Lessons for College

Jennifer Sykora

December 7, 1998

When you come to college picking out classes and arranging a time for work, campus involvement, and study time you must have a master schedule to go by day to keep you on track. To create a master schedule you must have your class schedule. work schedule, and any events that take place during the week that are consistent and do not change. The first step is to mark off all your class times to insure that no other events can be placed there. Next would be all mark if your work schedule is set in place, if not try to make sure you allot space in you master schedule for work. After those events have been marked in you can plan study time. You should schedule three hours for every hour you take in class. For example, if you have a class that is three hours you need to spend three hours outside of class studying and doing homework. At the end of blocking out study hours the remainder of hours left over are free time to play in the sunshine.

The next most important concept is the Label in the Margin System for lecture and textbooks. Let's first examine the note taking for lecture then move to textbooks. Step one is to organize your paper; you draw a line across the top of the page and then draw another line about four inches in and down the page. On the right column you should take notes on the left you will label. Step two is to record, this means to write brief notes in the column making sure you do not right full complete sentences. Next you label in the left column possible test questions that come from the notes in the right side of your page. Then you should recite to yourself out loud the questions with the answers covered up. Try to relate the lecture to what you already know and let it sink in, this would be reflection. Next you should review and ask yourself the questions and recite information this would be self-testing. To end the process you should summarize, you should write a short summary about your notes or make a review sheet. These are all the steps you should take to insure your understanding of the lecture and an effective way to study. For textbooks you must focus, survey, and read to begin the process of labeling. Focus on the heading of each section, go paragraph by paragraph. Survey the chapter; look at charts, graphs, and headings to get an overview of what you're reading. Read each paragraph, out loud if necessary. Next you label the possible test questions from each paragraph in the margin of your book. Try to relate what you are reading to what you already know to reflect ideas to yourself. The last steps are to review and summarize which you should quiz yourself and write a brief summaries or review sheets to study by. These techniques are efficient and cut studying in half because you have all the possible test questions written out and you can quiz yourself repeatedly.

Test taking strategies are absolutes in college. Knowing how to recognize types of tests and how to manage your time are key components to successfully taking a test. Knowing that there are two types of tests, objective and subjective are the first facts. Objective tests are true/false, matching, and multiple choice. Subjective tests are essay and short answer tests. You should always preview your test for any unclear information or typing errors. You should answer the easy questions first to allow for more time for the harder questions. Remember to answer all questions and try not to leave any question unanswered. You should also budget your time to ensure good full answers and complete assurance by reviewing. You should multiply your base time of the test with the percentage of what each section is worth. For example, if you had a two-hour class you would allow time to preview and review, which should be about 20 minutes all together. These are just some key suggestions to testing successfully.

In conclusion, I have found this class to help tremendously. Master schedules are a key to planning your day out. This should be the first priority of any college student. The label in the margin system makes studying and reviewing a breeze. This saves time and frustration when you are trying to guess what could be on a test because you should already be prepared for any questions. Test taking can be very stressful but if you know how to plan your time and look for possible unclear questions you should be good to go. Answering the easy questions first allows you time to concentrate on the questions that require more attention.