My youngest daughter, Littlest R, started college this last fall, and is having trouble in her classes. She’s a bright young lady, and it’s disturbing her a lot that she’s having so much trouble. She has talked to a doctor, who discounted the possibility of ADD or ADHD, and referred her to a learning specialist–so that may be fruitful.
But another possibility that I wonder about is that perhaps she just doesn’t know how to study. As a very bright kid in, to be blunt, a fairly dumbed-down high school, she pretty much cruised through everything.
So I’m looking for recommendations for works–websites, pamphlets, books, whatever–that can teach a person how to study; preferably sources that have worked for other people. Anecdotal evidence is welcome, of course.
I would tend to agree, she just never had to learn to study …
I went to school in the 60s/70s, and I remember what and when we had various subjects. My goddaughters are in the gifted programs at their schools and they are literally at what I would have considered almost ‘special ed’ class level compared to what we had 30 years ago. The whole no child left behind crap has screwed american education IMHO.
At least she wants to learn and not have her degree handed to her on a platter like so many students seem to want currently!
She is in college now. Assuming she goes to a good one, the American system is send you straight from the amateur ranks to the professionals in one not say easy transition. It is difficult for most people that didn’t go to elite high schools and many never make it to graduation at all. Your job is to help her find her own way to do it that fits her learning style and talents, not just give her material because that is micro-managing which is almost always counterproductive at this stage of her life especially from her parents and requires studying of its own which is the core problem at hand.
I went from one of the worst high schools that has probably ever existed in the U.S. to a great undergraduate school and then on to an Ivy League grad school. My style of studying is unconventional and still is to this day. I flip through textbooks over and over to random pages at a very quick pace until I get a general sense of where it is all going and then I go back and read everything in detail when I need to. Other people are auditory learners and need to be made to go to the lectures especially early on. Some people like to pick through the material like a freshly cracked walnut with a pick and a whole army of highlighters handy. There is no right or wrong way. No one can read the way I make notes even though the individual words are legible because they are all over the paper and note even oriented in the same general direction. It is all abstract-sequential thinking but other people needed formal note structures.
You can try to help but don’t try to force one style down her throat because she can figure that out on her own. You can make her attend class because I assume you are paying for some or most of it and that is where students learn what is best for their learning style through social pressure and examples from others.
Unfortunately I don’t have any great advice, but I can certainly commiserate. I, too, cruised through high school without ever really having to bust my ass for anything. In college, I hit a point where gasp paying attention most of the time in class wasn’t enough too get good grades.
I did start aping the study habits of my more successful classmates, but still I never got really good at studying. Make sure she keeps to a reasonably balanced course load. I oscillated between taking classes that were easy but boring, or overloading myself with lots of hard classes. I coasted through the easy semesters (and got bad grades), or overloaded myself. Diff eq, thermochemistry, neurophysiology, and systems ecology at the same time? Seemed like a good idea, but eesh that was painful…
A decently balanced course load is necessary while she figures out good study habits. She should be challenged by one or two classes enough that she’ll have to step up and develop good study skills, but not so much that she’ll be overwhelmed.
In addition to the above suggestions and input, she may be choosing her classes unwisely. I found that I would take 3-4 time intensive classes during the same semester and would feel overwhelmed (understandably).
What I found was to pick 1-2 hard, time intensive classes per semester, and the rest not too time intensive, and not to take too many hours, just enough to count as full time.
With that method, I was able to do well, and eventually graduate. At the same time though, I sort of fell in love with reading and writing, and was able to study better with this new attitude.
Enough sleep. 8-9 hours per night makes a huge difference in the brain’s ability to “seat” memories.
Who’s she hanging out with? Look for the winners (i.e. happy people, those getting good grades) and try to hang with them. Habits are nearly impossible to form in a vaccuum, and I’ve always found I can use peer pressure to my advantage if I choose carefully who I let in.
Nutrition. Nuts and whole grains are very important. You might even just send her a care package from nutsonline.com or some such place.
