[feonateresa]

Hey, if upper years can find it useful too, I've done my job well. =)

[.:callen:.]

Excellent article! I really hope all incoming first years take this advice to heart!

If anyone is looking for more in depth help on note taking, essay writing, or studying/test taking tips, there's a book I highly recommend called 'The Professors Guide to Getting Good Grades in College'.

This book helped me do really well in first year, especially with learning good note taking. In the vast majority of cases, first years have to learn on the spot how to take lecture notes since you don't really have to do it in high school.

From my humanities/social sciences background, I would say you're especially screwed if you don't have good notes!

[Infinity]

great article!!

#1 is so TRUE. Don't skip class even though some are super boring... try switching classes if that's the case.

wish I saw this when I entered university

[adrian]

Here's some hard-earned advice:
1. You know how in highschool you used binders? DONT! Get a 3 or 5 subject notebook instead. It will be LESS messy, and a lot more useful and portable. From experience, there won't be more than one or two handouts to worry about.

2. ALWAYS TRY TO USE A PEN, BUT BRING A PENCIL TO TESTS. I know its not required on some tests, but on most, you need to write in pen in order to be able to contest any marks. Learn now to get away from the pencil writing and erasing(other than some classes(programming) where you NEED to erase in order to insert things and correct things every other word).
Bring pencil to scantron tests though, or you'll be asking for one(and you dont want that)

3. Always be 20 minutes early for EVERYTHING. This has saved me many times, from many things. On a test, I'd use those 20 minutes to review all the information with my classmates and make sure I studied everything. If I missed something, this is the time for some quick review

4. Have fun - join some clubs, talk to friends or something. The more bored you are in your spare time, the more your study time will suffer(ie procrastination) If you can study and play, then you will be happy.

5. NEVER EVER SKIP A CLASS. You'll find it's an extremely slippery slope. Pretend you HAVE to go or else.

there are more, but these are crucial

[Fight0]

I think attending class is entirely dependant on the course. Sometimes it's better to skip a class.

[adrian]

Originally Posted by Fight0

I think attending class is entirely dependant on the course. Sometimes it's better to skip a class.

Lol, yes, it can seem that way for some. But if you think about it, the prof will have at least one question thats not in the notes. Even if UTTERLY useless, a class has the advantage that you can ask questions, or at least listen and take notes. This will save you some marks you would otherwise loose.
And a coolaid man for good measure

[Fight0]

Yeah I wouldn't advise skipping classes if you're entering into first year. I'd wait until you'd be comfortable with university before you can accurately assess whether skipping a class to do soemthing else is worth it.

[AnguishedEnd]

Originally Posted by Fight0

Yeah I wouldn't advise skipping classes if you're entering into first year. I'd wait until you'd be comfortable with university before you can accurately assess whether skipping a class to do soemthing else is worth it.

One class I found that many people skipped in my first year was Math 1Z04. The prof would copy everything from the textbook word for word so many decided to just skip and read the textbook.

[hmmmcurious]

The Study Hacks blog has a lot of good information.

Also, his two books are both quite good. It would have helped me a lot more if I had known about them in first year.

And there is also a wiki.

[Fight0]

People have some pretty intense information about how to study

[HeatherH]

"But here's a few tips: do the harder work first, or the work that you know will take you the longest. Getting this done gives you confidence, and will give you more time to complete other work. Break up your long assignments into smaller parts, tackling them one at a time"

I really agree with these. Doing the hardest or lognest work first makes the other work so much easier and faster. If you leave the hard stuff to the end, you drag through everything and make it worse than it needs to be.

Big assignments into little chunks is important too. I don't look at essays as "Oh my god I have a 20 page essay". I do one paragraph at a time, then go over everything at the end to tie it together into an essay.

I know it's easy to skip classes, and I do it a lot myself. But for most people, you remember the material SOOOOOOOOO MUCH more if you actually hear it, opposed to just reading it. Plus, the profs will give examples or jokes to help you remember, and those won't be in the textbook or notes.

[finklej]

mixing up Star Wars and Star Trek is not funny....Star Wars is so much better

[Mowicz]

Spot on advice...I don't want to make you think any less of it, since I think it's great, but I'd like to point out that it's program-specific information.

Don't get me wrong, there are good pointers in there for any department, but not all of the tips apply to everyone.

It's at this point that someone has to point out the three learner types...Auditory, Visual, and Kinesthetic.

For instance:

1. Attend ALL of Your Classes.

...

Everyone's way of learning is different, and you might find that attending class really helps you.

I found that in my program, attending classes hindered my creativity...seriousl y! (although I suppose it was pretty much a non-issue until 2nd or 3rd year, when creative thinking became a necessity) While at the same time, I knew of people who went to class religiously, and missed at most like 1 lecture per year.


Let me explain: I would attend class, and the professor would slap some proof of some big theorem on the board. I'd follow his logic and be like "Uh huh...right...makes sense." I'd feel like I understood the proof, and yet I'd naturally miss some details in what he said, so when it came time to actually reproduce the proof on a test or exam, I'd be like "Uhhhh......what was that trick he did..."

However if I did not attend his lecture, and was forced to produce a proof myself, (and looked at either a textbook or his lecture notes after the fact) I'd have to infer the little intermediate steps myself. This was great practice, and I'd sometimes come up with completely new (yet valid) proofs. Of course when I did this, I felt more like the proofs were 'mine' and I could access them easier from memory, and even learned to think in that way. I would attend classes once a week, just so I knew where we were and so I wouldn't fall too far behind, and that was pretty much perfect for me (with the exception of a few classes, which were very 'definition heavy.')

I'm not saying this is testamony to suggest you shouldn't go to class...instead I'm saying that complete advice should be "Find out what method works for you."

The same goes for note taking...I took notes on the days I did attend, but I knew of many (successful) people who didn't and relied on a textbook / listening to the lectures. They took in more of what the professor and retained more of the information (presumably, they were auditory learners).

-------------------------

Anyway, I know I'm being a big buzz-kill here...but the take home point is that everyone is different...and although these are definitely rules for success in literature style courses (among others), it may not be in other courses of study.

[myoozik]

You've got a point Mowicz, but in that case, it would be good to keep an open mind and see how it is done one way, and in that way branch out and create your own solution.

I think it's misleading to say that because a prof has taught you one proof that you can't possibly think a different way (but of course, every person is different).

I can definitely say, from experience, that skipping class in first year caused my downfall in many classes. I can't stress enough that lugging yourself to every class will be the best favour you do yourself in first year. If you can't do early classes (which was never an issue in high school but was suddenly a burden in univ), try to attend a later section! If you come to class, but fall asleep, haha that cancels out. You'll probably use the "if I go to class I'll sleep anyway", but create a solution to this!

Also, remember how in high school it was so awesome that you could easily study for a test the night before and ace it? So far, this has probably worked twice in my two years of studies, and that's out of approx 70 tests taken. Study WEEKS in advance (it won't sound so crazy when you're here) and you'll do fine.

READ. If you're assigned reading for class - do it. A majority of fellow classmates in first year were really apprehensive or unwilling to read at all because this just wasn't how we were taught in high school. Many profs like to take stuff from the textbook that they didn't mention in lecture, so that makes the difference between a B and an A.

Finally - just chill out. You always hear about the "balance" between a social life and studies. This is really important. Take a break from the daily grind of classes, projects and readings to talk to another person or just hang with a group of friends. It'll really humanize you and help ease the "Am I the only person going through this stress?" jitters. You'll realize that everybody else is in the same boat, and in a really weird way, it's comforting.