Hello, I’m wondering how often should you study? I want to strive for straight A’s next year! Anyone have a good way to study? Or how often? Thanks!
How often do we study in college, or how often should you study as a high school student?
In high school, in my experience, you get a lot more busywork. So there’s less of a need for the kind of studying you do in college. In high school, you might get homework every week (or more often). So if you don’t do well on an assignment, you know that you didn’t understand that week’s material as well as you should.
In college, your grade will often depend on 1-3 exams and a final (unless you’re in a science/math class that gives homework assignments). You might not know what your grade is until the very end of the semester. In that case, how much you should study really depends on how quickly you pick up information, how busy you are, and what classes you’re taking.
Whether you’re talking about high school or college, say allocate your time wisely: study more for your harder classes (every day if they’re very hard) and less for your easier ones (I usually tried to read all the necessary material for those classes by the end of that week).
Study for math classes by doing lots of practice problems. Study for classes with a lot of concept knowledge (science, social studies, etc.), flashcards, making mock tests for yourself, and practicing explaining concepts to friends were helpful for me. And use your teachers / professors as a resource; if you don’t understand something, ask!
Homework every day, working until it’s done. Work before play – don’t procrastinate.
I start studying for exams at least five days in advance. I rewrite my notes into a study guide and (since I’m in engineering) do tons of practice problems.
NEVER leave things until the last minute. If a prof gives you an assignment that’s due in two weeks, don’t think “ah, two whole weeks. I can wait.” The prof gave you two weeks becasue he/she knows how long it should take you to get the essay done by the time you factor in all your other work. In this scenario, I would have a rough outline (or whatever it is) done at least a week before a due date, then finish it up during that week. For big exams, three days out is the minimum.
And there are many classes that all assignments are on the syllabus. No one will remind you of assignments, at least not until it’s too late. Read the syllabus thoroughly and put key dates on your calendar.
Basically in high school you have six hours of class and two or three hours of homework each day, whereas in college you have 3-4 hours of class a day (except on days when you have labs) and five to six hours of prep per day. In English seminars, you must come prepared (having read and annotated your reading, and be ready to participate.) Your grade will depend on how much you participate (once a class period is the basic necessity to pass) and how interesting relevant, insightful, etc. In foreign language, you cover roughly one high school week per class period (it’s brutal - having the best possible background is a good thing to have, and three hours of work per class period is normal.) A single math class may require 10 hours of work per week outside of exam periods. You may have a study group, a review session, going to office hours. None of this is mandatory. In fact, 3/4th fellow freshmen won’t do it, at least at first - some will wake up after their midterm results, some will take five years to graduate, some will drop out or transfer. Nationally only 40% graduate in four years and among those only about 20% get A’s. So if you’re gunning for an A, you must do everything - the work, the study group, the office hours, the review session, throughout freshman year at least, until you’ve guaranteed those freshmen As. Lots of freshmen kill their GPA 's by thinking studying/office hours outside of exam weeks is for nerds, etc. and the awakening is typically tough.
To do well, consider the following:
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GO TO CLASS, BUY THE BOOK, READ THE CHAPTERS, AND DO THE HOMEWORK!
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Go to Professor’s office hours early in the semester and Ask this question: “I know this is a really difficult class-- what are some of the common mistakes students make and how can I avoid them?”
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If you have problems with the homework, go to Prof’s office hours. If they have any “help sessions” or “study sessions” or “recitations” or any thing extra, go to them.
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Form a study group with other kids in your dorm/class.
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Don’t do the minimum…for STEM classes do extra problems. You can buy books that just have problems for calculus or physics or whatever. Watch videos on line about the topic you are studying.
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Go to the writing center if you need help with papers/math center for math problems (if they have them)
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If things still are not going well, get a tutor.
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Read this book: How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less by Cal Newport. It helps you with things like time management and how to figure out what to write about for a paper, etc.
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If you feel you need to withdraw from a class, talk to your advisor as to which one might be the best …you may do better when you have less classes to focus on. But some classes may be pre-reqs and will mess your sequence of classes up.
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For tests that you didn’t do well on, can you evaluate what went wrong? Did you never read that topic? Did you not do the homework for it? Do you kind of remember it but forgot what to do? Then next time change the way you study…there may be a study skill center at your college.
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How much time outside of class do you spend studying/doing homework? It is generally expected that for each hour in class, you spend 2-3 outside doing homework. Treat this like a full time job.
