Tips for Effective Study 1. Take good notes. Suggestions: —Tak

Tips for Effective Study
    Good morning, everyone. I want to talk with you about effective study today. As we know, the most common barrier to success encountered by college students is a lack of effective techniques for study and exam preparation. If you are one of the vast majority of students whose answer to the question of how you study for your tests is that I go over my notes, then you need to take a serious look at your study skills. Here are some suggestions to increase your effectiveness as a student.
    Firstly, take good notes.
    Very few students leave high school with this skill. There are some suggestions and observations. (1) Always take the notes for a particular class in the same notebook. Date each entry into your notebook. It is usually best to keep the notes for different classes separate from each other. Your notes should contain as complete a record of what the instructor said as possible. Of course, you should not try to write every word spoken, but don’t leave out ideas. When you study, your notes should call back to your mind the entire sequence of ideas presented. Take care to spell all new words carefully. It you don’t know how to spell a word, ask your instructor to write it on the board. Most will automatically do so for new or difficult terms. (2) Anything the instructor writes on the board should appear in your notes. If the instructor took the time to write it out, he or she considers it important. You should do the same. If possible, try to take your notes in some kind of outline form. The organization of ideas is as important as the content of those ideas, especially when it comes to learning the material for an exam. You might find it useful to have a second color pen or pencil available for highlighting important ideas or indicating vocabulary.
    Secondly, use your textbook.
    Don’t expect your instructor to give you detailed, page by page textbook assignments. While some may do so, many do not. College teachers are much more likely to expect you to use your own initiative in making use of the text.
(3) In most cases, it will be most useful for you to at least skim the relevant chapters before each lecture. You should receive a course outline at the beginning of the quarter, which will tell you the subject for each day. You may receive chapter references (or even page references), or your instructor may expect you to be perceptive enough to refer to the Table of Contents.
    Thirdly, prepare assignments.
    Here’s another thing we have all been told thousands of times: Don’t leave assignments until the day before they are due! If you have a paper to write or a lab report to prepare, begin it as soon as possible. Remember that many papers or projects require quite a bit of research before you can even begin writing. In most cases, it is impossible to accomplish the necessary preparation in one day or even one week.
(4) Another sore point: Be aware of the appearance of the work you submit. You should want to be proud of every assignment you submit, and that includes being proud of its appearance. If possible, assignments should always be typed.
    Fourthly, prepare for exams.
(5) Keep in mind that you want to be an active learner, not a passive one. The more you use and manipulate the information, the better you will understand it. Using and manipulating information in as many ways as possible also maximizes your ability to access your memory.
    Do not wait until the night before an exam to study! Of course, you should be regularly reviewing your notes, but the preparation still takes time.
(6) A good first step in preparation is to read through your notes a couple of times.
(7) One of the most universally effective ways to polish off your study activities is to prepare a self test. Never, ever pull an "All-Nighter" on the night before an exam. This is a "freshman trick", meaning that good students learn very quickly that it is futile.
    Fifthly, some final suggestions.
    You should receive a syllabus for each class. (8) Never miss an exam if you can help it. You will rarely be more ready for the exam in two or three days than you are on the scheduled date, and the annoyance the teacher will feel about having to arrange a special exam time for you can actually hurt your grade in the end. Miss exams only if you absolutely have to. Never throw away a handout or a returned assignment or exam. (9) Develop systematic behavior patterns associated with your schoolwork, for example, keeping your class materials together and neat, never allow yourself to be caught at school without the necessary notebooks and materials. (10) It is excellent practice to set aside a study area at home, and to designate a particular span of time each day as study time.
    OK, that’s all what I want to tell you. Thank you.