Orientation

       Tips for Success

Your journey through college can be winding, filled with detours and potholes, or it can be relatively straight and smooth.  The information contained in this brief orientation will help you have a pleasant and rewarding experience along the way by helping you improve your study skills. It is not a cure-all--it is only intended to get you started in the right direction. These are the topics that are covered in this material:

Time Management
Study Environment
Learning Styles
Reading Skills and Strategies
Note Taking
Memory Techniques
Preparing for and taking Tests
Computer Basics
Want to Learn More?

Check out CTC's Student Support Services on the Guidance and Counseling page for tutoring and study skills workshops.

You won't get a grade or college credit for completing this Orientation. However, if it helps you get a better grade in a course, spend less time learning more, or reduce test anxiety, it's time and effort that is well spent!

For general questions see the CTC website or the Distance Education website.

Time Management

I am definitely going to take a course on time management . . . just as soon as I can work it into my schedule.   Louis E. Boone

The time you spend preparing to study relates directly to a successful outcome. But time, or lack thereof, is a common complaint. How often do you comment that you don't have enough time to accomplish everything you wish to do?

How Do You Spend Your Time?

The first step in time management is to see how you currently spend your time.   Have you ever taken the time to add up all of the hours you spend on your regular activities?  Take a moment to write down everything you do during a seven-day period.  These questions will help you consider all of the activities you do.

• You may spend 40 hours a week on your job, but what about commute time?
• You have to fuel your body.  How many hours a week do you spend eating?
• Good grooming is essential.  How many hours a week do you spend bathing and dressing?
• How much time do you give to your friends and family?

Remember, there are only 168 hours in a week.  Is there any time left to sleep or relaxing? Everyone needs a little "me time."

How Can I Make More Time?

You can't add hours to the day or days to the week, but if you learn to plan your time wisely, you should be able to make better use of the time you have. As an added bonus, you should feel less stress.   Scheduling your time is a step in the right direction. We suggest that you develop long-term, intermediate, and short-term schedules.

Long term

• Include fixed commitments only
• Include weekly obligations—job, classes, church, meetings, etc.
• Plan enough time for study—as a minimum, use two hours for every one hour in the classroom.
• Plan for weekly reviews—at least one hour each week for each class.

Intermediate

• One per week
• List major events and amount of work to be accomplished in each subject.
• Try to study at the same time every day.
• Make use of free hours between classes.
• Include non-study activities.

Short term

• Daily
• Use small note card you can carry with you.
• Write specifically what you need to accomplish that day.
• Mark out each item as it is completed.

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Study Environment

Where you study and how you study is as important as how often you study.

• Identify a quiet place with a desk or table, a chair, and good lighting. But don't get too comfortable. Your bed might be inviting, but remember that your goal is to stay awake and concentrate.
• Although music or some type of background noise might be ok, avoid the TV. It's too easy to get engrossed in a show rather than your course work. Watching CSI can be interesting, but it probably won't help you with your Introduction to Criminal Justice final exam.
• Make sure you have everything you need: your textbooks, notes, paper and pencil, and a clock. Why a clock? To help you manage your time.
• And, don't forget to take regular breaks.

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Learning Styles

• If you are assembling a toy or using a new computer program, do you put instructions aside and refer to them only when you run into trouble?
• Do you have to see a name or address in writing in order to remember it?  
• Do you enjoy audio books, or do you find your mind wandering as you listen?

Your answers to these questions relate to your preferred learning style, and like clothing, one learning style doesn't fit all.  If you have access to the Internet, you can take a learning style inventory at http://www.vark-learn.com/english/index.asp and then view helpsheets at http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=helpsheets related to your preferred learning style.

Visual Learners

Characteristics:

• Learn through seeing
• Need to see the teacher's body language and facial expression to fully understand the content of a lesson.
• Tend to prefer sitting at the front of the classroom to avoid visual obstructions (e.g. people's heads).
• May think in pictures and learn best from visual displays including: diagrams, illustrated text books, overhead transparencies, videos, flip charts and hand-outs. 
• During a lecture or classroom discussion, visual learners often prefer to take detailed notes to absorb the information.

