Success in college classes

• Get sufficient sleep: For you to learn effectively, you need to ensure you get adequate sleep. Sleep is an important time where your body repairs itself and processes the information you have been studying. Not getting sufficient sleep (6-8 hours) means you do not effectively process the information from that day and are left with information in your next days “temporary store”. That means you can put less into it the next day!
• Plan some recreation time: Everyone needs to unwind, so you should plan some down time to relax and recoup. It is often good to plan your weekly schedule with a day off from studying or college work. This allows you to recoup, gather your thoughts, relax, reduce stress, not start to hate the course material, and not go insane.
• Spend enough time studying: For either a full-semester lecture or lab class, you should be spending about 9-12 hours of studying outside of class each week. For lecture and lab combined, that is a 18-24 hours a week. The amount of time needed caries per student and is linked to how effectively your study time is. For a half-semester class, you need to double these times per week. If planning 24 hours a week, then that would equate to 4 hours a day.
• Take breaks during study time: Your brain can only absorb so much materials at any given time. You need to take short (~5 minute breaks) every 20-30 minutes). This does not mean study for 5 minutes and then watch an episode of your favorite TV show! Also split up your study time throughout the week. Don’t think you can study for 8 hours in a single day. Your brain can only handle so much at a time. Beyond that, you’re either wasting your time or your efficiency of studying has decreased. When adding 4 hours of study time a day to 6 of your days, you should probably split it up into at least two, 2 hour slots.
• Study technique: You will need to work out your study style for each specific class. What works in one class may not work for another class. How a person learns is unique to that person. There is no one style that is guaranteed to work for everyone. Only you can work out your learning style. Some suggestions are in the section on “How to study for classes”.
• Don’t take on too much: If you have taken on too much, then you will not do well in any of it. You need to look at the big picture of your career. Perhaps taking less classes, cutting back work hours, or cutting back on your social life, is something you need to change to succeed and actually get the career you want. It is better to get in a little later than never get in as you did not get the grades you needed due to taking on too much.
• Create a schedule: Create a weekly schedule planning your entire week. Include everything in your life on each day, such as time in class, study time, test taking time, sleep, traveling to/from work/college, eating, relaxing, etc. Each day should represent the full 24 hours. There is a “Weekly schedule planner” file in the course information and files folder on iCollege where you can fill it in. This schedule should help you see if you have taken on too much or not. You should also hold yourself to it each week, as later or tomorrow never comes. If you cannot fit everything into the 24 hours each day, then something has to give. You cannot make a day longer! Only you can decide what needs to change.