Learning Strategies

The new year begins and Learning Strategies is on your schedule. Truly, you are probably not knowing what to expect and you think that this class is not for you. Boy, are you wrong. This class will save you plenty of time, so you better listen closely. At the end, you will leave the class wondering why no one ever showed  me this. So listen up! The three most useful things that I learned in this class are: my learning style, how to take notes when reading a textbook, and how to be a more successful student at college.

If you know your learning style, college will be easier. “If you discover how you process information best, you can learn things both more efficiently and in less time” (Hopper, Practicing College Study Skills, 139). This course allowed me to discover the best method for me to learn, and I got to explore the way others learned. For example, there is a test to see how you learn best. A person prefers to use their dominant left brain, right brain, or both, a person may learn best by seeing (visual), hearing (auditory), or doing (kinesthetic), and this person may like to study alone or in a group. I will give you an idea and characteristics of each: on the dominant left brain, the person is logical, make lists, and like to check things off, right brain, the person is creative, and interprets information visually, both sides of the brain equally is a combination of dominant left and right brain characteristics, a visual learning likes to see things written down, time lines, or graphs, an auditory learner learns best by hearing, a tape recorder is a good way to learn, a kinesthetic person learns best by hands on and interaction, a person that study wells all should make sure they know the concepts very well before attempting to study with others, and the person that likes to study with others all the time should “make sure the goals are the same in the group, determine what the test will cover, divide up assignments, predict test questions, ask others to help with material that may by difficult for you, drill out loud on possible test questions, and decide if another session would be profitable” (Hopper, Practicing College Study Skills, 155). When you learn how you study best, learning can finally take place. You won’t have to struggle to find a way that works for you; you will know how to get by.

Taking notes in a textbook will seem strange at first. And frankly, it will take a lot of time. However, if you learn how to use this technique efficiently, you will never have to reread a chapter. Wow! That sure sounds nice. So you want to know how to do this? I won’t ruin the learning portion designed for class, but I will tell you a secret or two. Or, should I say, I will allow you to see a small preview. First, preview the chapter. Look at headings, bold words, captions, pictures and sub-headings. Then, start with paragraph one. However, don’t read with a high-lighter. At the end of the paragraph, Stop, think about what was just read. Write a question in the margin and underline the answer in text. Do this for the entire chapter. Like I said, it is very time consuming. Now when you need to review, cover up the text and say question out loud. Try to answer it without looking at the underline material. Review after reading the chapter, before classes, and before a test. This technique will save lots of time. 

The third most useful thing I learned is how to become a more successful college student. Since I pay for the classes, I might as well be successful. I learned that a successful college student has many unique characteristics. Such as-coming to class every day on time, being prepared for class, taking excellent notes, having a study partner, and asking questions when he or she doesn’t understand. These sound simple enough, right. Than why doesn’t everyone do them. It is easy to skip any number of these and try to get by in the class. But listen! They will not work. Success is not cheap, and you pay these professors to teach you, so they are willing to help as well. Asking for help is not a bad thing, it is a great thing. If you don’t believe that these unique characteristics won’t work, than all I have to say is you must them and prove me wrong.

In the College Study Skills course I learned a whole lot more than these three things. I learned how to make a master schedule, how to transfer information from short-term to long-term memory, how to make a goal, and what is in the library at M.T.S.U. So this class is very beneficial. It is not another boring class that you’ll want to skip. This class will guide you and take you through a journey of how to become a better student. It will allow you to discover how you learn and will teach you how to save time. Now, you know what to expect in this class. The semester will end before you know it, and at the end you will see how much you actually learned.
 
 

Works Cited

Hopper, Carolyn. Practicing College Study Skills. Second Edition, New York:

Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001.