If you are a visual learner, here are some suggestions just for you:

• use visual materials such as pictures, charts, maps, graphs, etc.
• have a clear view of your teachers when they are speaking so you can see their body language and facial expression
• use color to highlight important points in text
• take notes or ask your teacher to provide handouts
• illustrate your ideas as a picture or brainstorming bubble before writing them down
• write a story and illustrate it
• use multi-media (e.g. computers, videos, and filmstrips)
• study in a quiet place away from verbal disturbances
• read illustrated books
• visualize information as a picture to aid memorization

Aural Learners

Characteristics:

• Learn through listening
• Learn best through verbal lectures, discussions, talking things through and listening to what others have to say.
• Interpret the underlying meanings of speech through listening to tone of voice, pitch, speed and other nuances. Written information may have little meaning until it is heard.
• Often benefit from reading text aloud and using a tape recorder.

If you are an aural learner, here are some suggestions just for you:

• Participate in class discussions/debates
• Make speeches and presentations
• Use a tape recorder during lectures instead of taking notes
• Read text out aloud
• Create musical jingles to aid memorization
• Create mnemonics to aid memorization
• Discuss your ideas verbally
• Dictate to someone while they write down your thoughts
• Use verbal analogies, and story telling to demonstrate your point

Read/Write Learners

Characteristics:

• Learn through reading and writing
• Learn best by reading and re-reading the textbook and their notes, writing and rewriting their notes, and in general, organizing items into lists.

Kinesthetic Learners

Characteristics:

• Learn through moving, doing, and touching
• Learn best through a hands-on approach, actively exploring the physical world around them.
• May find it hard to sit still for long periods and may become distracted by their need for activity and exploration.

If you are a tactile/kinesthetic learner, here are some suggestions just for you:

• Take frequent study breaks
• Move around to learn new things (e.g. read while on an exercise bike, mold a piece of clay to learn a new concept)
• Work at a standing position
• Chew gum while studying
• Use bright colors to highlight reading material
• Dress up your work space with posters
• If you wish, listen to music while you study
• Skim through reading material to get a rough idea what it is about before settling down to read it in detail.

Multimodal Learners

• Don't have a single preferred learning style.
• Learn best through combinations.

If you have multiple preferences, you are in the majority as somewhere between fifty and seventy percent of any population seems to fit into that group.

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Reading Skills and Strategies

Good reading skills are essential to your success in your college-level classes. Here are a couple of reasons why:

• In high school, you may have been able to get good grades without reading much of the text. Now that you're in college, professors will expect you to read the textbook and they may test you on information not discussed in class but covered in the reading. In fact, many professors test on assigned readings as a check to make sure students are using their texts.
• The average freshman is assigned over 250 pages of reading each week, so clearly you're going to need to keep up with your reading assignments. If you do not read during week one, that means that you will need to read 500 pages the next week—just to stay caught up! If you choose not to read during the second week either . . . well, you can see how the work can just snowball.

Improving Your Reading Skills and Applying Reading Strategies

 A good reader:

• Seizes the main ideas.
• Thinks about what the author is saying
• Is active, not passive.
• Concentrates on what is being read.
• Remembers as much as possible.
• Applies what is being read to personal experience.

Go to http://www.how-to-study.com/pqr.htm for more on reading skills.

SQ3R

SQ3R is one recommended method for improving your reading comprehension. The letters in the name stand for these five steps:

Survey:  Before you read, scan the titles, headings, pictures, and summaries. Consider using the heading and subheadings as an outline for notes as you read.

Question: Ask yourself questions based on Step 1 and look for answers as you complete Step 3. For example, if a subheading is entitled "Basic Concepts of Reading," change it to read, "What are the Basic Concepts of Reading?"

Read:  Read and take notes.

Recall:  Without referring to the book or your notes, think about what you have read. See if your questions were answered. Could you explain the content to someone else? Try putting major concepts in your own words.

Review:  Look at your questions, answers, notes and book to see how well you did recall. Observe carefully the points stated incorrectly or omitted. Fix carefully in mind the logical sequence of the entire idea, concepts, or problem. Finish up with a mental picture of the WHOLE.

