Guidelines and Thoughts for Academic Success
Adapted and shortened in 2005 by Alison Lake and Carl von Baeyer from a web page by Steve Thien, Kansas State University, which was based on the following articles in The Teaching Professor. Larry M Ludewig, "Ten Commandments for Effective Study Skills," Dec 1992. John H. Williams, "Clarifying Grade Expectations," Aug/Sep 1993. Paul Solomon and Annette Nellon, "Communicating About the Behavioral Dimensions of Grades," Feb 1996.
Successful students exhibit a combination of successful attitudes and behaviors as well as intellectual capacity. Successful students . . .
1. . . . are responsible and active.
Successful students get involved in their studies, accept responsibility for their own education, and are active participants in it! Responsibility is the difference between leading and being led. Active classroom participation improves grades without increasing study time. You can sit there, act bored, daydream, or sleep. Or you can actively listen, think, question, and take notes like someone in charge of their learning experience. Either option costs one class period. However, the former method will require a large degree of additional work outside of class to achieve the same degree of learning the latter provides at one sitting.
2. . . . have educational goals.
Successful students are motivated by what their goals represent in terms of career aspirations and life's desires. Ask yourself these questions: What am I doing here? Is there some better place I could be? What does my presence here mean to me?Answers to these questions represent your "Hot Buttons" and are, without a doubt, the most important factors in your success as a college student. If your educational goals are truly yours, not someone else's, they will motivate a vital and positive academic attitude. If you are familiar with what these hot buttons represent and refer to them often, especially when you tire of