Tip For Succe At Mercer 2008-2009 A Do-It-Yourelf Guide to Effective Study Skill Produced by the Office of Student Affair
Welcome to You may be a recent high chool graduate about to tart your very firt college coure, a new tranfer tudent, an older tudent beginning or returning to chool after many year, or a continuing tudent at Mercer. Regardle of the coure you are enrolled in, you have omething in common with every other tudent at the college: You want to do your very bet to achieve your academic goal with a feeling of peronal pride and accomplihment. The faculty and taff at Mercer County Community College alo want you to ucceed. We are here to ait and to encourage you in every way that we can. A you follow the tep provided throughout thi booklet, you will find ome practical idea and uggetion to get you off to a good tart tip that you can put to ue quickly in order to achieve academic ucce. 1 Develop and exercie good tudy habit! Stay awake. Liten. Start a tudy group. Make chapter outline. Find a way of reinforcing coure material that work for you. 2 Don t be afraid to ak for help! Start with your intructor. Get to know your program coordinator. Check in with your Student Advocate. Viit the Learning Center (FA129). Viit the Library. 3 Don t be afraid to ak quetion! Speak up in cla. Contact your intructor outide of cla. 4 Come Prepared! Read all aigned reading before cla. Make lit of quetion to ak during or after cla. Be prepared to dicu the material in cla. Be ready for quizze and exam. Have aignment ready to turn in on time (and keep a copy for your record). Don t mi cla imply becaue you don t have your homework completed. 5 Come to cla! Try not to mi any clae. Develop a ytem of back-up in cae your main ytem for childcare or tranportation fail you. If you do mi cla, contact the intructor a oon a you can. If you have any quetion, or if you would like more help with academic or peronal problem, contact your intructor, your academic advior or peak with a counelor. Good Luck... and have a wonderful year at Mercer! 1
Manage your time more efficiently -- don t let time manage you! A a tudent at Mercer, you probably find yourelf with many more thing to do and deciion to make than you have ever had before. You may have to juggle a number of different reponibilitie: job, family, tudie, chool activitie, your ocial life, and -- of coure -- cla attendance. Alo, it will be up to you to remember to turn in aignment on time, chedule meeting with advior, notify the college if you move, regiter for clae, and pay your tuition on time. All of thi may ound confuing and like a lot of work, but here are ome imple tep to follow to help you plan and find the time to do it all: Step 1. Ue a calendar to plan your time. With a daily and weekly calendar, take time to chedule all of your activitie (Sample on page 3). Carry it with you at all time and keep it current with all change and new date entered promptly. Write in the important date for the emeter -- exam and date when paper and other aignment are due. For each day of the week, fill in the hour when your clae meet, when you have to work, and when you plan to do other thing. Once a week, take a few minute to review your chedule and plan your time for the next week. Set aide time to tudy, to prepare for clae, and to relax. Be reaonable in planning your time. Don t try to cram too much into your chedule. Once you know how much time you will actually need for tudying and for your job, then you can decide to add other activitie. Step 2. Set prioritie for each day. Each morning, perhap while you re eating breakfat, review your daily chedule and make a lit of what you need to do that day. Decide which thing are mot important and plan your day to be ure thoe thing get done. Enter important date into your cell phone, Blackberry, PDA, or planner. 2
Sample Schedule 8:00 am 9:00 am 10:00 am Monday Tueday Wedneday Thurday Friday Saturday Sunday ENG 101 ENG 101 DRESS AND EAT ENG 101 PSY 101 IST 101 PSY 101 IST 101 PSY 101 11:00 am 12:00 am 1:00 pm 2:00 pm 3:00 pm 4:00 pm 5:00 pm 6:00 pm 7:00 pm 8:00 pm 9:00 pm 10:00 pm 11:00 pm LUNCH STUDY WORK STUDY WORK STUDY BIO 113 BIO 113 BIO 113 ACC 111 ACC 111 RELAX RELAX OR READ DINNER STUDY STUDY STUDY STUDY LIBRARY (REPORT) SLEEP ACC 111 RELAX OR READ RECRE- ATION ENG. PSYCH. SCI. ACCTG. RECRE- ATION STUDY SCI. ENG. STUDY STUDY PSYCH. RELAX RECREATION OR REVIEW CLASS NOTES EIGHT HOURS OF STUDY DISTRIBUTED AS NEEDED AMONG 5 COURSES 3
Step 3. Stick to your chedule; don t procratinate. Don t let the le important thing in your chedule throw you off coure. If you re having trouble getting tarted on an epecially difficult or unpleaant job, try: -- giving yourelf a deadline; -- doing at leat a little to get tarted. (Once you ve actually tarted, it won t eem a hard a you thought); -- breaking a big job into maller part; -- doing it at the time of day when you have the mot energy; -- working with a partner. Don t wate time getting ready to do thing. Keep your cla material together and your dek or tudy area ready at all time. Learn to ay NO to ditraction -- to friend and extra activitie that you don t have time for. Step 4. Ue your planning to create good tudy habit and etablih a routine for getting thing done. If you want to learn more about good tudy habit, two good book to look for are How to Get Control of Your Time and your Life, by Alan Lakein, and Studying Smart, by Diana Scharf-Hunt. It been proven that tudent who take a tudent ucce eminar, enroll in tudy kill workhop and get involved in tudent activitie are found to have higher grade point average and are more likely to graduate. 4
