30 Minutes a Day to a 4.0 GPA Effective Study Skills

In my continuing series on basic college study skills, today I’ve decided to discuss what I’m personally very good at, writing an A paper!

I’ve been a teaching assistant for almost 5 years and have literally marked thousands of papers.  In my experience I’ve seen the worst and best in paper writing and from the interviews I’ve done with successful students for my book, I’ve come to the conclusion that effective paper writing boils down to sticking to the fundamentals and proper planning. So here are the basic skills you are going to need to write an A paper quickly and effectively.

There are four major stages when writing an A paper; research, brainstorming, writing and editing.  Each stage should be disconnected from each other and should be given a specific start and end date.  Starting and finishing papers are crucial as you will either not get a paper started or get hung up on a particular step and have to hurry the entire process along.

In my continuing series of basic college study tips, I’ve decide to write about the different types of learning styles that college students have.  I have gotten quite a few students who have been utterly frustrated with school simply because they weren’t taught in the right way and haven’t realized their own learning style.  Many college students are unaware of the different types of learning styles and they use a study methodology that does not take advantage of that particular style.  Although there is some debate over the different types of learning styles, in my opinion there are 4 major types of learning styles, visual, auditory, sequential and kinesthetic and one minor type, sociological.

Visual Learning Style

Visual learning style is the most commonly used in western education, the professor writes something on the board and you look at it.  This is the most popular way of learning due to its ease of implementation.  You can have one teacher stand up and give a lecture that can be recorded and beamed to an innumerable number of students which is why it’s such a contemporary favorite in universities today.  However, many students find this method difficult to master as they feel more at ease with other learning styles.  Other students don’t even realize that there are other possible ways to learn, I’d suggest you test each of the following different types of learning styles to see which one is the best fit for you.

In my continuing series on basic college study tips I’ve decided to talk today about how to knock ANY exam out of the park with a few simple steps.  Many college freshmen do not know how to study for college exams.  College exams are not like high school exams in that they usually require more foresight and planning to successfully get a good mark.  With that said, there are many small things college freshman can do to drastically change their outcome in college exams for the better.

1: Scheduling:

Scheduling exam study time in college is crucially important to a good mark on your test and to achieve general academic success.  You will need a daily planner and a semester white board.  The white board will allow you to see your semester snapshot and prepare for coming exams; your daily planner will allow you to stay accountable for your daily study routines.  Also each works as a backup for the other.  Once you get into the habit of working this way it will save you dozens of hours worth of lost study time and worry.  Ideally, you should start studying 4 days before your exam date; there are three main stages, coding, reviewing and confidence building.