PQR3

Another method is PQR3, which stands for
Preview: Preview what you are going to read.
Question: Question what you are going to learn after the preview.
Read: Read the assignment.
Recite: Stop every once in a while, look up from the book, and put in your own words what you have just read.
Review: After you have finished, review the main points.

(Sounds similar to SQ3R, doesn't it?) Go to http://www.how-to-study.com/pqr.htm to learn more about this method.

M.U.R.D.E.R.

There is even a related study method known as M.U.R.D.E.R. 
Mood:  Set a positive mood for yourself to study in.
Understand:  Mark any information you don't understand in a particular unit and keep a focus on one unit or a manageable group of exercise.
Recall:  After studying the unit, stop and put what you have learned into your own words.
Digest:  Go back to what you did not understand and reconsider the information. Contact external expert sources (e.g., other books or an instructor) if you still cannot understand it.
Expand:  ask three kinds of questions concerning the studied material:

• If I could speak to the author, what questions would I ask or what criticism would I offer?
• How could I apply this material to what I am interested in?
• How could I make this information interesting and understandable to other students?

Review: Go over the material you've covered. Review what strategies helped you understand and/or retain information in the past and apply these to your current studies.

Check this system out at http://www.studygs.net/murder.htm.

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Note Taking

Why take notes?

• It triggers basic lecturing processes and helps you to remember information.
• It helps you to concentrate in class.
• It helps you prepare for tests.
• Your notes are often a source of valuable clues for what information the instructor thinks most important (i.e., what will show up on the next test).
• Your notes often contain information that cannot be found elsewhere (i.e., in your textbook).

Evaluate your present note-taking system.  Ask yourself:

• Did I use complete phrases or sentences that mean something to me later?
• Did I use any form at all?
• Are my notes clear or confusing?
• Did I capture main points and all subpoints?
• Did I streamline using abbreviations and shortcuts?

If you answered "no" to any of these questions, you may need to develop some new note-taking skills!

Guidelines for Taking Notes

• Concentrate on the lecture or on the reading material.
• Take notes consistently.
• Take notes selectively.   Do NOT try to write down every word. Remember that the average lecturer speaks approximately 125-140 words per minute, and the average note-taker writes at a rate of about 25 words per minute.
• Translate ideas into your own words.
• Organize notes into some sort of logical form.
• Be brief. Write down only the major points and important information.
• Write legibly. Notes are useless if you cannot read them later!
• Don't be concerned with spelling and grammar.

There are many reasons for taking lecture notes.

• Making yourself take notes forces you to listen carefully and test your understanding of the material.
• When you are reviewing, notes provide a gauge to what is important in the text.
• Personal notes are usually easier to remember than the text.
• The writing down of important points helps you to remember then even before you have studied the material formally. 

Note Taking

Instructors usually give clues to what is important to take down.  Some of the more common clues are:

• Material written on the blackboard.
• Repetition
• Emphasis
• Word signals (e.g. "There are two points of view on . . . " "The third reason is . . . " " In conclusion . . . ")
• Summaries given at the end of class.
• Reviews given at the beginning of class.

Each student should develop his or her own method of taking notes, but most students find the following suggestions helpful:

• Make your notes brief.
• Put most notes in your own words.  However, some items should be noted exactly.
• Use outline form and/or a numbering system.  Indention helps you distinguish major from minor points.
• Date your notes.  Perhaps number the pages.
• If you miss a statement, write key words, skip a few spaces, and get the information later.
• Don't try to use every space on the page.  Leave room for coordinating your notes with the text after the lecture.   (You may want to list key terms in the margin or make a summary of the contents of the page.)

Note Taking Hints

Here are some hints ("Do not's") regarding taking notes on classroom lectures that can save time for almost any student. 

Do not plan to rewrite or type your notes later.  To do so is to use a double amount of time; once to take the original notes a second to rewrite them.  The advice is simple: DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME!

