The summer is slowly coming to an end and you might be one of those who are starting their freshman year of college. Starting college is an exciting time but it can also be nerve-wracking. Most likely, you’ll be moving away from home for the very first time, meeting new people, and keeping up with difficult classes.
On top of moving away from your family and friends for the first time, transitioning from high school to college and figuring out how to keep up with your academics can be quite difficult. Establishing good study habits is crucial if you want to achieve success and your high school study routine might just not cut it when it comes to your college classes. If you’re someone stressing over this new life chapter, don’t panic. Luckily, there are plenty of effective strategies and techniques that will help you study smarter and not harder.
Start on Time
When you start college, one of the most important pieces of advice you’ll get is to tackle assignments and complete your homework on time. If you rush and end up feeling stressed when you read and study, there’s rarely any in-depth learning. You will miss out on the actual context and purpose and quickly forget what you learned.
To learn in-depth, you need to see events, connections, and causes in their proper context. Also, try to relate to whether you already know something about what you are going to learn. The knowledge settles better if it is linked to other things you know and it helps you to create overviews and remember.
Also, make sure you take breaks. Instead of sitting for several hours straight and reading until your eyes are sore, it’s more efficient to read for an hour and then take a break. The brain needs to sort and digest all the information it has taken in to efficiently take in additional information. The trick is to study often, not for long.
Ask for Help
Creating effective study strategies often takes time. However, if you feel like that isn’t enough, then you might want to ask a professor or a friend you met on campus to help you with your studies. For instance, if math isn’t your strong suit and you’ve been struggling with your classes, you’ll feel much more relieved if you ask for help.
If you don’t have someone to help you with this subject, you can always find a college math tutor online, book a session and get the right attention. Tutors are trained professionals that will explain everything at an academic level and provide you with the needed expert feedback. A tutor will help you absorb the material much easier, master the subject in depth, and de-stress.
Plan Ahead
When you’re in college, it’s important that you not only live in the present but also know what will happen in the future. You should get an overall picture of the entire education right from the start – which courses are included, what subject you’ll study and when, whether you have any internships and when they’ll take place, and so on.
You need a little more detailed knowledge of the current semester. Print out your schedule and put it in a planning calendar or on your mobile phone. Find out which course literature is needed and when to order or buy it. Check to see when the exams are scheduled. If there’s a time when you have fewer classes, find out why. It’s easy to think that you’ll be free then, but perhaps you are meant to have the time to finish an assignment or complete a group project.
Use Effective Study Tricks
To learn effectively and more enjoyably, you must use all the tools available.
Get a calendar if you don’t have one. A proper calendar allows you to use time efficiently, which will help you achieve better results in college and at the same time provide you with more time for other activities than just schoolwork. What makes the calendar a good tool is that it helps you see where and how much time you have to spend so you don’t have to stress or choose between two important deadlines.
Mind mapping is another way to get an overview of important information and how different concepts or events are connected. When you create a context for what you learn, it becomes easier to remember because one thing naturally leads to another.
Final Thoughts
While there’s a lot to juggle when starting your college career, there are excellent strategies that can help you perform better in class and on exams. The above tips will help you adjust your study habits and make the most out of your first year in college.
