Ashley George

Staff Writer

ajgeorge@valdosta.edu

Molly was just starting her sophomore year. She made pretty good grades last year, B’s and a few C’s, so she is confident in her ability to do the same this year. As long as she kept a 3.0 to keep HOPE, she was happy. As she started her new classes, she was surprised to find they were a little more intense then her freshman classes, especially her major course. She was used to a slack time at the beginning of the year, so she was caught off guard and made a few bad grades. She also didn’t check out her professors before hand and found out later a few of them were known for being hard. After a few weeks passed, Molly started to get nervous. She was starting to fall behind and wasn’t sure if she could catch up in time. She started doing worse and worse on tests because she was so nervous. Studying in front of the TV for a few hours the day before the test wasn’t cutting it any more. She also missed a few days of class because she went out with her friends the day before and was too tired to go to class. As midterm inched closer and closer, Molly strongly considers dropping a lot of her classes. She wonders “What Now?”
A lot of students are surprised by the intensity of college classes as they get farther into their student career, especially after the slack given to them in freshman year. It gets to the point where they have to stop messing around and start getting serious about school.
If you are serious about school, have been studying and just can’t seem to get it you may not be studying in the best way.
According to Dr. Bob Kizlik, author of “How to Study and make the most of your time”, good studying starts in the classroom, when you are taking notes don’t write down everything the teacher says. You need to think about what the teacher is saying before you write it down. Everything they say may not be important for the test, and overloading yourself with too many facts won’t help you. Also, according to How-to-Study.com, choosing the right professor is key. Check with sites like Pick-A-Prof and ratemyprofessor.com to read other student’s reviews.
When you actually start studying you need to find out what works for you. If you learn best by hearing, see if the professor will let you tape them and listen to that. If you are a visual learner, try to come up with drawings to associate with what you’re studying. Try a lot of different things and do what works for you.
Make a schedule so you know when you will study and can plan around it. According to Dr. Kizlik, without a schedule, you won’t be able to manage your time properly.
Make sure your study area is quiet with no distractions. Close your door and turn of your phone and the TV. You could try a study group with your friends, but just make sure you study during that time.
If you are really struggling, try to get a tutor. The Student Success Center is open to all students; their hours are Mon.-Thurs. 9 a.m.-9 p.m., Fri. 9 a.m.-3 p.m. and Sun. 4p.m. – 9 p.m. A tutor has one on one time with you and may be able to explain the material in a different way than your teacher.
If you’ve tried everything you can think of and you are still struggling, you may want to consider changing your major. If you are doing that badly, it might not be what you’re meant to do.