Study Success Coach

Study Skills and changing habits

Do you have a habit that you would like to change?  In my study skills classes many times the question of “what do I have to do to change this habit?” comes up.  I remember well one simple example I can use to share this point.  I had a student who was always late for class.  Being late not only disrupted the class when the student would enter the room, but the student himself was flustered.  Because of the rushing to get to class on time, often the student would forget to bring his pencil and need to bother someone nearby to borrow one.  Other times assignments were left at home.

To solve this problem, I sat down with the student to discuss the actions that took place prior to coming to class.  It turned out that the student had the best of intentions.  However, every morning when it was time to leave his apartment for school he could never find his keys.  This always led to a frantic search to find them which left him anxious and upset.  He found it hard to shake off these feelings, too.  I pointed out to him that he had a set pattern of behavior.  He had formed a bad habit.

The next question was, “What steps would he need to make in order to rid himself of this unproductive behavior?”  I explained that a change is either permanent or it is a waste of time.  It isn’t possible to unlearn a bad habit.  What is possible is to replace an old pattern of behavior with a new one.  For this to occur you must deliberately plan and choose the new behavior.  The new behavior must be practiced until it becomes the new habit.  Typically this takes about 21 days.

We discussed a plan for a new behavior.  The original pattern was when he arrived home was to plop anything he was carrying down in any vacant space.  I suggested that he place an empty chair next to the door.  This chair was to be used only for putting schoolwork.  He was to place a small hook in the doorframe at the exit as well.  When he came home he was to place the keys on the hook every time.

He was amazed how much time he saved just by knowing where his keys were.  Having all his papers in a special place at the door helped him to remember to bring everything he needed when he left the house.  It made a big difference!

Study Skills and Study Habits that don’t help

Many students think they know how to study.  They are very good about many aspects of what it takes to be a good student.  They have a special place to study.  They sit down and crack open their books and read the material over and over.  They put in hours and hours of staring at the material.  But, somehow even though it seems like they are doing so much their grades or marks don’t match up to what they think they deserve for the amount of time that they are putting in.  What is going wrong?  Why isn’t this working?

The problem is the study method.  And the next part of the problem is the rut of habit.  Most people have many habits that they use to get them through the day.  These are things that they have done over and over so often that the actions are unconscious.  These are good habits.  Think about it.  Do you have to think about which shoe you put on first in the morning?  Most of us have a habit of reaching for the same foot first each day.  To put on the left shoe first when you always put on the right shoe first wouldn’t feel “right”.  Do you always sit in the same chair at breakfast?  Even the simplest actions during your day, for example, do you fold your hands together with your left thumb or right thumb on top?  Try it right now and look to see which way you do it.  Take your hands apart and try it again…. This time put the opposite thumb on top.  Doesn’t it feel strange?

So often we are so used to doing things a certain way that to do them differently seems weird.  It is the same way with studying.  I will be talking about the best ways to study in future posts.  If you are open to some new ideas and are willing to try some of them, I can guarantee that studying will give you much more pleasure and amazing results.  Let me know in the comments section what you need help with.  I will try to answer everybody.

Study Skills: another story about time

I don’t know where I got this quote from.  I used to hand it out to all my new students on the first day of class.

Only one per customer

This bright new day

Complete with 24 hours of

opportunities, choices, and attitudes.

A perfectly matched set of 1440 minutes

This unique gift, this one day,

cannot be exchanged, replaced, or refunded.

Handle with care.

Make the most of it.

There is only one per customer.

Why is it that everyone has the same, identical amount of time each day and some people accomplish so much and other people accomplish very little?  I was thinking about this.  Another thing that occurred to me was that the people who didn’t accomplish as much seemed to have more reasons and excuses for not getting very much done.  It seems almost as though reasons and excuses are taking the place of actually doing anything.  Are there some excuses you use that you are willing to give up?

Here are some inspiring quotes to think about.

