- Set at least one clearly defined and measurable goal for each of your courses at the beginning of the term. Document your progress toward every objective in an academic-achievement journal.
- Identify the most important fact, philosophy, concept, or law you learn in each class each week. Notice recurring patterns. Pinpoint discoveries.
- Set one or two “stretch” targets, such as earning a specific GPA, winning honors status,
or being named to the President's List.
- Ask to review papers, projects, research studies, or tests of several students who
consistently earn higher grades in a class than you do. Try to equal or surpass one
or two things they do.
- Seek opportunities to apply several of the ideas and concepts you have learned. Address
groups and conduct demonstrations so others can benefit from what you know.
- Ask each of your professors to clarify their expectations for your performance. Emphasize that you intend to exceed the minimum course requirements.
- Initiate classroom discussions. Suggest topics. Take sides in debates. Help your fellow students learn faster and learn more.
- Find the answers to questions that you anticipate the instructor will ask on upcoming tests and quizzes.
- Instigate conversations with your peers outside the classroom. Center these on topics related to a recent lecture given by your instructor or a visiting professor.
- Take charge of small-group conversations, projects, presentations, and experiments. Distinguish yourself by transforming plans into tangible results.
- Waste no time finishing the first draft of a writing assignment. Immediately seek feedback from a teaching assistant or your professor. Incorporate some of their constructive suggestions in your second draft.
- Live in the moment. Calm yourself before an exam with positive self-talk. Recall your
personal history of dealing with surprises on tests.
- Leverage your ability not to feel overwhelmed by multifaceted assignments. Document three to five instances during the day when you successfully juggled competing tasks.
- Understand that you can balance academic demands with social commitments, extracurricular
activities, and part-time jobs. Describe how you managed to make progress on all fronts
last week.
- Challenge yourself by taking courses that involve experiments. Compare your flexibility to that of various classmates. Notice how you make adjustments to produce desired outcomes.
- Examine data, collect facts, and read material for discussions. Anticipate problems. Ask questions to discover others’ perspectives on issues. Clarify your own position.
- Reduce situations, problems, opportunities, projects, assignments, and debates to their key components. Stay two to three steps ahead of everyone else’s thinking by pinpointing cause-and-effect relationships.
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Deduce the consequences of someone’s decisions, inaction, and pronouncements. Use logic to trace the effects of scientific breakthroughs, ethical lapses, and legal judgments.
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Prove to your classmates that there is an equal and opposite reaction to every action.
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Read assignments before class. Find information to support or discount the position taken by the author of the textbook.
- Reinforce your understanding of the subject matter by reorganizing and expanding your classroom notes. Insert subtopics and subpoints.
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Note all assignments, tests, and appointments on a calendar. Use your planner to coordinate your personal and academic activities.
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Read all directions prior to taking tests. Allot appropriate time to each section of the examination.
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Be prepared to stop working on a current project and begin a new one in case the situation changes.
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Keep all notes related to a topic on one page. Make them easily accessible for studying, test taking, and research papers.
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Write an academic mission statement for yourself. Integrate your core values, such as a leaving the world better than you found it, curing AIDS, ending violence, or affirming the dignity of each human being.
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Discover ways to weave your core values into routine classroom assignments. Write and speak about topics directly related to your beliefs.
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Read about individuals who stood up for their convictions in the face of resistance. Determine who inspired these people to dedicate their lives to great and noble causes.
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Debate an issue like: “Money is the true source of happiness.” Argue for and against this proposition. Ask yourself, “How was my position strengthened when I could incorporate my beliefs into the argument? How was my position weakened when I had to defend the opposing point of view?”
- Ask probing and pointed questions during discussions and lectures by professors. Realize that your questioning mind accelerates your learning.
- Take charge of your college education. Play the lead role in shaping your degree or certification plan. Refuse to leave these decisions to an advisor.
- Challenge facts presented in textbooks, the media, and class presentations. Critique
your instructors and classmates. Search for the truth.
- When a particularly interesting class discussion is ended due to time constraints, express to your professor your wish that he or she would continue the discussion in an office visit.
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Participate in class discussions. Enhance your own and others’ comprehension by talking through the key points.
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Respond to questions with thought-provoking answers.
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Illustrate scholarly concepts with real-life examples. Help others learn in the process.
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Capture your audience’s interest by telling stories to amplify an idea, concept, theory, scientific law, philosophical point, ethical quandary, or historic event.
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Regard grades as your scorecard. Invest more effort in classes where the results of tests, papers, and projects are posted for all to see.
- Monitor your GPA by the week, month, or academic term. Compare your class ranking
to that of your closest rivals. Realize that striving for the highest GPA leads you
to excel.
- Clarify how professors weight class participation, final exams, presentations, laboratory
experiments, and research projects. Continuously monitor your grades and class standing.