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At first, don’t spend too much time other things rather than school work. (sports, partying, rushing fraternities/sororities, video gaming etc etc)
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If you run into any social/health/family troubles (you are sick, your parents are sick, someone died, broke up with boy/girlfriend, suddenly depressed/anxiety etcetc) then immediately go to the counseling center and talk to them. Talk to the dean of students about coordinating your classes…e.g. sometimes you can take a medical withdrawal. Or you could withdraw from a particular class to free up tim for the others. Sometimes you can take an incomplete if you are doing well and mostly finished the semester and suddenly get pneumonia/in a car accident (happened to me)…you can heal and take the final first thing the next semester. But talk to your adviser about that too.
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At the beginning of the semester, read the syllabus for each class. It tells you what you will be doing and when tests/HW/papers are due. Put all of that in your calendar. The professor may remind you of things, but it is all there for you to see so take initiative and look at it.
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Make sure you understand how to use your online class system…Login to it, read what there is for your classes, know how to upload assignments (if that is what the prof wants).
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If you get an assignment…make sure to read the instructions and do all the tasks on the assignment. Look at the rubric and make sure you have covered everything.
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If you are not sure what to do, go EARLY to the professors office hours…not the day before the assignment is due.
You might think that this is all completely obvious, but I have read many stories on this and other websites where people did not do the above and then are asking for help on academic appeal letters.
In college, at least in my experience, you won’t have a lot of homework. It all depends on the class, but I recommend that you stay on top of all the assigned readings, even if you aren’t being quizzed on it. It will save you a lot of time once the midterm/final come up! If you aren’t good at remembering things, take extensive notes so you can look back on them, and try to do them by hand (you’ll remember it better that way). Like everyone else has said, time management is very important! Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it.
Of course, make sure to take care of yourself mentally and physically as well. Take some time for yourself sometimes. It’s a lot easier to concentrate on studies when you don’t need to worry about these other things.
My D informed me the other day that although she gets out of classes by 1:00 each day (she likes the early classes), she then spends at least another 4 or 5 hours going over material and doing assignments. She is generally done in time to have dinner around 6 or 7 and then relax if she has no exams coming up or papers due. This allows her more time over the weekends to go do things. The conversation came up because some of her friends sleep in late, take afternoon classes, party at night and then try to cram everything in to the weekend, leaving no real free extended time.
In high school, I didn’t study or even regularly do HW. Not to sound arrogant, but it really just wasn’t necessary. And that’s with dual-credit and AP classes.
But in college, I started studying everyday. I do all my HW, assignments, essays, etc. Don’t overdo it though. If you feel you understand the material, move on. Don’t overstudy. If you need a break, take one.
Others have said it. Really try not to procrastinate. It’s HARD not to (trust me haha) but it hurts you tremendously. Like NEPatsGirl mentioned, those people sleeping in and partying and crap want you to think they’re living it up. But maybe you should see them when they’re stressing out trying to cram several lectures’ worth of material into their heads.
It doesn’t work for everyone, but I usually like to study for major exams for 2-5 hours the night before, and only the night before. I never studied much in high school, but it’s pretty much impossible to not study and do well in college.
I complete all assignments on time and usually get them done early, but as far as pure studying, I really only do it the night before a test. Occasionally, I will study 2 days before a test if I know I don’t have much time the next day or there is a lot of material I need to learn. Just try to play it conservatively at the beginning, and you’ll figure out what works for you
I think my daughter “studies” everyday. She does all of her assignments, papers, projects, test prep, whatever, before, between, or after classes depending on her schedule. She considers going to college her full-time job and works full-time at it. She also fits in research, a couple of music ensembles, and a club sport. If she wants or needs to take a full day off, such as an all day outing on the weekend, she adjusts accordingly.
When I was in undergrad, I NEVER studied daily. I had a terrible habit of waiting until the day before or two days before to start on any homework assignment or exam. I graduated with a 4.0 in math, but I somewhat abused disability testing accommodations. I NEEDED them for a year because I developed severe panic disorder, but when the panic attacks randomly stopped, I still continued to use accommodations even though the disability had subsided (for the most part).
It’s also important to note that, in college, things tend to accumulate and explode all at once. You’ll have 2 papers and a test on the same day; you’ll have one week of hell and one considerably lighter. It’s easy to relax more on the off weeks, but it’s usually best to still get some progress done so the next heavy week is easier to get through.
Also, take advantage of in-class work days if your professor gives them to you. My class last semester complained that they had to do a lot of work on their own during one project, so I scheduled several in-class work days for the next one. Those who worked hard in class and out created wonderful projects, and those who procrastinated produced less-than-stellar projects and were graded accordingly.