Your College Experience

College Makes the Difference

CONTENT1. Success at SCSU -Click here

Hone Your Skills – Click here

Take Charge of Learning – Click here

Get connected – Click here

2. Setting Goals for Success –Click here

3. Surviving College – Click here

4. Six Survival Tests – Click here

5. Setting Priorities – Click here

6. Connecting with College Teachers – Click here

7. Short Term Memory - Click here

8. Before Class - Click here

9. During the Class - Click here

10.Class Notes and Homework Problems - Click here

11.

12. Participating in the Class - Click here

13. Making the Grade - Click here

14. Taking the Tests - Click here

15. More aids to Memory - Click here

16. Speaking and Writing for Success - Click here

17. Six Steps to Successful Speaking - Click here

18. Three Steps to Better Writing - Click here

Success @ St.Cloud State University

Get Connected

Take Charge of Learning

Hone your skills

Hone Your SkillsLearn from

criticism

Improve note reading, and

studying habits

Take workshops on how to study

Get to know your campus library

Improve your writing

Participate in the class

Practice giving presentations

Take Charge of Learning

Show up for class

Have work done on time

Set up a daily schedule

If full-time student, limit

work to 20 hrs

Assess how you learn best

Get Connected

•Study with a group•Learn about campus helping resources

•Get involved in campus activities•Visit the campus career center

•Meet with instructors•Find a great academic advisor or counselor

Setting Goals for SuccessIt is very important to set specific goals as it will help you maximize your potential in college. Few important short-term goals are listed below:

• Select a goal: Be specific about what you want to achieve an when.

• Be sure that the goal is achievable: Think about all the possibilities.

For example: Do you have the necessary skills, strengths and resources? Have you allowed enough time to pursue it?

• Ask yourself: Do you genuinely want to achieve the goal? Don’t set out to work towards something only because you feel you should or because others tell you it’s the thing to do.

• Know why the goal matters: Be sure it has the potential to give you a sense of accomplishment.

• Find ways to overcome any difficulties that you think might occur in the future.

• Devise strategies for achieving the goal: How will you begin? What will you do next? What should you avoid? Create steps for achieving your goal, and set a time line for the steps

Surviving CollegeA reality of college is that surviving and succeeding take more than just passing the tests in the classroom.

Once you are out of high school, and you directly step into the college environment, it is difficult for you to handle the academic program and also deal with all the challenges that will test your emotional strengths.

It is important to balance your personal life in the process of attaining a college degree.

Six Survival TestsThere are six tests you need to pass in order to increase your chances of survival and success in college:

TEST – 1: Making the transition from a teaching environment to a learning environment.

College is a learning environment where learning is your responsibility and not the instructor’s. You should never sit back and wait for someone to tell you what to learn.

Curiosity is the key to doing well in a learning environment. Hence, your most valuable learning comes from asking questions and searching for answers.

Survival TestsTEST -2 : Dealing with the new found freedom

Students who pass the “freedom test” are those who feel personally responsible for how well they do in college.

You should have an internal guidance system that you need to follow in absence of external controls.

Activities like drinking too much, having unsafe sex, taking drugs, spending a lot of money , wasting time on watching soap operas, partying too much, surfing World Wide Web, or engaging in online chat groups can leave a little time for the job of being a student.

Survival Tests TEST– 3: Replacing feelings of discouragement with optimistic self-talk

Optimism is an essential skill for overcoming difficult challenges in college. Students who overcome discouragement replace pessimistic self-talk with optimistic statements.

TEST - 4 : Building Healthy Self- Esteem

Healthy self-esteem determines how much you learn after you have done poorly on a test or a paper.

You can boost your confidence and self esteem by making a list of things you like and appreciate about yourself. Then use the list to practice talking positively to yourself about yourself.

Survival TestsTEST- 5: Develop Empathy for roommates, Fellow Students, and Even Instructors

The ability to understand ways of acting, thinking, and living that you disagree with is a high-level empathy skill.

Think of a negative roommate or classmate as a teacher in the school of life.

The way to learn new skills from associating with a bothersome person is to stop blaming that person for your reactions.

The key to coping well with any difficult person is to experiment. Play, learn, and develop response choices. Regain control. And silently thank the negative person for providing you with the opportunity to learn a valuable lesson.

Survival TestsTEST -6 : Learning How to Learn from Experience

In college you first take a test and then you learn a lesson unlike in the school.

