*College Survival Guide*
By: Wez
22 January 2009

Classroom Survival

Ok, for basic stuff, you should already be aware of most things. Exits, entrances, how far is it to the ground from the window, will the window open? Can I lock the door, or does it take a teachers key to do it? These are all questions you should ask yourself and take note of the first day in class, now aside from that, how are you going to survive the class itself?

First step, pay attention. The biggest mistake I see people making is that they don’t pay attention. During lecture is not the time to be making a grocery list, setting up your budget, thinking about paying the bills, or any of the million other things you do to distract yourself when you’re bored. You are there to learn, so be there to learn.

Second step, take notes. Along with paying attention and being in the class, take notes. Notes serve a couple of purposes, one it helps the transition from short term to long term memory, and also aids in recall by building another path to the information. Most basically, it provides a resource to study by and a way to look over what was actually said in class. In college, the importance of the lecture material cannot be over stated. Develop an organizational method that works for you. I tend to use an bulleted list, outline style format. I also switch between using the laptop and long hand in a spiral. Experiment to find out what works best for you.

Third, ask questions. Don’t be scared, you won’t look foolish and you won’t slow the class down. I’ve developed a good relationship with most of the instructors in my major, and they all say that they would like more questions and discussions, not less. That being said, make sure your question or comment is relevant to the topic at hand, not so to something from the beginning of class, or something you could find by looking at the syllabus.

Fourth, speaking of the syllabus, read that thing. Professors don’t make those up for their own good. You can get a good idea of the amount and type of work that will be required of you, along with important assignment due dates, just by reading the syllabus.

Fifth, do the homework and required reading. Usually to be found in the syllabus, or from the professor in class. Once again, the homework is given for a reason, usually to reinforce course objectives. By making a habit of doing some homework daily and splitting large assignments into small parts, you will steadily work through the entire semester without getting behind.

Test Survival

You’ve taken the notes, done the homework, now it’s time for the test. Tests should not scare you. You should actually work to relax yourself as much as possible. In my experience, I’ve done better on tests that I was relaxed about, but didn’t study for, then I have on tests where I was stressed and worried and had studied. Of course I’ve done the best on exams when I’m both studied, reviewed and relaxed.

What’s the best way to relax? Know the material. By taking notes, reviewing them, restating them in your own words, and looking up auxiliary information, you will be as prepared as you can be.

Specific Test Taking Strategies

   You can pick up a book, or take a KAPLAN course, but here are some specific test taking strategies that work for me. Remember before you get started, make sure you relax.

1. On a blank part of the test paper (as long as it’s not a scantron) write down anything that you may have tried to cram in right before test time. If you had to cram it, then you don’t know it and as soon as you start accessing other memory centers of your brain you’re going to lose what’s in your short-term memory.
2. Do a quick scan. Check out the whole test if possible, answer anything you know for sure.
3. Go back to the beginning and take the test. Take your time, don’t rush, relax, relax, relax. If you don’t know something after a little bit of thought, skip that question and move on.
4. Go back to the beginning and answer the questions you didn’t answer in Step 3. Now that you’ve gone through the material, answers to other questions and even some of the other questions may provide what you need or jog the memory you need jogged to answer the question. If at all possible, do not leave it blank. (this information is for general tests, not specialized tests like the SAT, please refer to specific scoring information on the test you are taking to determine whether it is advantageous to leave a question blank or not).
5. After answering every question you can, go back to the beginning of the test (Yes, AGAIN) and check your answers. I don’t mean rethink your answers. I mean make sure that you marked the answer that you meant to mark. This is especially relevant to scantron and multiple choice tests. It’s easy to mark your answer incorrectly, or in the case of scantron, start answering your questions one number off and throw off your whole answer sheet. Also check to make sure you haven’t skipped or missed any pages that were supposed to be on the test. Check both sides of the pages.
6. Before handing in the test, make sure that you have put your name on the test. Yes, it happens, I’ve done it and seen it happen in my college classes every semester.

Things you need to know about on-campus survival

• No first aid kits. On my campus the individual classrooms don’t have first aid kits. Talking to several professors, the consensus seems to be that they aren’t allowed in the classroom as if it’s serious they want you to go to the health center on campus.
• Limited emergency notification or drills. Once again, on my campus there is an emergency speaker system, but the only time we heard it was when there was a technical problem. They also have a text message service that you can sign up for, but as you are going to have your cell phone off in class, you won’t get the message for anything that’s happening.
• Guns/Weapons. I have had a hard time finding out specific information on what is allowed on campus and what isn’t. According to Michigan law, you can have a firearm in the car in legally transportable condition in the parking lot of the campus, but not outside of the car or parking lot. Your state laws may vary.
• On-campus police. You need to check what the on-campus police department phone number is. On my campus if you are dialing a cell phone, you have to dial the dispatchers number, not 911. 911 on the cell phone will get you the county dispatcher.

Ok, that’s it for now, this article was just to bring up some points for consideration for personal and academic survival on campus. Thanks for reading.
Wez

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