“There is no failure except in no longer trying.” —Elbert Hubbard

“Flops are a part of life’s menu.” —Rosalind Russell, actress

“History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually [encountered] heart-breaking obstacles before they triumphed.  They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats.”—B.C. Forbes

“Problems are like weeds; the more you ignore them, the faster they grow.” —Bert J. Decker

“Chance favors the prepared mind.” —Louis Pasteur

“Facing it-always facing it- that’s the way to get through. Face it!” —Joseph Conrad

“I don’t remember anybody’s name.  How do you think the ‘dahling’ thing started?” —Eva Gabor

Study Skills and Creating your own reality–The elevator story

This is a true story.  Hidden within this story is a good lesson.  Please read on.

“A man entered a three story office building, read the directory, and found that his appointment was on the third floor.  He decided to take the elevator.  he pushed the button and the door slid open.  To his surprise there was another door that needed to be opened.  It was made of crisscrossed metal rods that folded open and closed like an accordion.  He manually slid the door open, entered, and pushed button #3.

Having lived most of his life in a big, modern city, he amused himself by thinking this must be one of the very first elevators in history.  This thought helped him pass the time on his very slow ride to the third floor.

When the elevator stopped, he opened the accordion cage door and wited for the sliding door to open.  Even though this was a very slow elevator, the door didn’t open, so he knew something was wrong.  He looked at the door and observed a handle.  ” Of course!” he thought.  ”This ancient elevator door needs to be opened by hand.”

He grabbed the handle and tried to slide the door open.  It didn’t move.  He tried again.  It didn’t move.  he wiggled the handle back and forth a few times and again tried to slide the door open.  it didn’t move.  He was stumped.

He looked for an “open door” button.  There was none.  he began to feel concerned.  He was trapped.  Four or five minutes may not seem like a very long time in most situations.  However, inside an elevator, when you’re feeling trapped, minutes grow to be long periods of time.

Luckily, this door had a small glass window reinforced with crisscrossed metal threads.  Every few moments he tried to slide the door open while he kept his eye on the hallway outside.  Soon, he saw two men passing by.  He knocked on the window and got their attention.  One of the men came over, grabbed the handle, pulled the door toward himself, and SWUNG it open!  The door didn’t slide open.  It was on hinges and swung open.  Swinging doors don’t work very well when you try to slide them open.

Our hero was rather embarrassed.  He had literally trapped himself by the idea that elevator doors slide open only.   Sometimes we get ourselves in a rut and create problems for ourselves without realizing it.  The only solution is to let go of the old idea and think in a new way.

This story was taken from Becoming a Master Student by Dave Ellis

Thank you for the Comments to this Study Skills blog

Hi Everyone!  I want to thank everyone who commented on the posts.  Please comment some more.  Unfortunately  somehow the spam filter and I had a tumble and all my wonderful comments are gone!  There were so many and they were so encouraging to me.  I don’t know what happened to them but I wish they were back.  If you had a comment would you please comment again.  It was really helpful.

Someone had a request for my rss feed. http:// studysuccesscoach.com /wp-feed.php is the URL for the feed.

I haven’t been writing for a month.  I’m so sorry for those of you who were looking forward to my blog.  A friend of mine’s husband passed away unexpectedly.  I went to spend sometime with her.  Dead is such a difficult experience to deal with.  There is no way to prepare for it and no way to deal with it except to live through the grief.  I learned the lesson once again how precious life is and how fragile life is, as well.

I have a lot of thoughts to share with you.  I’ll get busy and get back to work.  To your continued success!

Plan ahead

When a person is thrown into a new situation, trying to figure out what is going on can be challenging.  I remember back to the days when I was a freshman in college.  I wasn’t clear about reading the course schedule.  The typeface was very small and the words were set in narrow columns.  The instructor’s first name was set only as the letter “T”.  Because of the position of the letter under the course title, I somehow misread it to mean that the class met on Tuesday.  Of course, I got to the class on a Tuesday.  I sat down and the lecture began.  I didn’t have a clue what was going on.  I could have been on another planet for all the terms and language which made no sense to me at all.  I was beginning to feel a distinct feeling of panic.  Here I was on the first day at class and I had no idea what was going on.  Fortunately, I was able to retrieve my class schedule and review it quietly.  I had wandered into a meteorology class.  But I will never forget the sinking, crazy tightness in my stomach as the anxiety started to bubble up.

