6 New Year Study Skills Resolutions

The new year… It’s the perfect time to wipe the slate clean and start fresh. When compiling your list of resolutions, make sure you have several pertaining to your life as a student. Here are some ideas for how to improve the rest of this academic year.

1) Manage your time: This is best accomplished by recording all your assignments in your planner - even they are posted online. Further, you need to then check what you need to do on a daily basis to make sure you are all caught up and are not letting things wait for the last minute.

2) Take notes in class: Your teacher may not direct you to take notes in class, but you should take it upon yourself to do it anyway – even if no one else is. Taking notes in class is not only a great way to remember pertinent information, but it also gives you an interactive activity during the lecture – instead of spacing out, daydreaming, or doodling!

3) Ask questions: When you don’t understand something, you need to ask your teacher for a second explanation. Your teacher may explain the idea in a different way in which you will understand.

4) Make sure you get it: We may think that we know a subject down pat, only to get lost when taking a test. Make sure you thoroughly understand a concept by explaining it back to yourself. Or better yet, pretend you are a teacher and explain it to a friend.

5) Be prepared for classes: Success starts with adequate preparation, and if you don’t have it, you will certainly be lost. Make sure you come to class with your needed materials, your completed homework and a great attitude!

6) Plan ahead: Avoid procrastination by planning ahead. Plan what, when, and how you will study. You don’t want to have to cram studying or comleting an assignment at the last minute, which as been scientifically proven is the worst way to study and prepare.

A new year provides a new chance to reinvent yourself as a student – it’s a new semester where anything and everything is possible. Putting in place an easy-to-implement study practice using some, or all of the suggestions above, will help you achieve your goals and objectives as a successful student. Are you showing up prepared, writing everything down in your planner, taking thorough notes, and asking questions when you are confused? As always, have strong goals for yourself and give your best effort – no matter what, and you will achieve the results and success you want.

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