Here are a few steps to learn from an incident or an “experience”.

Cry, tell a friend, or write about your feelings in a journal.

Ask yourself, “What can I learn from this? What is the lesson here?”

Ask yourself, “Next time, what could I do differently?”

Imagine yourself handling the situation differently, better, and getting a desirable outcome.

Mentally rehearse handling the situation well just in case anything like this should ever occur again

Setting PrioritiesIt is important to prioritize so that you can make optimum use of your time.

Time management involves:Knowing

what your goals are

Depending where your priorities lie

Anticipating future needs and possible

changesPlacing yourself

in control of your time

Making a commitment to being punctual

Carrying out plans

Few other things that you should do:

Use a Daily Planner

Maintaining a “To Do” List

Guidelines for Scheduling Week by Week

Organizing Your Day

Making Your Time Management

Connecting with Your College Teachers To make the most of a student-teacher relationship:

Attend class regularly and on time

Sit near the front

Speak up

See your instructor outside the class when you need help

Save your cuts for emergencies

Short-Term Memory: Listening and Forgetting

When preparing for tests or for the next lecture, you may sometimes labor over your class notes, trying to figure out exactly what you have written, what the notes mean, and what the central idea is.

Forgetting can be a serious problem when you are expected to learn and remember. Once you understand how to improve your ability to remember, you will retain information more easily and completely.

You could be an Aural learner, a Visual learner, an Interactive learner, a Haptic learner, a Kinesthetic learner or an Olfactory learner depending on the way you adapt.

Before Class Prepare to Remember

Do the assigned reading: Completing the assigned readings on time will help you listen better.

Warm up for the class: Warm up by reviewing chapter introductions and summaries and by referring to related sections in your text and to your notes from the previous class.

Keep an open mind: Instructors want you to think for yourself and do not necessarily expect you to agree with everything they or your classmates say. If you want people to respect your values, you must show respect for them as well by listening to what they have to say with an open mind.

Get organized: Develop an organizational system. Have all your notes, handouts, etc., in place.

During ClassListen Critically

Be ready for the message

Really hear what is said

Ask questions

Listen to the entire message

Repeat mentally

Listen to the main concepts

Listen for new ideas

Decide what is important

Respect your own ideas and those of others

During ClassTake Effective Notes

Decide on a system

Identify main ideas

Don’t try to write down everything

Don’t be thrown by a disorganized lecturer

Return to your recall column:This is the place where you write

down the main ideas.

Class Notes and Homework Problems

Take 10

minutes to

review

your note

s

Do any

assigned

problems and

answer any

assigned

questions

Persever

e: Don’

t give up too

soon

Complete you

r work

Participating in Class:Speak Up!

Take a seat as close to the front as possible

Keep your eyes trained on the teacher

Raise your hand when you don’t understand something

Never feel that you’re asking a “stupid” question

When the instructor calls on you to answer a question, don’t bluff

If you’ve recently read a book or article that is relevant to the class topic, bring it in

Making the GradePredict a test question from your lecture notes or other resources

Read the chapter, article, notes, or other resources.

Analyze and abstract

Make connections between main points and key supporting details

Select, condense, order

Write your ideas precisely in a draft

Review your draft

Test your memory

Schedule time to review summaries and double-check your memory shortly before the test.

Taking the TestWrite your name on the test

Analyze, ask , and stay calm

Make the best use of your time

Answer easy questions first

If you feel yourself start to panic or go blank, stop whatever you are doing

If you finish early, don’t leave

More Aids to Memory

Over learn

Use multiple senses

Categorize

Use mnemonicsAssociate

Visualize

Use flash cards

Speaking and Writing for Success

Speaking in front of others may be one of the most prevalent fears . It will always help you to keep certain things in mind.

Once you begin speaking, your anxiety is likely to decrease. Anxiety is highest before or during the first second of a presentation.

Your listeners will generally be unaware of your anxiety.

Anxiety indicates that your presentation is important to you, so some anxiety is beneficial

Practice is the best preventive. The best way to reduce your fears is to prepare and rehearse thoroughly.

Six Steps to Successful Speaking

Clarify your objective

Prepare your notes

Practice your

delivery

Three Steps to Better WritingPrewriting or rehearsing: This step includes preparing to write by reading assigned work and doing other research.

Writing or drafting: This is when exploratory writing becomes a rough explanatory draft.

Rewriting or revision: This is where you polish and smooth your work until you consider it done.