Study
SKILLS
K.. L. Nalibow
I. Use time efficiently.
· Determine when you are most efficient.
· Utilize as much spare time during the day as possible.
· Employ reinforcement learning techniques when you work. It is not
only the time you spend
but how efficient you are WHEN YOU WORK.
II. Question generation - the key.
· Employ as many senses as possible to test yourself on the material
you don't know.
· Anything you cannot quickly reproduce, you may not know.
· Concentrate on information you have not completely learned. Do not
fool yourself by
constantly examining what you already know.
III. Learn to be a competent
listener.
·Learn to tune in on
what you are doing so that you can tune out distractions.
IV. Pre prepare all courses.
· Pre read material for all courses. If you haven't time to
read something thoroughly - skim it.
Order all material into critical and non critical
data. (Know the
important from the
unimportant.)
Go to class prepared so that you can truly listen
instead of trying to transcribe
every word.
· Avoid mindlessly completing homework assignments for math, science,
language. Learn the
material you have been
assigned before going to class so that
class time becomes
reinforcement for what you
know rather than becoming a frustrating attempt to
understand
what is going on.
V. Learn from your mistakes.
· Use quizzes, exams, papers to learn where you are weak. Every piece
of graded work with
a low score can help you spot where your learning is
incomplete. If you cannot identify
where you need to work on your own, ask the
professor. And if a
weakness in
your
approach is identifiable,
strive to improve that area.
VI. Organization is a good
quality.
· Do not procrastinate. Work to your own schedule but be sure you have
one! When you let
a course go and do poorly, you
come to dislike
everything about the course. School itself
can seem boring, depressing.
Do well and you will find excitement in the
learning process.
Discipline yourself
to work consistently. --Make time for athletics and social relaxation
but to the exclusion of academic
work. (Engaging in leisure time activities IS important.)
VII. Assigned work
·
If you know that you will not complete graded, assigned work by the
date it is due, contact
the professor in advance and request an
extension. Failure to do this my cause you to fail
the paper/project. Most
people will give you an extension. Some will not.
VIII. Use campus resources to
good
avail.
· Realize that we all need to talk out problems. Find someone – a
school chum, residence hall
advisor with whom you can
openly
converse. Good
mental health helps you immeasurably.
· If you read very slowly, you may have a reading problem and find that
you are swamped by
assigned work. To
undertake quality university
level work, reading skills need to be an
optimum level. Many
students have reading problems. You may be one
of them. An
encompass professional
can help you increase reading speed and understanding.
· Learn about the resources available at UVM. Counseling Center,
Learning Co-Ops, Reading
Centers - all can truly
help you BUT do not attempt to
rectify a lifelong problem as the
last
three weeks of term is upon
you!
Late Term Addendum
Considerable recent class cutting and handing in of late work without
an official extension, today caused me to bring the
following to your attention. In my course and perhaps in other
courses, failure to attend class and failure to pass in assigned work
when it is due may result in grade penalty where you have not made
contact for an extension. As adults, it is YOUR responsibility to
contact faculty to request an extension when work will be late. I
have always granted such extensions, but will down grade any item
submitted past the due date without a request for late
submission. This is effective today with the Stalin paper.
Additionally, be aware that 20 percent
of your grade is based on classroom attendance and participation.
The spread sheet is designed so that without that presence and
participation, even "A" writing will result in a course grade of "B" or
lower. This is NOT negotiable. Failure to fulfill ALL
course responsibilities cannot produce a final grade of "A."