Introduction

Succeeding in College

Making the Grade in College Classes

Picking Your Major

Making the Grade in College Classes

How To Do Your Best On College Exams

Before, During, and After
By now you've probably taken more tests than you can shake a number 2 pencil at, from pop quizzes to final exams. When was the last time, though, that you stepped back and evaluated your preparation strategies?

Before the test
Here are some things to consider when preparing for test day.

• Know what you're up against
  Make sure you know what material will be covered as far in advance as possible. If you have enough time, you can learn the material through short study sessions rather than cramming at the end. This will increase your chances of remembering the material and understanding it in context.
  
  
• Review the material
  Review all the material you have, which includes your notes, the assigned texts, and any tests you've taken earlier in the semester. Look over past tests to familiarize yourself with the types of questions the professor tends to ask and the type of material that's typically covered.
  
  
• Prepare for the different types of questions
  Find out what kinds of questions will be on the test so that you can prepare appropriately. The following list provides guidelines on preparing for various test formats:
  
  
  • Math and science tests
    Go over sample problems. Make sure you're comfortable with each type of problem that may appear on the test.
  • Multiple-choice and true-or-false questions
    Go over the text for facts and ideas that can be addressed in this format. Look through your notes to see which of these the professor emphasized in class and focus especially on these areas.
  • Short-answer questions
    Make sure you're familiar with important terms, people, dates, events, and texts. Make sure you can spell the important terms and give examples of the main ideas you've encountered in the course. A good way to study in this instance is to make flash cards with the key terms. Then for each listed term, review all the relevant information and check that you can identify why you wrote down this term as an important one.
  • Essay tests
    Try to anticipate what topics the professor is likely to ask about. Getting together with other students in the course is a good way to generate possible topics. For each topic, come up with an argument you could make in an essay and compile evidence from the texts to support what you say. Make sure you cover several likely topics rather than trying to second-guess the teacher and preparing only one topic. You want to be relieved, not unpleasantly surprised, when you see the actual test.

At test time
Use this list to make sure you're prepared for the big exam:

• Bring adequate supplies, such as pens, pencils, scratch paper, calculator, and blue books or any other items the professor has instructed you to bring.
• When you're given the test, read the questions carefully and take a look at the whole test so you can think ahead and allot your time appropriately. Wearing a watch will help you manage your time.
• Before answering the questions, jot down any names, dates, or formulas that you're worried you'll forget.
• Make sure you have time to answer all the easy questions before you get bogged down on the hard ones.
• For each section or question, read the directions carefully. For a short-answer section, for instance, do you need to answer two out of the three questions or all three? For multiple-choice questions, do you have to pick only one answer, or can several be correct?
• If you don't understand what a question is asking, get the professor to clarify it for you.

After the test
When the test is returned, review it to make sure that you understand why you got any questions wrong (if you got any wrong) or why your answers weren't acceptable, so that you won't make the same mistake on future tests. If you aren't sure where you went wrong, or if an idea covered on the test is still unclear, talk to the professor during office hours or after class.

Do's and Don'ts of Studying In College

Your Cramming Days Are Over
In college, you may be shocked by the workload you suddenly face. Read a whole book for the next class? A test on three chapters when the semester has hardly begun?

Think of college as a full-time job, in which you spend about forty hours a week in class, labs, section meetings, study groups, and doing homework. and you're largely responsible for deciding exactly how much time to allocate to each task. Getting organized and using your time well are key to succeeding academically.

Decide where and when to study
Come up with a specific plan for where, when, and what you'll study during any gaps in your schedule. In addition to making use of transitional times during the day, it's generally a good idea to avoid studying too late at night, when you tend to be tired, work inefficiently, and forget much of the material you cover. The best places to study have the following qualities:

• good light
• comfortable temperature
• good desk space

Beyond that, different environments have their own pros and cons. Ultimately, the decision as to where to study depends on two factors: the environment in which you are best able to concentrate and the type of work you are planning to do. For completing problem sets or brainstorming possible test questions, you may want to study with a group or at least in a setting where others in the class are available for discussion. When you are reading Friedrich Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil or working on a research paper, by contrast, you are probably better off in a less social environment.

Develop good study habits early on
Here are some simple tips to help you improve your study habits:

• Have a routine for where and when you study.
• Decide in advance what you'll study, choosing reasonable and specific goals that you can accomplish.
• Do things that are harder or require more intense thought earlier in the day.
• Take breaks so that you stay fresh and don't waste time by looking at material but not absorbing it.
• Make use of "dead" time right before and after class and during breaks between other activities.
• Get to know students whom you respect and can study with or call and ask questions.
• Keep up with the workload and seek help at the time you need it. You don't want to become paralyzed by stress or get so far behind in the work that it is too late to begin studying the material you've skipped.

