L
A Compendium of Study Aids A Advice
by VICKI DENNIS
Grades are not necessarily synonymous with intelligence. Often the best students are the ones who
have learned the tricks of the trade. Here are six study tips that could make the difference for you.
Use
the Necessary
Tools
Any tradesman needs
special tools, and the
college student is no dif
ferent. The first tool is a
good dictionary, such as
Webster’s New World
Dictionary of the A mer
i
Get Acquainted with the Library
Don’t wait till you have a big project to learn howto use the library. For starters find out
how the card catalog works. It consists of small wooden drawers full of alphabetical listings
, uth ^llbrary s h°ldings—■arranged by author, title and subject headings. In the upper
left-hand corner of each card, you’ll find the “call number,” which tells you the location of
the book in the library. You should also become familiar with the reference room where
encyclopedias and other general reference materials are located, including The Reader’s
Uuide to Periodical Literature, a multivolumed listing of magazine articles grouped by
year ot publication; indexes of newspaper articles; and specialized indexes on subjects such
as art, education and psychology.
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Name
Street
City
ii
Zip
State
rmine Your Best
y Time
you a day person, ready to
studying as soon as you
from bed? Or do you find
iddle of the night the best
Dr intense learning? Keep a
chart of your reactions to
for a week or so. Record
you wake up and how you
rumpy, full of pep?). During
y, write down the times when
:el tense and when you feel
; when you are running at
:nergy and when you start to
. Soon you’ll see a pattern
)ping. You can then plan
day around your ups and
s (known as biorhythms),
sample, plan study times for
you are most alert and don’t
on doing any heavy mental
ty during your very low
is.
Guides
If you’re alert, what you learn from a
midterm can help you through the rest of
the term and the final. For instance, the
midterm lets you know what kinds of
questions—and answers—the instruc
tor prefers. Armed with this informa
tion, you can more easily isolate what
you should learn for the Final. In
addition, a midterm lets you double
check your own study habits and note
taking skills. If you missed important
points or found your notes impossibleto
comprehend, you can Fine-tune your
study technique or note-taking for the
rest of the course. Finally, the mid
term can tell you a lot about your test
taking skills. Did you run out of time?
Were you calm orfrantic? Wereyouable
to organize your thoughts? Analyze your
strong and weak points and work to
improve your test performance before
the Final.
• Study Tips: How To Study Effectively and Get Better Grades. William
H. Armstrong. (Woodbury, New York: Barron’s Educational Series, Inc.,
1975) $2.25. A guide to organizing your study time.
• Surviving the Undergraduate Jungle: The Student’s Guide to Good
Grades. Kathy Crafts and Brenda Hauther. (New York: Grove Press, 1976)
$3.95. Teaches freshmen the art of collegiate self-defense.
• How To Succeed in College: A Student Guidebook. Joshua R. Gerow
and R. Douglas Lying. (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1975) $4.95. A
collection of advice and suggestions compiled by two college counselors
after years of listening to students’ complaints and problems.
• Good Memory—Successful Student! A Guide To Remembering What
You Learn. Harry Lorayne. (New York: Stein and Day, 1976) $1.95.
Written by a well-known expert in memory techniques.
• How To Take Tests. Jason Millman and Walter Pauk. (New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1969) $2.95. Written by two nationally known authorities on
tests and test-taking.
• 30 Ways To Improve Your Grades. Harry Shaw. (New York: McGraw
Hill, 1969) $3.95. All the way from “Uncovering Your Attitudes” to
“Improve Your Test-Taking Methods.”
Vicki Dennis collected study tips (and index cards) during graduate school.