What You Need to Know About Your Classes (that No One Ever Told You!)

During your four years here, you will have many different professors and classes and each one will have its own set of expectations.

Whoever your professors are, and whatever class you take, there are four basic principles of success that always apply. They are:

1. Manage your time so you can complete all your assignments and prepare for tests
2. Read well enough to pick out main ideas and remember what is important
3. Understand the course goals and how the course components (textbook, lecture, other readings, labs, etc) relate to the course goals
4. Express what you have learned (through papers, exams, presentations, etc) in such a way that the instructor recognizes what you have learned

The following information is adapted from Kathryn Gonier Klopfleisch's book, "How to Study for the Humanities and Social Sciences".

Time Management

All other academic skills depend on your ability to manage time. It stands to reason that unless you can devote an appropriate amount of time to reading, reviewing, and preparing for tests, you will always struggle academically.

Time management is more than just making sure you get to your classes on time. It involves

• setting priorities
• disciplining yourself to study even when you'd rather be doing something else
• learning to juggle your personal activities with your studies
• commitment

Daily/ Weekly Planning

Most students don't have any trouble marking down their classes, meetings and work hours. The hard part is scheduling study times. College freshmen, particularly if they came to college right after high school, are used to having their time scheduled for them.

The "Rule"

The rule of thumb for college success is to spend two hours studying outside class for every hour you spend inside.

Many students earn low grades simply because they are not putting in enough time at their studies. A number of college freshmen earned good grades in high school without having to study more than an hour or two a night. When they come to college they are shocked at how much homework there is.

Figure it out

Analyze your schedule to figure out exactly how many hours you can expect to spend "hitting the books." Your schedule might look like a lot like this one:

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
8:00
9:00	Chem		Chem		Chem
10:00		History		History
11:00		10:00--11:40		10:00--11:40
12:00
1:00	Engl		Engl		Engl
2:00
3:00		Pol Sci		Pol Sci
4:00		3:00--4:40		3:00--4:40
5:00
6:00
7:00
8:00
9:00

MWF classes are 65 minutes each. That means each MW and F this student spends 130 minutes in class. By the end of the week, that is a total of 390 minutes of MWF classes.

T/Th classes are each 100 minutes long, or 200 minutes every Tuesday and Thursday. By the end of the week, that equals 400 minutes.

390 + 400 = 790 minutes in classes each week. To turn minutes to hours, divide 790 by 60, which equals roughly 13 hours in class each week.

There are 168 hours in a week. Thirteen is 8% of 168. Only 8% of an average students' week is spent in class. That doesn't sound like much!

Now apply the rule: Multiply 13 by 2 to get the total number of hours this student should spent studying. This student needs to plan for roughly 26 hours of studying each week, plus 13 hours of classes. If he adds 26 and 13, he comes up with 39 hours- a full-time job.

Compare the number of hours you SHOULD be studying to the number of hours you actually are.

How to Make a Commitment to Study More

• Find a study partner and make study dates. It doesn't matter if that person is in your classes or not- you just want someone who will respect your need to study and who will hold you accountable for keeping to your study dates.
• Schedule your fun times. It is easier to do something difficult if you know you will get a chance to do something fun later.
• If you just can't help yourself and you wind up spending study time having fun, carefully plan how you will make up that time later.
• Choose a study space with few distractions. You will get more done faster if you aren't constantly interrupted with phone calls, friends and TV.
• Carefully plan out study equipment and keep it handy. Get in the habit of keeping you books, notes, calculator, study guides, paper and writing utensils in the same place and pack carefully-don't waste time looking for lost or forgotten study necessities.

Reading for Content

Students often make comments like, "I know I read it, but I can't remember anything!" or "When I go to review the chapter, it seems as though I have never seen this stuff before in my life."

If time management is the most challenging skill for college students to master, reading is the second most challenging.

Even though reading is probably the first academic skill most American kids learn, the reality is that many college students struggle to pick out main ideas and figure out what they need to know for exams. One of the most common reasons for struggling is that students try to learn too much at one time, and forget what they learn as a result.

