Power Learning
Jill wasn’t doing well in college until her instructor convinced her to sign up for a study-skills course which included three important areas: time control, classroom note-taking and textbook study. Success in college mainly depends on time control which means learning how to control your time instead of procrastinating. There are three steps involved in time control. First you should prepare a large monthly calendar, circle the important dates along with test dates and the days papers are due. The second step is to have a weekly study schedule for the semester- a chart that covers the whole week and every hour of every day, write down what you need to be doing every hour of the week. The final step is a daily/weekly to do list. Basically write down what you need to do for the next day. The second important area in the study skills course was classroom note-taking. First attend class faithfully or read the text or someone notes or both. Another valuable hint is to make use of abbreviations while taking notes. A third hint for taking notes is to be on the lookout for signals of importance. Write down what the instructor puts on the board or repeats more than once. Finally try in general to get down a written record of each class. The final step of the study-skills course is textbook studying which consist of four different sections. The first section is previewing which include several different steps. First study the title. Next quickly read over the first and last paragraphs of the selection. Then briefly examine the heading and subheadings in the selection. Finally read the first sentence of some paragraphs, look for boldface or italics, pictures or diagrams. The second section is markings which mean you should mark a textbook at the same time that you read it through carefully. Use a highlighter to shade material that seems important a pen to put symbols in the margin next to materials. You should always try marking definitions...