College is hard work, but you don’t have to struggle alone. The Brandywine Learning Center can help. Our tutors can meet with you one-on-one to discuss your assignment, assist you with understanding your course material, or help you understand how best to study. Review our suggestions below or make an appointment with a tutor to learn more.
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Time Management and Organization
- A planner is your new best friend. Having a planned-out schedule makes it easier to remember important dates. Whether it is a due-date, an event, or even a reminder for a dental appointment—planners make it easier to keep track of these.
- Find a scheduler or planner that best fits your needs—a planner app on your phone or a paper datebook can all work well; what works for you depends on what you prefer.
- The Outlook calendar application is a great way to coordinate Zoom meetings and upcoming events.
- Create a study schedule. Schedule time for studying! Make sure to create a routine that you will stick with. Don’t set aside your required reading and assignment work until the evening hours if you know you’ll be spending that time gaming. Keep in mind what works best for you and will allow you to concentrate and be productive. Have some extra time in the morning before your first class? Use it! Do you have a long break in the middle of the day between classes? Use this time to your advantage.
- Create to-do lists based on your schedule. There’s a lot to keep track of in college, so start creating weekly and daily to do lists. You can do this on your phone, in a planner, in a notebook, or even a monthly calendar.
- Rest. Continuous, non-stop learning may sound like an optimal strategy, but students have to make sure that their schedules include time for rest and necessary activities. You (and your brain) need time to relax and process what you’ve been learning.
- Regular email check-ins. Penn State and your professors use email to communicate important information with you, so check it daily. In addition to that--
- Remember to also respond to those emails which ask you a question
- Check both your Penn State email and Canvas mail
- Consider forwarding one or both of these to a personal account that you check regularly
Note-Taking
- Attend class. If you aren’t in class, it’s hard to take notes! If you cannot attend for any reason, make sure you ask a classmate for any missed material.
- Read, or skim, the assigned material before class starts. Reading the material before class will allow you to be familiar with the lesson. It will also make it easier to pick out the important things that you need to write down.
- Consider what writing tools will work best for you. Whether this is a physical notebook, or a laptop—weigh the strengths and weaknesses of each to find what works the best for you.
- For example, you may find that it is much quicker to type out notes on a laptop. Not only that, but typing is neater and more readable, too.
- Or, maybe you are more distracted on a laptop. In that case, handwritten notes may work better for your note taking strategy.
Implement different note-taking strategies that best suit your style and needs. Each method has its strengths and weaknesses. You should also consider what is most effective for the subject or how it is being taught. Some note-taking strategies that might work:
- Cornell Study Method
- Charting Method
- Mapping Method
- Outline Method
If you’d like to learn more about these note-taking strategies, stop by the Brandywine Learning Center and make an appointment with a tutor.
Use Your Readings to Your Advantage
- Create a reading schedule. Survey your assigned readings to see how long they are and how much time you’ll need to budget for completing them. Expect to spend an hour for every 20-25 pages.
- Skim your reading assignments to preview the content. When getting started, make sure to look over the title of the chapter and the introduction in order to get a quick summary of the chapter and understand what it is about. Look over the headings of the topics that will be covered in the chapter.
- Pay attention to specially marked phrases. These may be important details, or new terminology that the author wants you to know.
- Ask questions about your reading assignments. After skimming through the chapter, write down any questions that you have about the chapter and answer them after completing the reading. You may even turn the titles or headings into questions that you can try and answer later in your reading notes.
- Annotate your reading assignments or take notes on your reading. Annotating a reading assignment simply refers to adding notes, diagrams, or comments that enhance your understanding. For example, you can underline a passage that seems significant and add a comment in the margin reminding yourself to take special note of that section. You can also write out questions that the text raises or connections you make between what you’re reading and what you’ve studied before or your personal experience. When reviewing your textbook later, annotating your reading makes it much easier to see what’s important or what the key details of a section are since your eyes are naturally drawn to your annotations.
- Another method to use when working with your readings is to write down notes or comments that further explain the information in the margins. For example, a comment may be an example that connects the theory to a real-life scenario.