Becoming a successful student involves building a strong study skills foundation before gaining, retaining, and ultimately explaining information. Build a base for information and then gain it, retain it, and explain it.


 Strategies for Creating Success in College and in Life
Students are guided to shift their attention from the problem to a solution. To do so, they specify how they would like to improve the study skill under consideration, including the explicit outcomes and experiences they want to create by mastering the skill.

1. Building a Foundation. 
Even if it’s made from study and resilient materials, a tall tower will still topple if it’s built upon a rickety base. In the same way, the gaining, retaining, and explaining you do in college must rest on a firm foundation of basic skills. Incidentally, these are skills that will be invaluable at school but should also serve you well at home, in your career, and for the rest of your life. You don’t need to be a student to benefit from knowing how to set goals.

2. Gaining  Information. 
The world is awash with information. It’s out there. You just have to go out and get it.  But  how?  First  of  all,  you  need  to  know  how  to  read.  If  that  sounds  obvious  or even  ridiculous,  you  may  need  to  rethink  what  you  know  about  reading. Time is short and not all information is created equal. Therefore, you need to be able to focus on the valuable information. Not all information comes in the form of words. And not all students learn best by using words

3. Retaining  Information.  
Your brain’s working memory only has room for roughly seven items at once. You can’t possibly hold on to a semester’s worth of information in the working memory of your brain. What’s  more,  the  things  you  keep  in  working  memory  evaporate, fast.  If  you  can’t  quickly  find  a  place  to  store  them,  they’ll  be  gone  in  a  matter  of minutes. Your primary storage areas will be your long-term  memory  and  your  notes. 

4. Explaining Information.
 You earn your grade based on your ability to explain what you’ve gained and retained.
 In an ideal world, retaining information would be its own reward.  In  college  your  performance  is  measured  with  grades.  The  grades  you  receive depend upon how well you can “show what you know,” that is, how successfully you can  take  the  information  that  you’ve  retained  during the semester (and often before) and explain it. The most common  kind  of  explaining  in  college  comes  in  the form  of  tests  and  exams.
 
Top