It was a good lesson.  I learned to double check my schedule before I set out.  Being prepared can do much to smooth over the newness which makes an unfamiliar situation uncomfortable.  Allowing myself the time to get acquainted with the campus before the actual day to determine how long it would take me to get to where I needed to go really helped.  When I am worried and unprepared, the decisions I make are not necessarily the ones I would make if I felt relaxed and confident.

Motivation and the blame game

How much control do you have over your life?  Do you say things to yourself that let you off the hook?

For example: “I can’t help it.  I was born this way.  I’m just too busy so I don’t have time.  It’s my (fill in the blank)’s fault that (fill in some action) didn’t work out.  I can’t be expected to remember everything.  How do you expect me to do everything?”  The unique thread that passes through all of these phrases is that they are excuses.  Excuses can be made for just about anything you can think of.  We all do it, don’t we?  So what is wrong with that?  I can almost hear you asking me that question.

When we make excuses then we are using blame as a motive.  Blame doesn’t produce anything and gives you nothing except more excuses.  Blame is very emotional.  When we bury ourselves with excuses, what we are really saying is that we feel powerless to do something productive.  So what can we do to take back our control and give us a feeling of power?

We can take responsibility for our actions.  Responsibility just is.  Responsibility is not emotionally charged.  When you take responsibility it is a choice that frees you to take action.  Taking action and responsibility produces change which brings big rewards to those who choose to do it.

Study Skills and A New Way to Study

Has anyone ever given you instruction on the best, most efficient way for you to study?  Studying efficiently is more complicated than sitting and reading a page in a book over and over.  Highlighting the page as you read won’t do it for you, either.  The reason most students don’t get A’s and B’s in their courses isn’t because they aren’t intelligent or smart, its because they never learned the simple steps they need to know to master the skills necessary to succeed in school.  As soon as someone shows them what to do, all their grades improve dramatically.  Along with better grades come a lot of other changes, too.  I’ve watched students have a whole new attitude about school when school is no longer all negative.

You wouldn’t expect to know how to ride a bike without someone showing you how to do it and then letting you try it.  You wouldn’t try to ski down the most difficult run on a mountain the first time you put on a pair of skis.  You wouldn’t expect to magically figure out how to write a paper for school, would you?  Some students have  the good fortune to have help, some students don’t.  It isn’t an indicator of anything about the person.  It just means the student needs a little help.  Study Skills are skills that every student can master, without painful effort or super intelligence.

So where do you start?  If you are lost and you call someone to help you with directions what is the first question they will ask you?  They would say, ” Where are you?”  To start , first, you need to evaluate where you are.  So take a look at what you do to study now.  Do you have a regular study system that works for you?  My guess is if you are reading this that you don”t.  Take a look at what you do.  What works and what doesn’t.  In my next post, I will discuss the different types of learners there are and why that is important for you to know.

10 Strategies to Ace the Test

1. The night before test day make sure that you have all the supplies you need and place them all together near the door.  Do you need a calculator, a scan-tron, an extra pencil (for just in case), a certain lucky pen, an essay booklet, extra paper?  Check.  Trying to buy something at the student store at the last minute when the lines are long will only get your heart racing. For years in my classes someone always needed to borrow a pen.  Don’t let it be you.  If your instructor allows it, always bring a full water bottle.  Your brain works in the same way as a car battery.  Without enough water there is no energy to power the machinery.  Having a good drink of water can help you concentrate.
2. Get a good night’s sleep before test day so you feel fresh and alert.
3. Choose a good seat.

Where you sit can be an easy way to increase your test scores.  Have you ever considered where you sit can have a major influence on your concentration in the classroom?  The usual way most students find a seat is by choosing what is available on the first day.  They then continue to sit in the same general area for the duration.  Sitting upfront away from the chitchat of the rear of the room can help you focus your attention.  Also some people find the hum of halogen lights very annoying.  Finding a seat with good lighting might help you focus.

