Study Environment

You need to set aside blocks of quiet time for study during which you will be rested, alert, receptive, and truly committed to what you are doing. Become engrossed in your studying; learn to enjoy and respect it. Keep distractions at a minimum--noisy music, telephone or other conversations, food, day dreaming, interruptions by roommates. Be sure to have a good supply of materials -- pencils, pens, paper, erasers, ruler, stapler, hole punch, manila folders, notebooks, calculator, computer disks. Access to a computer or wordprocessor is useful (wordprocessing equipment is available on campus). Organize yourself. Have a notebook for each class. File exams, returned assignments, topic outlines, supplementary problems, etc., in separate manila folders for each class. When you do supplementary practice problems do them neatly and clearly and file them for future reference. Participate in class and take good notes. Keep a calendar so you can organize and remember your assignments, papers, and exams. Get to know a few people in each of your classes whom you can contact if you are unclear about something or have to miss class. Some people like to form study groups. This has been found to be effective if you prepare for group meetings so you can be a contributor as well as a receiver. But always make sure that you know and understand the material and can work problems on your own outside of the study group.