This has been a completely wild beginning to the semester- I have hardly had a moment to breathe- and I do not have many moments now so I will be brief. What wonderful students we get here! They are so much fun and I am delighted with this new group of Freshmen that I am getting acquainted with.
We are in the midst of traveling to Freshman Orientation classes, introducing ourselves and what we do here in Student support Services. It is fun- and I frequently get to return and talk more about what it means to learn at the college level. That is even more fun. However, it also makes me think that it is a good time to offer up my sure fire study success tip…Daily Time With Your Notes or DTWYN.( I wish that made a word- maybe someone will help me out with this)
DTWYN means that you spend some quality time with the material you have been given to learn EVERY DAY. It does not have to be a long time- but it does have to be meaningful and it needs to be long enough so that you are keeping the learning fresh in your mind. It is criminal to leave a class after a 50 minute lecture and not be clear about what you were supposed to be learning. You should be able to articulate that- and if you cannot then you should be back with that instructor or a tutor to figure it out- and to figure out how today’s learning hangs together with yesterday’s and last week’s. You should be finding the key vocabulary and practicing them. Write down what you do not understand so that you can ask about it during the next class. Fifteen to twenty minutes a day should do it per class- and do not count your homework time. That is a separate issue. I can promise that when you start preparing for your first quiz or exam you will be a much happier individual- reminding yourself of what you know rather than trying to relearn it!
Take care!