Do the reading
There's a big difference between reading effectively and merely skimming the text without thinking about your relationship to the material. To read more effectively:

• Read assigned materials before class so that you'll be able to ask questions about the material and have a context for understanding the material.
• Take notes on the reading instead of highlighting the text. It's a more active form of learning, because it requires you to think through and rephrase the key points. Later, you can highlight the important ideas from your notes on the reading and your class notes. Having written notes apart from the text will also be a great help when it comes time to review the material for tests.

Do's and Don'ts of Class Notes

Listen and Learn
Note taking is helpful, not only because it gives you a record of what was covered in class, but also because it prompts you to really digest the ideas. Here are some tips for getting the most of your effort.

Listen actively
Good note-taking begins with active listening -- keeping your attention focused:

• Come to class prepared, having done the reading and reviewed your notes from the previous class. Be ready to ask questions and take notes.
• Sit where you can see and hear what's being presented without being distracted.
• Commit to being interested in what you're listening to. This will help you pay attention and retain the information.
• Question what the speaker is saying and think about how it ties in with the assigned reading, with your other classes, and with your other activities and interests.
• Look for how the speaker organizes the ideas presented, paying attention to elements like a general introduction, a summary of the previous lecture, an emphasis on larger themes, the inclusion of illustrative examples, a developing argument through the course of the lecture, or a comparison that gives structure to the material presented.

Pay attention to clues from the speaker, such as a raised voice or arm gestures, that accompany the presentation of important ideas. Also, watch for when your teacher:

• mentions that a particular point is important
• writes a sentence or quote on the board
• repeats a point
• spends a lot of time presenting or asking the class about a particular idea.

Use a system
The key to note taking itself is having a notebook in which to write and having a system for getting information down quickly and accurately. Here are some tips for taking notes:

• Date and number pages so that you can keep them in order.
• Have a binder, clipboard, or notebook in which you keep your notes all together.
• Write in convenient shorthand. Use contractions, abbreviations, and symbols.
• Leave space in your notes to add points or explanations later.
• Put a question mark next to anything you miss or don't understand and clarify after class.
• Get down the speaker's main points. You don't need to have a word-for-word copy of every lecture.
• Indicate the notes that reflect your own responses or ideas rather than what the lecturer says. For example, you can write the word "me" next to your own ideas.
• Jot down key words, which include new vocabulary, important facts, and formulas.
• Organize your notes as you write. The lecturer often helps with this task by enumerating points or stating a contrast. Underline or put a mark next to larger points, with subsidiary points listed underneath.
• As soon as you can after class, review your notes and fill in missing points that you remember but didn't write down. Highlight important points, and mark anything you want to ask about at the next class meeting. Make sure you can read and understand everything you've written.
• Write a brief summary of each lecture to reinforce the main idea.

If you start getting confused about what to write or where the lecture is heading, there's a good chance that other students are confused, too. Do yourself and other students a favor by asking questions if the material presented is unclear.

Cultivating Relationships With Faculty

Get To Know Your Professors
After listening to your biology professor lecture for an hour and a half on the Krebs cycle, you may be less than inspired to linger after class for further discussion on cellular respiration.

Don't hesitate, though, to approach your professors outside of the classroom. Professors genuinely want to get to know you -- that's a good part of why they became teachers. Getting to know them will enrich many parts of your college experience, such as:

Your understanding of coursework
If you have a question after a lecture or doing some reading, take the time to ask your professor about it after class or during office hours. The professor will probably be pleased that you're interested enough to discuss issues and will give you the information you need to better grasp the material.

Your motivation
Even if you have a perfect understanding of the class material, your professors can still help you push yourself to do your best. For example, they can give you suggestions for related reading or help you explore and choose topics for an assignment.

Your grades
A huge advantage of seeing your professor before turning in a paper or taking a test is that the professor gains insight into how hard you prepared. This will be an important factor when it comes to grading your work, since it makes your professor more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt and to give you credit for your effort. If you don't get to know the professor, by contrast, she has no way of knowing whether your work has flaws because you didn't take enough time on it, or, as you may have explained in office hours, because it is the first lengthy research paper you've ever written.

Your letters of recommendation
When it comes time to apply for internships, jobs, or graduate school, you'll probably need professors to write letters of recommendation for you. They can write much better letters, of course, if they know you as more than a face in a crowd.

Your networking opportunities
Your professors may be able to help you plug into a professional community or even find an internship or job. For example, let's say you can't get enough of contemporary fiction, and you're considering becoming a book editor. Your creative writing teacher may be able to tell you about local author readings, invite you to book parties, or put you in touch with a publishing house.

Granted, some professors may be more approachable than others. You may get someone to answer a question after class, or someone who ends up being a mentor. But whatever role they play, they're there to help you learn. They're a resource that you shouldn't pass on.


Succeeding in College

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Picking Your Major

The White House Initiative gratefully acknowledges collegeboard.com for providing the content found on this page.