Students are just starting school again for this year and chances are many do not have the proper academic tools to do well – but there is hope! I have outlined the top 3 tips for student academic success at the college student level – although high school students can make use of these tools too!

Plan Ahead

It cannot be said enough. If you know what you have to do in the next week – you can plan accordingly. It does no one any good to realize that there is a paper assignment the day before it is due when it was put on the syllabus or announced days or weeks ago. With planning you can get started on the prep work early enough to write the paper stress-free. Yes! Stress-Free!

Story

I had a student in his last year of college who procrastinated on his paper for so long, he neglected to read the details only to find out he was to read an entire novel in order to write the paper. He learned this the day prior to the due date. Don’t let this be you!

Advance Reading

If you read the chapter that the class will be covering before the lecture, you will be far more familiar with the material thus you have a greater chance of not only understanding it but also remembering it later on. You will also learn what the professor finds most important – which is generally what they tend to ask on an exam. This way you can take much better notes – AND learn far better, faster, and easier.

Study Early

Don’t expect that you will easily (nor effectively) cram all the material from an entire term into your brain a day or two prior to an exam. This is no way to learn material. If you expect to just regurgitate data on a test only to forget it all the moment you leave the classroom, you might luck-out. But if you are taking a series of courses that build on one another, then you really want to make the effort to learn the material long-term – not just for tomorrow.

If you are struggling, and haven’t mastered college just yet – consider a college coach - - an academic college coach – so that you can master the skills early in your college career and achieve far more success in the years to follow.