Here are five quick and easy-to-use tips that will help you thrive in college: 1) Take notes.
You need to take notes when you are in class.
If you are typing your notes on a laptop, do not wander on the web! Stay focused on the class and your professor.
Listen for key terms or ideas that the professor repeats multiple times.
Odds are, those are the items that will appear on a quiz or test.
You should also take notes when you are reading.
Underline or highlight the most important words, phrases, or concepts.
Also, write notes in the margins about things that you think you will need to remember.
And here is a quick tip for making to best chapter outlines.
If your professor uses a textbook, it will contain headings throughout the chapter.
These are the outline headings that the textbook writers used when they were writing the book.
You should use them.
They will explain what is most noteworthy.
2) Listen and ask questions.
Give your professor your full attention during class time.
Again, do not update Facebook during class.
Make eye contact with your professor.
Nod on occasion.
If you need to yawn, cover your mouth.
Sometimes students forget that professors are looking right at them.
We can see what you are up to.
Make sure you are respectful.
3) Study.
No, don't just flip through the textbook while you are tweeting and watching TV.
That is not studying.
You need to read, review, and analyze class material so that you understand it.
This takes time, effort and a quiet place.
Set up a weekly study schedule with specific times to study for each subject.
Make studying a habit.
Study in small chunks of time (no more than an hour at a go) and take regular breaks.
Cramming doesn't work.
Seriously.
Study each subject every week, even if you don't have an assignment due that week.
4) Get organized.
You need to get organized to be a successful college student.
Using binders will help you stay on top of your assignments.
Get a 1-inch binder for each class.
Even if you plan to use your laptop, you need a binder for each class.
Keep all of your assignments, graded work, and notes in each binder.
Also, set up a master calendar.
Collect all of your class syllabi (schedules of assignments and readings) at the beginning of the term.
Put all of the assignment due dates on one calendar.
You can use iCal, Google Calendar, or an old-fashioned paper calendar.
But you need to have all of your assignment due dates in one central location.
This is the single most valuable thing you can do to get organized at the beginning of the term.
5) Get to know your professors.
Students who thrive in college have a good rapport with at least one professor.
Go to office hours to ask your professor questions about things that you may not have understood in lecture.
Be polite in emails that you send to professors.
Ask your professors if they have any information about internships, scholarships, or summer work opportunities.
Professors are often an excellent source of such information.