- Study your opponents — that is, your classmates. Identify each one’s strengths. Evaluate their study strategies. Continually compare your results to theirs.
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Ask yourself, “What life lessons am I supposed to learn today through my studies and the challenges they present? What is at work here that is much more important than passing a test or getting a good grade?”
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Search for linkages between your coursework and what you’re being called to contribute to the entire human family today and in the future.
- Examine how your life is inextricably tied to those of people in other parts of the world and from the past. Name as many of these connections as you possibly can.
- Find ways to build bridges of understanding between classmates as well as between students and their professors. Realize that you’re motivated to show people how world events and close-to- home circumstances bind each individual to all humankind.
- Start each day by reading an inspirational verse or a piece of scripture from your faith. Sit in silence with these words for 10-15 minutes. Open yourself to surprising discoveries about how to best approach your studies and other people.
- Keep a journal. Let your ideas and feelings flow freely. Write without editing. Find purpose and meaning in your personal and academic life.
- Seek professors who set the same clear expectations for everyone in the class. Make sure that you know exactly what is required to earn the grades you desire.
- Learn precisely how class participation, research, laboratory work, presentations, and examinations will be factored into your final grade for the course.
- Inform others that routines are important to your success. Explain how they lend an
air of familiarity to all the coursework in your major area of study.
- Finalize your entire degree or certification plan as early in your collegiate career as possible. Each term, double-check your plan to ensure you are in compliance with graduation requirements.
- Express your belief that everyone deserves the same opportunities to earn good grades on tests, projects, research papers, or experiments. Help professors and classmates understand why you become upset when someone is given special treatment.
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Associate with individuals and groups that specialize in the study of specific events, personalities, and periods in history.
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Create a historical frame of reference for whatever you study. Research political, natural, military, and religious events of that period. Delve into the lives of contemporary leaders, scientists, artists, explorers, and philosophers.
- Supplement required reading for classes by locating other credible sources of information.
Don’t let your thinking be limited to the professor’s syllabus.
- Understand that you are attracted to institutions of learning with a rich history
and a long tradition.
- Seek opportunities to study with reputable, recognized, and knowledgeable historians
who also are master teachers.
- Attend lecture series in which leading figures of your time speak about their experiences in global leadership, diplomacy, military affairs, business, science, or the arts. Prepare questions to pose during the Q&A sessions or book signings.
- Attend all lectures and class sessions — make sure you don’t miss anything. Be thorough in your preparation for a class by reading ahead and reviewing class notes to avoid being caught off guard.
- Before visiting a professor during office hours, prepare thoroughly by making a list of items and questions you wish to discuss.
- Schedule regular appointments with your counselors to be well aware of your options
and to make sure you are on track.
- When you receive a class syllabus, highlight the due dates of readings, assignments,
papers, and tests. You may feel more comfortable knowing everything that will be required
of you.
- Always be well-prepared for class. You will feel more comfortable and confident talking in class when you are sure of the validity of what you have to say and the completeness of your thoughts.
- When taking a test, go through the questions slowly, concentrating on the ones you are more sure of first. Address the others later so that you have time to complete the exam.
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During lectures, take down facts that are new, enlightening, interesting, or humorous. Share your observations with others from the class.
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Reflect back to what you have learned from a certain professor and how that has impacted you in your life.
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Motivate yourself by tutoring or helping someone else in the class to understand concepts you have gained from the lecture, the reading, and the discussion.
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Keep an ongoing list of your key learning experiences. Track your own progress and growth.
- Schedule all assignments, exams, and papers due for the term.
- Clean and organize your living space before any major assignments are due or before an examination period.
- If you are in a self-paced class or a class with minimal structure, develop your own
structure to ensure that you meet the class requirements.
- Don’t be afraid to color-code tasks on your calendar and your textbooks or notes. This will help you focus and prioritize what you are learning and doing.
- When studying a particular author, seek personal experiences and writings that help you identify with his or her thoughts and emotions.
- Whenever possible, write papers about people. This activity will engage your natural
ability to pinpoint individual perspectives.
- Keep a journal in which you reflect on what you learned from other people and their passions, fears, joys, and other emotions.
- You will sense when friends are academically frustrated in courses you are taking. Let them know that you realize what they are feeling, and continue to encourage and support them.
- Use your focus to link class-related assignments to the knowledge and self-management skills you’ll need to be successful in your future career.
- Use your focus to help groups stay on track in classroom discussions or meetings.
- If you feel an assignment has no practical value to you, develop one that better fits
your goals, and request permission from your professor to use it. Explain the potential
benefits.
- When working with others in a small group, help them see how the pieces of a project fit together to accomplish the over-all objective.
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Take risks to gain new insights, even if they are out of your comfort zone. Set academic goals to project yourself into a successful future.