Getting the Most Out of Reading

The Problem

Have you ever been introduced to a good-sized group of people you have never met before? Often, someone will say, after everyone has said his or her name, "Okay, now there is going to be a test." People laugh because everyone understands that it is very difficult for most people to learn 15 or 20 names after only hearing them once.

Brain research shows that most people can hold 7-9 "items" in short term memory at once. Even though you realize how hard it is to learn twenty names instantly, you might be trying to do the academic equivalent of that each time you study.

Many students, if they have a test over two chapters in Psychology on Friday, will sit down to read the chapters for the first time the Wednesday or Thursday just before the test. If it is difficult or impossible for most students to remember 20 names after one introduction, how can they expect to commit possibly hundreds of terms and concepts to memory in matter of a few hours?

The human brain is not wired to study the same subject for four or five hours at a stretch, nor is it wired to learn page after page of material in one sitting. Think of it this way: when you water a plant, you can only pour until the soil in the pot is saturated. Once the soil is holding as much water as it can, water will drain out the bottom or flow over the rim of the pot. Once the plant begins to use the water, the soil will dry out again and be ready to absorb more. Your mind works like the potted plant. If you continually dump terms, dates, names and places into your head without giving them a chance to "sink in" your head will overflow before the information is absorbed.

Break It Up

The first thing to do when you receive a new reading assignment is divide it up so you are reading 6-10 textbook pages each day. If you are assigned a 35-page chapter and you have 8 days to read it, read about 5 pages each day.

Breaking up reading

• Divides a long, involved task into a series of shorter, more pleasant ones. If you hate washing dishes, then spending ten minutes a day doing them may be preferable to letting them build up until washing them will take two hours. The same is true for reading. If you know you only need to get through five pages, that seems less daunting a 30 page chapter.
• Makes it more likely you will remember what you read because your brain has fewer concepts to learn at once. When you break up reading, you divide the number of concepts you need to learn at once, which makes it more likely you will remember them (Imagine the large group scenario again. If you met two people on Monday and had a chance to really get to know them, and you met two more people on Tuesday and two more again on Wednesday, it is more likely that, by Friday, you'd remember the names of everyone you'd met so far.)
• Enables you to keep up with the professor's lecture. If you've read what your professor will lecture over before you attend class, you will be that much more familiar with the new terms and concepts. Professors usually design their lectures with the expectation that students to have read the material prior to the lecture.

A study conducted at the University of Minnesota, Morris revealed that reading a little bit each day boosts grades. A group of students were interviewed about study habits. ALL A and B students reported that they read 6-7 pages of the chapter each night. ALL the D and F students reported reading the entire chapter a night or two before the exam.

Understanding Course Structure and Exams

Even though most students would argue that classes aren't much fun, it is helpful to compare a class to a party. People have parties to celebrate specific occasions--birthdays, wedding showers, or anniversaries. Typically, the person hosting the party makes decisions about decorations, food and guest list all based around the theme of the party. If you and your friends decide to throw a surprise birthday party for your roommate who loves Hawaii, you may choose to have a tropical theme, complete with tikki torches and pineapple smoothies. All decisions about decorations, attire, food and activities ultimately are decided by the theme.

While they may not be as fun, your classes have one important similarity to parties. Like a party planner, your professor often starts with a theme, or a goal for the course. Goals can include

• learning specific knowledge (such as how trade changed medieval Europe),
• developing an approach to information you can use in many settings (such as how to analyze a speech in a communications class).

If your Political Science professor really wants you to become skilled at seeing how the media manipulates voters, he or she will structure your class readings and activities to enhance that theme. Most professors have a paragraph or two in their syllabus describing what they hope students will know, or be able to do once they complete the course. If you haven't already, read your syllabus and look for a section entitled "Course Objectives," "Course Overview," or something similar. Carefully examine this part of the syllabus for clues about the course goals.

Course Goals Make Homework Easier

Just as a party's theme determines the decorations and food choices, the course goals determine the course structure. Course structure includes the decisions your professor makes about the class such as: How often are tests? What format will they have? Is the class lecture or discussion based?