On test day, arrive on time so you can choose the seat you feel comfortable with.   Plan to have a minute to get settled and organized.

For some people arriving early with a friend to review quickly some of the major points will help to keep important information fresh.  For others, the idea of talking to anyone before a test only makes them feel anxious and forgetful.  Know how you react to plan accordingly.

4.  As soon as the instructor has passed out the exams, on your scratch paper write out all the major points, formulas, or other important ideas that you have been repeating to yourself and need to remember.  Now that all that information that you were holding onto is written down, you won’t have to worry about it.  This frees up valuable brain space so that you can think about what you need to do—which is focus on the exam questions.

5.  Now.  Write your name on the exam in the proper location.  I can’t tell you how many times students have forgotten such a simple thing.  Can you imagine how frustrating it is to take an exam and not get credit for it because there is no name?

6.  This next step is very important.  Before you answer any questions, look over the entire exam.  How many questions are there?  What are the point values?  Are there two sides to the exam paper?  How much time is given for the exam?  Check the clock and develop a quick plan for the attack.  For example, let’s suppose you are given a mid-term exam with three essay questions, 10 true/false questions, 10 multiple choice questions, and 5 matching questions.  The true/false and multiple choice questions are valued at 1 point each.  The first question on the exam is an essay question.  It has a 25 point value.  If you spend too much time figuring out what to write for the first essay question you might run out of time before ever getting to the other more easy questions.

7. You have looked over the test.  Now read the directions.  If you have any questions, ask your instructor.

8.  Answer the questions that are easy for you to answer first.  Skip the difficult ones and come back to them.  Answering easy questions with get your confidence up.  Often concepts that you thought you can’t remember will come back to you when reading other questions.

9. Finally, unless you will be penalized for guessing.  Don’t leave any question answer blank.  You might just guess the correct answer! A true/false question has a 50% percent chance of you guessing the correct answer.  Usually a multiple choice question will have some answer stems that you can eliminate to increase the odds of getting the correct answer.  Many times you know more than you think under the pressure of an intense exam.  If it is an essay question, write something.  At the very least, you might receive partial credit which is certainly better the zero points for a blank spot.

10.  Use all the time allowed.  If you have extra time go back and check your answers.  You won’t get extra points for being the first person to finish the test.

I hope that you all do well on your exams.  Please let me know if you have tried these strategies and if they worked for you to increase your exam scores.

Study Skills and the Grade A Paper

Around this time of year many students are dealing with writing papers.  There are a number of strategies which will make your paper receive a grade you will be proud of.  Due to the limitations of this blog now, I can only discuss some of the most basic things at this point.  I promise there will be more to come at a later date.

To begin, let me tell you a story.  Pretend you are going with a friend to a very expensive restaurant.  You are celebrating a special event.  Both of you are dressed “to the nines” for the occasion.  You have made a reservation a week in advance to guarantee a table.  You have been saving your money for several months, too.  When you arrive you are greeted by name and shown to your table.  When you look at the menu you know it is expensive.  After a short conversation with the waiter you decide on your order.

Now, imagine how you would feel if the waiter comes to your table with the first course.  The plate has a big chip in it and a crack which looks as if it has been glued together.  There is a dark hair from some unidentifiable creature stuck in it.  The food has bits that have been burnt.  It is squished down with a print of a shoe on one side.  You are definitely NOT going to eat it; much less just looking at it makes you feel queasy.  Doesn’t the restaurant care about what they are serving to you?  How would you grade this restaurant if you were a secret shopper?

So what does the restaurant food have to do with writing papers?  Turning in a school paper is a representation of you.  Have you ever thought about that?  A neat paper in a special folder without smudge marks and bent pages comes across very differently than a paper that looks as though it came out of a crunched pocket with coffee stains on it.  Teachers are only people after all.  After a long night of reading papers, which paper do you think will get a higher grade?