Do not take notes in shorthand.  Though shorthand is a valuable tool for a secretary, it is almost worthless for a student doing academic work.  Here's why.  Notes in shorthand cannot be studied in that form.  They must first be transcribed.  The act of transcribing notes takes an inordinate amount of time and energy but does not significantly contribute to their mastery.  It is far better to have taken the notes originally in regular writing and then spend the time after that in direct study and recitation of the notes.

Do not record the lesson on a cassette tape or any other tape.  The lecture on tape precludes flexibility.  This statement can be better understood when seen in the light of a person who has taken his/her notes in regular writing.  Immediately after taking the notes this person can study them in five minutes before the next class as s/he walks toward the next building, as s/he drinks his/her coffee, or whatever.  Furthermore, this student, in looking over his/her notes, may decide that the notes contain only four worthwhile ideas which s/he can highlight, relegating the rest of the lecture to obscurity. Whereas the lecture on tape has to be listened to in its entirety including the worthwhile points as well as the "garbage," handwritten notes may be studied selectively.  A student who takes the easy way out - recording the lecture on tape as he or she sits back doing nothing - will box him or herself into inflexibility.

Learning to make notes effectively will help you to improve your study and work habits and to remember important information.  Often, students are deceived into thinking that because they understand everything that is said in class they will therefore remember it.  This is dead wrong!  Write it down.

As you make notes, you will develop skill in selecting important material and in discarding unimportant material.  The secret to developing this skill is practice.  Check your results constantly.  Strive to improve.  Notes enable you to retain important facts and data and to develop an accurate means of arranging necessary information.

Making Notes

• Don't write down everything that you read or hear. 
• Notes should consist of key words or very short sentences.  If a speaker gets sidetracked it is often possible to go back and add further information.
• Take accurate notes.
• Think a minute about your material before you start making notes.
• Have a uniform system of punctuation and abbreviation that will make sense to you.
• Omit descriptions and full explanations.
• Don't worry about missing a point.
• Don't keep notes on oddly shaped pieces of paper. 
• Shortly after making your notes, go back and rework (not redo) your notes by adding extra points and spelling out unclear items. 
• Review your notes regularly.  This is the only way to achieve lasting memory.

These are only a few of the many methods for taking notes. 

• The Cornell Method
• Outline Method
• The Mapping Method (or Mindmapping)
• The Charting Method
• The Sentence Method

For details on these methods, go to http://www.sas.calpoly.edu/asc/ssl/notetaking.systems.html.   Also check out this resource about note taking: http://www.how-to-study.com/Taking%20Notes%20in%20Class.htm

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Memory Techniques

We hope that the information on preparing to study has been helpful, but do you feel that your real problem is remembering?   Don't worry.  There are ways to help you build your memory skills too.

Acronym

An acronym is defined as "a word formed from the initial letters of a name," such as PCS for permanent change of station or SOC for Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges, "or by combining initial letters or parts of a series of words," as radar for radio detecting and ranging.  Acronyms are not limited to the military. You will find them in just about every field of employment or recreation. Can you think of other acronyms?

If your coursework includes a lot of acronyms, take the time to learn what they stand for. This will help you to remember them. There are websites that are devoted to acronyms, such as the DoD (Department of Defense) Dictionary of Military and Related Terms at http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/doddict/.

Mnemonic

A mnemonic is defined as "a device, such as a formula or rhyme, used as an aid in remembering."

Examples:

As a child, you might have determined the number of days in a given month by

• Reciting the rhyme "Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November . . . ." or
• Using your knuckles ("peaks" have 31 days and "valleys" have 30, except February, of course).

If you have studied music, you might have used these techniques for remembering the names of the notes:

• FACE represents the names of the notes in the spaces on the staff.
• The first letters of the words in sentence "Every good boy does fine" represent the names of the notes on the lines on the staff.

A mnemonic used to recall the steps for simplifying algebraic expressions is "Please excuse my dear Aunt Sally."

1. Perform operations within the innermost parentheses and work outward.
2. Evaluate all exponential expressions.
3. Perform multiplications and divisions as they occur, working from left to right.
4. Perform additions and subtractions as they occur, working from left to right.