- Challenge professors with your “What if?” thinking. Encourage them to project beyond to what “might be” in 10, 15, or 20 years.
- Know what is expected in each of your classes so you will be able to plan your college years. Visit your academic counselor regularly to keep stretching your thoughts.
- Associate with others who enjoy philosophizing about the future.
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Seek opinions and ideas from experts. Their insights will help you formulate your own beliefs and philosophy.
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You perform best in an environment where people listen to one another and seek to understand each other, rather than force their ideas on one another.
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You add a calmness or agreeableness to any group.
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If the professor frequently changes assignments and due dates in the middle of the term, seek reasons for the changes and share them with classmates, rather than joining the dissension of others.
- Take on leadership positions in projects that will allow you to share several ideas and use your creativity.
- Take on an independent research project in which you can generate and explore numerous ideas.
- Work with a professor in developing a research project, and contribute your creative
abilities. You probably will have many ideas to offer.
- Your mind may wander. You can use this to your advantage by letting your thoughts flow freely in class, as long as you think about the subject you are studying.
- In small groups in class, try to get each student to participate. Ask him or her for
opinions.
- Ask shy people to walk to class with you.
- Research people of different cultures in your community. Invite some of these people to attend a community or university event with you.
- Attend lectures or speeches by guest speakers of different nationalities. Introduce yourself to others attending the session, drawing them into a conversation with you.
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Build on your curiosity about people by observing the different ways in which people learn and process information.
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Read, read, read about people. Their uniqueness fascinates you.
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Constantly observe those around you, seeing how your talents make you similar to each other, yet different.
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Study various cultures. Their uniqueness will intrigue you.
- Save all notes and books from previous classes to create a personal library.
- Schedule time for seeking information that goes beyond what is required for your classes.
The library and the Internet will be valuable in your search.
- You enjoy gathering information, possibly even from reading a dictionary or encyclopedia.
- Start a filing system for interesting and potentially useful articles you have read.
- Ask questions and seek answers in discussions and lectures.
- Research subjects that interest and intrigue you.
- Contemplate academic goals and endeavors.
- Make your education even more effective by following your intellectual curiosity. As you allow yourself to ask the questions that naturally come to you, you will refine your approach to learning and studying.
- Keep a journal in which you reflect on what you learned from your classes and other experiences.
- Read outside material that is related to your courses. This approach will not only
impress the professor; it also will help you develop a better understanding of the
subject.
- Exceed expectations. Do more than the syllabus requires of you.
- Look at every situation as a possible learning experience. This approach will help
you become aware of what you do well and where you need help.
- Always ask, “What did I learn from this?”
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Consider specialized programs that allow you to refine your talents.
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Find mentors — and be one.
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Study success. Find out what made famous scientists, historic figures, and great innovators successful. The greatest outcome of college can be your insights into what makes people, societies, cultures, and groups successful.
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Select a college or university that offers leadership opportunities in which you can maximize the talents of others.
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Help make learning fun.
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Share praise when appropriate.
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Help classmates laugh and relax when needed.
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Contribute to exciting class discussions.
- Create various lines of communication with friends in your classes, such as verbal,
phone, and email, and help each other when one of you has to miss a class.
- Seek out advisors, counselors, and professors who demonstrate genuine interest in you as a person.
- Seek out fellow students with whom you can play a mutual tutoring, learning assistance, and support role.
- Prepare for the term by listing the dates of all tests, projects, and papers.
- Ask professors and successful students to show you what an “A” paper and an “A” essay look like.
- Think about what it would mean to be a truly responsible student. Work toward that
standard in a progressive manner, taking one step at a time.
- Strive to always work ahead. Read ahead and work problems before the professor has presented them in class.
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Read the syllabus when you get it, and attack assignments or areas that you consider problematic.
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Do not let an unexpectedly low grade defeat your spirits. Learn how to more effectively apply your greatest talents.
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Think about school as a way to improve yourself. You will increase your motivation, particularly if you reflect on your progress.
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Ensure that you are completely in control of your grades. Gain a clear understanding of what is expected and how meet those expectations.
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Always strive to become a better student. Stick with what is working for you and continue to build on your most powerful talents.
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Be confident in your abilities to understand and learn material.
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Register for classes that excite you.
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Think about why a particular class is important to your future.
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Identify three of your personal goals and connect them to your academic life.
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Take control of your life, beginning with your education.
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Create a list of goals that will bring you great satisfaction in your personal life. Then consider how college can help you reach those goals.
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Don’t be afraid to be different. Discuss with professors the various approaches you can take to tackle an assignment.
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Participate in research, or develop your own research project.
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Search for ways to express your creative thinking.
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Opt for classes that encourage discussion and creative solutions.
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Make classroom discussions fun by using words that catch the attention of others.
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Meet and greet the people in your classes.
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Use your charm when asking difficult questions in class.