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What Successful Students Do

 

GO TO EVERY CLASS AND BE ON TIME!  HAVE A GREAT ATTITUDE AND DON’T ALLOW ANY DISTRACTIONS!

Being on time is being 10 minutes early!  Being there 10 minutes early will allow you to get a competitive seat, and more importantly, allows time for you to interact with the instructor.  The instructor must know you by your first name.  The sooner the better!  Have a great attitude every day when you walk into the class.  Your body language and how you communicate with others, gives a lasting impression!  Keep your cell phone off and in your bag.  Don’t let there be any distractions for you or for others during class time!

COMPETETIVE SEAT

The most competitive seat in a classroom is in the front row towards the middle.  There are fewer distractions that can get in your plane of vision and typically the best students sit in the front row.  If you want to be a great student, surround yourself with other great students!

SLANT

S-Sit Up

L-Lean Forward

A-Act Interested

N-Nod

T-Track the Instructor

COME PREPARED

Go to your class prepared.  Have materials ready such as a pen or a pencil, highlighter, a pad or a notebook to write in before class starts (I don’t recommend lab top computers because they can be a distraction).  It is easy to miss something or be a distraction to others and your instructor, if you are shuffling thru your bag while the instructor is talking.  Don’t be the guy that has to ask to borrow something because you’re not prepared. 

NOTES

Take great notes.  Circle things in your notes that you may not understand.  Underline or highlight key words and phrases.  This method will help you later when you are studying for a test, and remind you that you may have not understood something that was said or written when you were taking notes.  Great note taking is fanatically writing every important detail in a lecture.  Don’t rely on getting someone else’s notes, writing notes yourself is the best way to learn!

HOW DO WE LEARN?

We learn:

10% of what we read

20% of what we hear

30% of what we see

50% of what we both see and hear

70% of what we discuss with others

80% of what we experience personally

95% of what we TEACH someone else

Remember-The teacher learns the most!  And he who does the work, does the learning!

THE “4 STEP” STUDY METHOD

If your goal is to understand and remember something, this is your quickest way!

  • The key to studying is having a pen or pencil in your hand as you do it!

“The Key” to the study process is using a pen or pencil.

Why?  If you use a pen you usually look for a way to use it.  You tend to read with a more inquiring mind!  Active reading means reading with a pen.  By using a pen you get a feel for the information as you go through it.  Natural Law:  If you try to just remember or memorize words by simply repeating them, they seem to never come easily. 

  1. Use the pen to breakdown the information.
    • Breakdown the information by interrogation!  Ask yourself questions about the information.  Ask “why is this information critical?”  Or “what does this statement mean?”  This will crystallize the information in your mind.  By doing this, you are taking ownership of the material. 
  2. Use pen to circle, underline and jot.
    • Circle things you don’t understand or have questions about.  Why?  No amount of staring at something will help you learn it if you don’t understand it. 
    • Underline or highlight key words or phrases.  Why?  So that they jump out at you!  JOT down a phrase, word, symbol, acronym, or something that captures what the information is about. 
    • Use an abbreviation in the margin to write down what a sentence or thought is referring to. 
  1. Commit the broken down information to memory.
    • Based on crystallized ideas of what the information is about, now try to remember key words.  Why?  The words will now come easily.  Everything in your mind will be in logical order and you have boiled the information down into an understandable and usable form. 
  2. The most effective study method is called “Spaced Repetitions”. 
    • Spaced repetitions means to study in short bursts.
    • Work 10-15 minute segments, and then change your focus.
    • The amount of repetitions needed to know the material is in direct relationship with how familiar you are with the concepts and terminology. 
    • It should take 2 or 3 to learn information. 
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