else you should be doing with your time?

6. . . . Take good notes. Successful students take good notes that are understandable and organized, and review them often.

            Why put something into your notes that you do not understand? Ask the questions now that are necessary to make your notes meaningful at some later time. A short review of your notes while the material is still fresh on your mind helps you to learn more. The more you learn then, the less you’ll have to learn later and the less time it will take because, you won’t have to include some deciphering time, also. The whole purpose of taking notes is to use them and to use them often. The more you use them, the more you improve.

Choose the right!!!

Student success statement

“The time is always right to do what is right”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Reflection: When you know you have done something bad, you have guilt. However you can always tell the truth and choose the right. It is never too late. This quote can be a different definition to someone else. To me this quote by MLK means you should always do the right thing, if you don’t then you can always confess and still do the right thing.