Time Management, Study Skills, and Test-Taking Strategies

Time Management Tips

“I’ll start studying right after I download this song.”
Identify and avoid distractions - Instant messaging, emailing, video games, and downloading songs can consume a lot of time. If you find that a certain activity is particularly addictive, avoid it. If that is impossible, plan a 15-minute break for it into your schedule as a reward after studying for 1 - 2 hours.

“I’ve got so much to study...and so little time.”
Account for your time - Spend a few days recording exactly how you use your time. Write down everything. Track the time you spend sleeping, eating, working, socializing, etc. Subtract those total hours from 168 (the total hours in a week). Work on creating a balanced schedule. Make sure you budget enough time for sleep, meals, study, exercise, and leisure activities.

“I don’t know where to begin.”
Take control - Make a list of all the things that you have to do. Put your priority items on a “to do” list. Make both a weekly and a quarterly schedule. At the beginning of each quarter, review your syllabi and enter all due dates for papers, quizzes, and exams onto your quarterly schedule. Your weekly schedule should include all of the items from your quarterly schedule due for that week plus time to eat, sleep, study, go to classes, work, and socialize—planned through each 24-hour period.

Improving Your Study Habits

Find a Good Place to Study
Study in a place where you are able to get work done. Leave your dorm room because distractions like the internet, computer games, television, friends, and your bed can pull you away from studying. Consider studying in the library, an empty classroom, a quiet corner of Norris, or a café.

Identify Your Best Time to Study
Are you a morning person or a night person? Everyone has high and low periods of attention and concentration. Reserve your most productive times for focusing on demanding assignments. Use your down times to socailze and run errands. Do you have time during the day between classes when you could study? Do you find that you're most productive in the morning? In the evening? Why?

Study in Short Blocks
Study in short blocks of time (i.e. 45 - 60 minutes) and take a 15 minute break as a reward. This will help make your study time productive and keep you from getting tired and losing your concentration.

Get Rid of Distractions
Carry a small memo notebook with you. If you suddenly remember that you need something from CVS or are supposed to call your grandmother, write it down on a “distraction list” so that you don't forget. Then get back to studying.

Combine Activities
If you're taking the shuttle downtown, take notes to go over or a book to read. If you're doing laundry, bring your psychology notes to study. If you're waiting in line for concert tickets at Norris, bring your foreign language flashcards to memorize.

Effective Listening Tips

Pay Attention
Concentrating on what your professor is saying will assist you in hearing every nuance of the presentation and help you to understand more difficult concepts as they are explained. You will remember more from class if you focus on understanding the lecture rather than writing down every word that is spoken.

Minimize Distractions
If you are having trouble concentrating in class, you may want to sit toward the front of the room. Sitting up straight can also make a difference. Sitting up facilitates paying attention and allows you to glance down easily at your notes.

Watch for Lapses
Become attuned to the times when your mind is drifting while you are in class. When this happens, focus your attention back on the professor. With practice you’ll be able to catch yourself quickly and shorten the gaps in your attention span.

Look for Clues
Pay attention to how your professor conveys information while lecturing. Looking for signals such as tone of voice, hand gestures, and body language will enhance your understanding of the professor’s words.

Questions?
For more information on test-taking strategies and study skills advising, email or call the University Academic Advising Center at 467-3900.

Managing Reading Assignments

Priortize
Read texts that you deem most important or relevant for a course first, particularly when your professor mentions a passage or when a reading is to be covered in class. Prioritize readings by determining what will be reviewed in discussion sections and by knowing test dates and due dates for papers. Be sure that you have enough time to complete your reading assignments by scheduling more time than you think you need.

Condense Information
Take margin notes and highlight important points within readings. When it is time to study for tests, focus on the notes you’ve taken and the passages you’ve highlighted.

Be an Active Reader
In a separate notebook, write down ideas and questions that arise while you’re reading. This will help you think critically about what you’ve read, and will serve as a guide as you study for tests, write papers, and ask questions in class.

Improve Understanding
Identify sequences of events in your readings and make lists to put events in order. Gain a broader understanding of what you read by visualizing characters and working to grasp their motivations. Be attentive to cause-effect relationships that are central to knowing why events happen.

Effective Reading Strategies

Prioritize Your Reading Assignments
Read the assignments that you deem to be most important first. If you know some readings will be covered in class, or if your professor has mentioned specific reading assignments, those may be your priority. Similarly, you may want to prioritize assignments in which you're reading about things you don't know over assignments that cover subjects that you're familiar with. Generally, you may want to read primary source assignments for a class before reading secondary sources.

Find an Appropriate Place to Read
Find a place to read where you feel comfortable. An ideal place to read minimizes outside distractions and is well lit. Evaluate the reading progress you make where you currently study. If you feel you could read better elsewhere, give a new place a try. Would the library be a good place for you to read? Norris? How about an empty classroom?

Become an Active Reader
In order to become an effective reader, you have to be an active reader. That means doing more than just reading the words on each page of a reading assignment; it means becoming involved with material and thinking about it while you read.

The basic steps for becoming an active reader are:

•  Know generally what you're going to cover in a reading assignment and why

•  Make a rough outline of the reading assignment as you go

•  Watch for key terms and take notes with brief definitions

•  Take notes on the main points and general themes

•  Summarize your reading assignments in short paragraphs

•  Write a short reflective response about the reading assignment after you're finished with it

Use Highlighters Wisely
Use different colored highlighters for specific purposes when reading. You may want to use one highlighter to identify key terms and definitions and another for main points. If you find utilizing highlighters to be a useful strategy for you, a third highlighter could be used for concepts you're unfamiliar with or confused by, and a fourth could be used for specific quotes that may be helpful or useful later for papers.

Skim Texts (Only if Necessary)
Skim texts and read selectively only if you don't have enough time to devote to reading an entire assignment.

To skim a text:

•  Read introductions, conclusions, and summary paragraphs

•  Read the first and last lines of paragraphs

•  Look at all illustrations, graphs, and tables

•  Read all words and phrases that are highlighted in bold or italics

Test-Taking Strategies

Arrive early
Give yourself enough time to feel comfortable, compose your thoughts, and focus your concentration.

Listen to your professor’s instructions
Sometimes teachers announce changes to tests and emphasize important directions before exams begin.

Look over the test and read directions carefully
Get an overall sense for the type of test and questions asked. Answer questions as instructed or you may risk losing points.

Write down facts and formulas in the margin
This is to ensure that you won’t forget key information if you get nervous or your mind goes blank.

Budget your time
Determine the amount of time that you have to take the exam along with the value and difficulty of each section. Use your time accordingly. If you don’t complete a question in the time you alotted for yourself, move on and come back to it if you have extra time before the end of the exam period.

Look for qualifying words
Words such as always, never, rarely, often, etc. can determine the correct answers to questions.

Complete objective questions before essay questions
Answering true-false, multiple choice, and short answer questions may provide you with information useful in writing an essay.

Questions? - Contact us at 467-3900 for more information about these and other test-taking strategies.

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