If you clearly understand the course goals, it will be much easier for you to understand the course components-which are anything you need to read, watch, listen to or do to acquire the information you need for your class. Your textbook, the lecture, lab activities, other reading, in-class films, speakers, etc, are all course components.

If you are reading an article on media ethics and you know your professor wants you to understand how the media manipulates the public, you will know that you need to take notes on anything the author says about manipulating people. Rather than spending precious time and energy wondering why you are reading the article, what you are supposed to "get out" of it, and what to take notes on, you can focus instead on how the article fits into the themes of the course and take notes that relate to the theme.

Class Structure Examined

While there are exceptions to every rule, it is possible to determine what your tests will look like by looking at the course structure. The way your professors structure their courses is a big clue about what is valuable and important to them, and typically, what is valuable and important will turn up on tests.

There are many ways to design a course, but here are some of the most common ways, and an analysis of them.

Lecture classes

Does the professor do the bulk of the talking? Many classes have this format, with some brief breaks for student questions. There are essentially two types of lectures:

Hand-in-hand lecturing occurs when the professor essentially explains the book. These lectures don't usually introduce new ideas or terms. Usually, a professor's purpose in having lectures of this type is to make sure you understand what you are reading, give you an opportunity to ask questions about the material and high light the most important ideas for you.

Jumping off point lectures have a very different purpose and can be harder for students to follow. These lectures will delve deeply into a topic that may have been mentioned only briefly in your textbook. Professors usually give this type of lecture when they want you to have a deeper understanding of a topic than the book provides. Professors give this type of lecture as a way to showcase a significant person, place or idea. Sometimes, they want to present points of view that may be different from, or may conflict with, those in the textbook.

Discussion classes

If your professor has a discussion format, or sets aside time each week for discussion, he or she values giving you an opportunity to develop and express your own opinions. Many professors believe that discussions are effective teaching tools. Here are a few ways they use them:

Confusion Resolving Discussions-Some professors believe that when students have an opportunity to talk about difficult subject material, it becomes clearer to them. Often, these discussion sessions are designed to allow students to ask questions.

Idea Generating Discussion-Often, students can build on and feed off one another's energy in discussions, and come away with ideas for papers or projects. Professors who use discussion this way often believe students can help one another decide how to approach a learning task.

Opinion Generating Discussion-In many classes there are few, if any absolutely correct answers or ways of looking at a subject. Sometimes professors use discussion as a way for students to see how other students think, and use those other opinions to shape their own views.

Assessment Discussions-Some professors like to listen to students discuss material so they can determine whether students understand it. If they can hear directly from the students about what is confusing, they have an opportunity to clarify the subjects for the students.

Usually, professors who use discussion are comfortable with disagreements and different opinions, so it is likely that you will have essay tests that require you to write about and defend your opinions. If you have multiple-choice tests in these classes, they are likely to be sophisticated questions that require you to connect ideas, themes and subjects.

Relationships Between Course Components

A common complaint of students is as follows: "I have no idea why we're reading this book. It has nothing to do with the course!" "Professor X's lectures have absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the class!" While it may seem like it sometimes, your professor doesn't make haphazard, spur of the moment decisions about what you should read, write or listen to for the class. Course components all relate.

Practical application-you may be assigned reading that will show you how a particular idea works in "real life." For example, if you are studying mental health, you may be assigned a novel whose central character suffers from depression. These readings bring the concepts you are learning about "to life." Test questions may ask you to describe what terms or concepts you saw reflected in these "real life" readings.

Compare and Contrast-Your professor may want you to understand that there are many perspectives on one particular issue. He or she may assign you articles or books that each have a different perspective on the same topic. The purpose is usually to get you to understand the complexity of an issue and formulate your own opinions about an issue. Chances are that you may be asked to compare and contrast perspectives, or come up with your own.

Close-Up Example-Sometimes your professor will cover a huge, broad topic in class, but he or she will want you to understand this topic in terms of a few specific examples. If you are studying racial tensions in the United States, you will quickly learn that racial problems occur in all parts of this country. But simply reading statistics about discrepancies in wages, health care and education may not give you the picture your professor wants you to have. He or she may assign you a book about how one particular town dealt with racism over the last few decades and how the racial climate has changed over time.