Fun. It’s very easy in college to substitute drunkeness for fun. She needs to laugh sober. Send her a frisbee, and challenge her to throw it to a stranger once per day - that sort of thing. She should make fun a conscious priority.
and on that note - point out that alcohol is a depressant. If she’s having trouble, she may wish to stay away from it fro a while. even if it’s not the cause, it could exacerbate the situation.
Anecdotal: One that worked for me, especially when there was a lot of info to memorize, was to go through my notes typing study sheets (don’t bother typing anything you already know) and then printing them out, reading them aloud onto a recording, listening to the recording as you drive to school (on a loop) and then reading the notes before the test. You’ll be sick of the info but you’ll have absorbed it several times- by sight, by sound, by typing, etc…
There is no one way that works for everyone. So, for example, one person might make flash cards, while another retypes, edits, and organizes their notes from class, another finds someone who doesn’t understand, and sets about to explain it to them. One reads and re-reads assigned and supplementary material, another skims it and only re-reads if they have a problem applying what they read. One hashes things out by arguing with a boisterous study group, another works alone in a quiet place. All are “studying” and all are very effective for some people and for some subjects.
The way to study is to try a lot of things, and stick with what works for you.
BTW, her college/university almost definitely has a place, called something like a “resource center” or “tutoring center” where she can get assistance for this, free or really cheap and with no participation from dad.
I second that. We encourage students to get tutoring, visit the writing center or math lab, and so on. There are real people to assist as well as software. Our writing center also offers many workshops, including Time Management and something about how to write for college/what the professor wants.
Students who are willing to seek help and take advantage of resources are doing the right thing. There are sometimes Early Alert programs in place as well, which are usually voluntary on the part of the professors; they refer students to resources to help them do better in the class.
Dad’s participation is going to be limited to pointing her toward this thread and urging her to use university resources. She never much listened to me while she was at home; why should she start now? :D:D
It’s pretty common for smart folks to breeze along in their academic career until suddenly they can’t any more. I didn’t have to try at all until I got to college, then suddenly I had no idea wtf I was doing. I eventually got things figured out enough that getting a Ph.D in chemistry was way easier than my undergrad experience.
Some classmates of mine in grad school hit their wall upon entering grad school. They tended to be from undergrad programs that were easy enough that they could do quite well just by memorizing everything. When suddenly faced with way more information than they could possibly choke down and regurgitate, they had trouble stepping back and taking a more big-picture approach.
It might be helpful if you could share a bit more about what sort of things she’s having trouble with. Writing? Math? Getting her work finished in general?
I think all of the basics have been covered (i.e.- everyone is different, do what works, visit the resource/tutoring center), so I’ll just add my personal approach.
I was also a student who never needed to study. I made it through most of my courses without really “studying” much. Attending class is the single most important thing for me. When that’s not enough, my approach is to rewrite my class notes. But, instead of simply copying, I edit and reorder and add details from the text. By the end, they aren’t the class notes from the professor, they are the notes on my version of the material.
Since trying to catch up with a class is the nail in the coffin, I always start the semester rewriting all of my notes. It doesn’t take more than a couple of weeks to figure out which classes really demand that and which ones don’t. If I don’t need to do it, I don’t. I know that a “good student” would, but I can take that time and put it toward the class that is more demanding.
Lots of good suggestions. I’d tell you what worked for me, but it’s a moot point if that particular style doesn’t work for her. However, I do have some general advice that will help anyone, regardless of study method.
Don’t cram.
That is, don’t wait until the night before the test to really get down to learning the material. So many college students grab the coffee to put in an all-nighter. Start studying at 9:00, go through the night until test time and then head off to take the exam.
The brain needs some down time to process information from short-term memory into long-term memory. Cramming just shoves everything into short-term memory and then when you try to retrieve it, it’s all jumbled up. Add to that sleep deprivation, and that’s a recipe for disaster.
(I actually fell asleep during my genetics final. That was my sophomore year of undergrad, about the time I learned my lesson about cramming.)
If she goes to class, keeps up with the notes, readings, and other assignments along the way, a couple hours of review and a good night’s sleep before an exam will produce a better grade than the wait/cram/caffeine approach. Her fellow students will be amazed and wonder what her secret is.
:D:D