Study Habits You'll Need to Succeed in College

The transition from high school to college can be difficult. Often its students who do well in high school that have the most difficult time because they have not developed strong and effective study habits that are unable to make the leap from high school level work to college level work and expectations.

Many skills having been done for students by caregivers and teachers such as time management, organization leave new first-year students without keystone study habits to do well in college.

Reasons You May Be Struggling

In college students have to navigate professional relationships with college faculty, create boundaries around academic responsibilities and balance a social life while trying to keep up with readings, demanding assignments and exams. This can leave many first year students feeling overwhelmed, burnt out and stressed.

You’re Not Getting Enough Sleep

In trying to compensate for effective study habits, many first year students especially those who were strong students in high school will try to overextend themselves by studying harder - much like a car trying to climb up an icy hill - they will dig in, hit the gas and sacrifice sleep, rest and good nutrition in the process.

Sleep and rest are key to doing well in college; it is when you are resting or while asleep your mind is building neural connections for new skills, reinforcing and processing information.

While it may not be likely that you will go to bed at the same time every night, it is helpful to strive to get a good night’s rest, create a winding-down routine, and take breaks between intense study sessions or social nights out.

You’re Not Studying Smart

Working on a project the night before, or walking into class on the day of an exam may have resulted in a passing grade in the past, but similar strategies will be less likely to yield fruit in college.

Relying on old or ineffective strategies will not result in the outcomes you wish; your college assignments are often given without detailed instructions, relying on students to piece together discussions, multiple reading assignments and data points to write papers, lab reports and projects that deep thinking.

Your college faculty are less likely to provide study guides, frameworks for long-term projects or reminders to do your reading. You will be expected to do the work within the timeframe you are given. It is important to level up your study habits so that you can keep with the level of work you will be given.

Improper Planning

Transitioning from high school to college, students may rely on outdated reference points for how long their assignments and projects may have taken. Often under estimating the amount of time, energy and effort needed to complete their problem sets, papers and projects.

Without proper planning students are left scrambling to complete their work at the last minute, with assignments bleeding into weekends, late nights and conflicting with timelines for other assignments.

While it may not always be possible, adding buffer time, creating mini-deadlines and moments to get feedback can make completing assignments significantly less challenging and result in better quality of work with less strain.

Best Study Habits to Succeed In College

The habits listed below serve as reminders to students to level up their strategies and can help to make efficient use of limited time, reduce the strain that leads to burnout, and improve the quality of work submitted in classes.

Don’t Just Read

Often college courses will assign a large amount of reading; this reading will be the foundation of papers, discussions and future exams that the professor aims to build on.

It is easy to just read the assigned tests and highlight as you go along. However, just reading and highlighting as you go along may not lead to long term retention of the material. The following are more effective approaches to reading that can improve engagement, comprehension and recall of reading

• Before Reading: Take a moment to skim through the pages and look for headings, sub-headings and any words/phrases that are bolded or italicized

• While Reading: Turn headings, sub-headings or bolded/italicized words into questions that you aim to answer as you go through the reading.

• After Reading: Write a brief summary (no more than two to three sentences) on what you have read after every other paragraph. Aim to do this without referring back to the text. These summaries can serve as cliffnotes for future class discussions or papers.

Stay Organized and Use A Dedicated Study Space

Your professor may send regular emails, or have regular posts for their class on Moodle or Blackboard, they may require weekly reviews for readings or have several deadlines for projects or check-in.

• Within The First Week of Class: Scan the syllabus for a class and use a digital calendar tool (i.e Google Calendar or iCal) to input your professors’ office hours, deadlines for future assignments and any reminders for regular assignments

• Organize Your Physical Space: Have the pens, paper, and reference material within easy reach. This may mean having a backpack with what you need for studying outside your dorm so that you can make the most of your studying time

• Keep Your Digital Space Clutter-Free And Organized: Scan of your computer desktop. Delete any items that you don’t need or put them in the appropriate folder. Invest in an external hard drive to keep large files on or use a cloud-drive like Google Drive.

Hire A Tutor

Tutors can be valuable resources when navigating college courses; often they are students who have been recommended by college faculty for their work in the course or content.

Seek out the academic support center at your institution that will allow you - as part of your tuition - to hire tutors either for one-on-one sessions by setting up an appointment or via drop-in tutoring which won’t require any appointments

You may also be able to hire a tutor for a course - especially if the course is new - and this may require you to use your personal funds. Take your time in finding the right tutor by asking your professor for any recommendations and keep in mind - prior to hiring a personal tutor - what you hope to get out of your tutoring session

Understand the Study Cycle

Developed by Frank Christ, the Study Cycle is a helpful tool to make studying less intimidating and more structured - with better focus, retention of material and effective use of effort. The Study Cycle is comprised of previewing, attending class, reviewing, studying and checking your understanding

• Previewing: Before going to class, glance at your readings or notes from the previous session to become familiar with where things left off in class and become familiar with any materials the professor mentioned to get ready for class.

• Attend Class: Always attend class and if prone to miss class, communicate with your professor. In class, aim to sit close to the front so that you are less likely to be unfocused, and take notes on the lecture.

• Reviewing: When done with a class, it is best to review the notes right away or when you have time after all your classes for the day are done. Reading over notes can be helpful and check in on whether you have all the answers for the questions you came into class with

• Studying: If you left with more questions or have knowledge gaps from your review, focus on those areas for your study session. Touchbase with your professor during their office hours or schedule time for tutoring to review those weak points.

• Check Your Understanding: It is easy to assume that you know something well until you are asked to teach it or explain it to others. Assess how well you know what you know; try to explain concepts, teach what you learned in class to others or use spaces with dry erase board/chalkboards to visualize concepts.

Take Breaks

Studying and working hard is important, however, it is best to remember the Law of Diminishing Returns; the more you put into something, the returns you receive on your effort with gradually diminish overtime. You may want to study for five hours, however, while your first and possibly second hour of study may go well, your focus may diminish as your study session extends into the remaining three hours ahead.

Keeping the following tips in mind when you take break can be helpful to make your breaks more restorative - and prevent the breaks from becoming opportunities to procrastinate on your assignments

• Plan for your break ahead of time; it may be a five minute break after twenty-five minutes of studying and then a longer break of ten to fifteen minutes after several sessions.

• Avoid using your break to be on your phone or dive into social media; these types of social media sojourns can make it easier to remain distracted. Opt for a tech-free break such as taking a walk, practicing on an instrument or playing with a pet.

• Transitioning from a break into work can take some time - especially if you used social media to decompress - so build in some time to reorient yourself back to work mode.

• Join or Create A Study Group

A tough task becomes lighter when effort is combined with others. Often the structure of college may lack a framework or accountability. Having a study group that meets regularly can help to keep you focused on work, make the study session more enjoyable and help in understanding the material.

• Ask peers in your class if they are interested in working together in a study group. Gathering in a common space in your dorm floor or in a department building (i.e Biology building when working on a biology assignment) may lead to serendipitous meetings with peers in your class who will want to work together

• Avoid using close friends for study groups; they may be good study partners, but it may be likely that your study session will become a hangout session with very little studying.

College can be a wonderful opportunity for growth, networking and skillbuilding. The transition to college from high school can feel like an upward climb that will feel exhausting and challenging. You can rise to this challenge through incorporating the skills and strategies mentioned here.

You can ensure success in this transition by connecting with the Study Skills tutors at North Avenue who will work with you on skillbuilding your time management, organization and studying strategies.