Top Ten Study Tips

1. Attend class!! Class attendance is essential to academic success.
2. Control distractions when studying.
   • External - phone, TV, friends
   • Internal - personal issues that avert your attention
3. Choose the best location. Find a place to study that is relatively free of those distractions ? a routine place and time works best.
4. Stop by the Student Success Center for free tutoring, study skills coaching, and accommodation services.
5. Be prepared. Complete all reading assignments and homework exercises before class. Although the lecture might highlight the important concepts, it is not a substitute for reading the textbook.
6. Make a study plan. Write down what you need to accomplish and when. Make yourself accountable and give yourself a goal.
7. Schedule daily study sessions. Five shorter study sessions are better than a single night of cramming.
8. Prove that you have facts memorized. Test yourself or have a friend test you by trying to recall information without looking at your notes. No matter how well you understand something, without practice your memory fades. Use repetition. It worked when you were young ? it will work now.
9. Make that connection. The key to remembering new information is to relate it to information already stored in your brain. Generate examples, use memory tricks, and identify key words.
10. Use a day planner to keep track of test dates, assignments and due dates, and personal obligations. This will help you plan an effective course of action.

It's hard to limit study skill tips to the "Top Ten."
Come by the Student Success Center for more.

• New!  http://www.studyguidezone.com/resource_tips.htm
• http://www.studygs.net/
• www.d.umn.edu/student/loon/acad/strat
• www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/stdyhlp.html
• www.sas.calpoly.edu/asc/ssl.html