Top 10 Mistakes Students Make in College

Top Mistakes Students Make in College (From recent research and my own experiences as a student and a professor) Professor Sarah Strout 1. Missing classes or sleeping through classes. Students who come to class in both body AND mind not only get better participation grades, but also score better on tests/papers. Try to come to class and participate as much as possible. Why bother coming to class if you are going to sleep? Your bed is more comfortable. 2. Reading the textbook like it is a novel. Textbooks should not be read like a novel. You do not need to, nor should you read a chapter from beginning to end. The best way to read a chapter is to: 1) Skim through it, looking for headings and important ideas 2) Read through each section, taking notes about important concepts and links between sections 3) Try to sum up the chapter in your own words, writing this summary down. 3. Trying to take notes on every single word the professor says When taking notes in class, you should try to capture the ideas and main concepts rather than writing verbatim what the instructor says. This is for 2 reasons: 1) If you are writing down what the instructor says word for word, you are not really absorbing the material 2) You will probably get frustrated and tired and miss important concepts by focusing on the little ones. When the professor writes on the board, or repeats ideas more than once, that is a good indication it is important enough for you to write down. 4. Waiting until the last minute to study, write a paper, talk to the professor etc. If you are studying and writing papers at the last minute, or are having trouble in a class and wait until the end of the semester to talk to the professor, you are missing out on valuable time the professor could be helping you. If you leave enough time the professor may be able to answer questions for exams, read drafts of papers or assignments, or help you out with increasing your grade. If you wait until the last minute, the professor may not want or be able to help you. 5. Not getting enough sleep Students who get at least 7-8 hours of sleep actually remember more from classes than students who do not. If one student stays up until 1:00 am studying for a test and the other until 10:00 pm, the student who gets more sleep generally does better on the test, even though the student who stayed up later studied more material. 6. Being disorganized Most professors will not remind you of assignment and test dates, and most have penalties for handing in late work. Make sure you have some basic organizational materials: a planner to write down due dates, a folder to keep papers, tests and syllabi in, and a copy of all syllabi from each of your classes. If you lose your syllabus, make sure to get a new one, it should tell you everything you need to know about deadlines in the course. 7. Not being responsible for your education Yes, college is really fun and you are FINALLY away from your parents, however, don’t let this new found freedom wreck your chances of getting a job later in life. How well or poorly you do in school is your responsibility and yours alone. Make sure you are prepared for classes, do assigned work, and try your hardest. That being said, make sure you also take advantage of what is offered at college and have a balanced life. Enjoy time with your friends, join a club or sports team, and try to enjoy each class you take and learn at least one thing. 8. Thinking college will be like high school Most students assume that if they were A students in high school and do the same amount of work, that we will be A students in college. Unfortunately this is not the case. You may need to work much harder in college to get the A’s or B’s that came easily to you in high school. Even with that amount of work, you still may not get the same grades you did in high school. The best strategy is work hard in your classes from the beginning of the semester and READ all the material. In high school there is hardly any required reading, and even then, it is easy to get by without reading the materials. This is not the case in college. On the other hand, although college is difficult, in some ways it is easier. College professors do not give out nightly “busy” homework like in high school, so the work you complete will actually help you with your knowledge of the topic and contribute significantly to your grade. 9. Not participating in class To do well in college, you really need to participate in classes. Here are the reasons why: 1) You will not get bored if you are actively participating 2) Your professor will not get bored if you are participating 3) Any mistakes in understanding will be corrected by the professor 4) Talking about the topic helps you remember it better, so you should perform better on tests 5) You get a higher participation grade.