Refer to a diagram showing the planets of our solar system:

Use the sentence "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas" to recall the order of the planets from the sun. Note that this is prior to the latest controversy about Pluto.

• Mercury
• Venus
• Earth
• Mars
• Jupiter
• Saturn
• Uranus
• Neptune
• Pluto

Refer to a resistor color code chart:

Use this mnemonic:

Big Brown Rabbits Often Yield Great Big Vocal Groans When Gingerly Slapped for the color codes for resistors

• Black
• Brown
• Red
• Orange
• Yellow
• Green
• Blue
• Violet
• Gray
• White
• Gold
• Silver

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Preparing For and Taking Tests

If you have practiced the strategies we have outlined in this orientation, you should be reviewing on a regular basis as you study rather than waiting to cram right before a test.

• Try to anticipate what is important and will be on the test, and use any review materials that are available, such as practice tests or review sheets.
• This doesn't mean that you don't need to study right before a test, but you shouldn't have to stay up all night to prepare for it, and you should feel more confident when you take the test.

Do You Suffer From Test Anxiety?

• Do you do great on homework assignments, but you dread test days?
• Do you forget everything you know when you sit down to take a test?
• Does it seem like what you studied has nothing to do with the test you are taking?

Once you are sitting in the hot spot with your pencil in hand, use the DETER strategy for taking tests as described at
http://www.how-to-study.com/A%20Strategy%20for%20Taking%20Tests.htm.

• Directions: Read and understand the test directions.
• Examine: Examine the entire test to see what is required.
• Time: Determine how much time to allow for each item.
• Easiest: Answer the easiest items first.
• Review: Allow time to review the test to check your answers for accuracy and completeness.

 Again, practice makes perfect. There are several web sites for taking practice tests.   Here are a few:

• ACT Test Prep: http://www.actstudent.org/testprep/index.html
• 4Tests: http://4tests.com/
• CollegeBoard: http://www.collegeboard.com/
• Educational Testing Service: http://www.ets.org/ 

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Computer Basics

For many classes, you need to know the basics about using a computer and possibly even surfing the Internet in order to complete certain assignments.  If you are taking a distance learning class, you MUST have some basic knowledge of computers and the Internet.

You must be able to:

• Prepare, save, and retrieve files
• Send and receive emails with attachments
• Deposit files in an electronic drop box
• Locate and navigate web sites
• Download software and plug ins
• Participate in discussion boards.

A good resource for learning about these items is http://www.learnthenet.com/english/index.html.

• Once you have reached this site, note the "How To" list at the left side of the screen.
• If you are a novice, you might want to start with "How to Use this Site."
• Otherwise, start with "Master the Basics" and then work your way down the list.

You will find information ranging from making the connection to the Internet to building your own web site.

• Click on each underlined word or title to access the information.
• This information is also available as the "Animated Internet."

Jan's Illustrated Computer Literacy 101 at http://www.jegsworks.com/Lessons/index.html includes lessons on the topics listed on the next screens, and the approach is very detailed yet easy to understand.  Even if you have never touched a mouse before, you should be able to follow along.

Do you want to learn about specific items; i.e., Windows XP or MS Word 2003?     These are Microsoft products.   You can go to http://www.microsoft.com/ and find training on just about every product produced by Microsoft--even older versions.

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Want to learn more?

The information in this document is just a teaser.  We have included only a few websites because websites come and go. To learn more, check out the Internet and use a search engine, such as GOOGLE (www.google.com), to find sites on the topics we have referenced. Start with "study skills," "test taking," or another word or phrase that describes your interest.

Practice, practice practice

The best way to improve most skills is through practice. If you want to work on your reading comprehension skills or your less preferred learning style, a good resource is the Western/Pacific Literacy Network site at http://literacynet.org/cnnsf/home.html. This site has a number of interesting stories on a variety of topics. The stories comprise modules because they provide the information in different formats and include interactive activities related to the content. Start with the current story or select the story archives for more. You can improve your test taking techniques and minimize test anxiety by taking practice tests that you find online. Use the Internet and CTC's resources to do the best you can in achieving your educational goals.

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