Get The Mot Out Of Your Clae A Word About Attendance... The ingle mot important factor in how well tudent do in college i cla attendance. Quite imply, if you re not in cla, your intructor can t teach you. Not all of the information you will need to know i in your book; and the explanation faculty can give you may be the deciding factor for whether or not you really learn and undertand the material. The bet advice we can offer i thi: Step 5. Never mi a ingle cla unle it i abolutely unavoidable -- and be on time! The firt few clae of the emeter are epecially important. That when your intructor will explain about your clae: -- what they expect from you -- what you will be expected to learn; -- what the aignment are and when they are due; -- when exam will be given and what kind they will be; -- what the coure requirement and objective are; -- how grade will be determined; and -- how to contact your intructor. Thi i alo a time when intructor are beginning to learn who their tudent are and what they are like. It i your chance to tart off on the right foot in order to be een a a eriou tudent by your teacher. Step 6. Be an active learner: Come prepared, and participate in cla. Do all of your homework and complete it on time. By doing thi, you will avoid falling behind in each cla, and you will be able to get the mot out of cla dicuion and lecture. Thi i particularly true for math, cience, accounting, technology, and other coure in which you mut mater one level before you can learn the next. Refreh your memory. Review your note from the previou cla eion to refreh your memory, and to ee the direction the coure i taking. 5
Participate actively in cla. Sit near the front of the cla, pay attention, and join in cla dicuion and lecture. Don t be afraid to ak quetion. Ak your intructor to explain any part of your aigned reading, coure requirement, or cla dicuion that you don t undertand. Make appointment to ee your intructor. If you need more help, your intructor are ready to help you. Even if they can t help you, they can direct you to omeone ele who can. That part of their job! A good time to make an appointment i during your intructor office hour. Office hour hould be lited on their office door. Alo, learn your intructor name. If you ve mied a cla, or if you know in advance that you will have to mi a cla, talk to your intructor. Find out what you ve mied and how you can make it up. Ak, What can I do to make up the cla work? rather than, Did I mi anything? 6
Improve Your Study Habit It i a generally accepted rule-of-thumb that for every hour you pend in cla, you will need to pend at leat two hour tudying and preparing for cla. Of coure, ome clae will require more of your time, other le. To help you ue that time well, we have everal uggetion: Step 7. Technique for tudying effectively: Plan a daily chedule. Set up regular tudy time for each of your clae perhap a couple of hour every morning and evening. Plan your mot difficult ubject for time when you have the mot energy and the leat diruption. Remember to include time for long-term aignment. Undertand your aignment clearly. Know when each one i due. If you aren t ure about omething, ak your intructor to explain it. Do all of your aigned homework and don t let late aignment lower your grade. Try to ee the big picture. A you tudy, try to ee how information you learn in the beginning of your coure provide the bai for information that come later. Once you ee how fact and idea fit together and are related, you will find it eaier to undertand and remember what you learn. Practice concentration. During your cheduled tudy time, make every effort to concentrate. Locate a quiet area o that you don t become ditracted. Don t allow your mind to wander or daydream. Alo, try not to wate time preparing to tudy. Review cla and reading note. There i abolutely no ubtitute for pending quality time reviewing what you have learned before and after cla. Be patient. Read, think about what you ve read, recite and review. Review cla and reading material from previou aignment at leat once a week. When tet and final exam time come, you will be well prepared. You won t have to pend time relearning material from the beginning of the term. Remember to keep up with your aignment. If you fall behind, it ometime very difficult to catch up. Try not to worry about how much or how little time other tudent pend tudying. Every peron learn at hi or her own pace. 7
Improve Your Reading Habit Step 8. Technique for reading effectively: (Reading a textbook i different.) Preview your textbook. Read the introduction, table of content, chapter heading and ubheading to ee how the content i organized; look for key theme. Skim each chapter before you read it, and -- look at the introduction, heading, ubtitle, graph, chart, diagram, and any quetion that are lited at the end; -- ue picture, chart, diagram, and graph a a way to remember information. Create your own viual if it help you. Make note. Read the chapter, but while you re reading: -- write down important fact or idea in your notebook; -- make note in the margin or highlight important word, phrae, fact, etc. to make them eay to find; -- top every now and then and ee if you can explain to yourelf what you ve jut read; -- write down anything you don t undertand o you can ak about it in cla; -- write down anything that ound like a good tet quetion -- and the anwer! Preview your note and reread chapter to: -- anwer your own quetion; -- ee how what you ve read relate to the coure outline and goal; -- relate the information in the chapter to your cla note and what you read in earlier chapter. Don t fall behind in your aignment; in fact, try to read ahead whenever poible. 8
Take Better Cla Note Step 9. Practice good organization in taking note. Keep a eparate notebook for each coure. You may want to attach the coure yllabu to the inide cover of the notebook. Do aigned reading before cla. Thi will help you to know which information i mot important and which you ll need to clarify in cla. Make good ue of your daily chedule. Take good lecture note. Don t try to write down everything your intructor ay. Intead, liten carefully and take note of: -- key word, phrae, definition; -- idea that are repeated and emphaized; -- idea and fact important enough to be written on the board; -- example and idea that tie fact together. Try to organize your note a an outline. Le important fact hould be indented under more important one; OR write major topic heading on the left ide of the page, and note about the topic on the right. Allow ufficient writing pace. Leave wide margin or extra pace o that you can write in extra information, your own comment, and reference to your aigned reading. Make ue of index card. A you take note, liten for thing that ound like good tet quetion and jot them down in the margin. Later, you may want to put them on 3 x 5 card that you can ue (along with the quetion you wrote down while reading your textbook) to prepare for tet. Study your note. A oon a you can, after your cla i over, review your note to be ure you undertand them. If you think you mied omething, check with another tudent or with your teacher. You may alo find that recopying your note help you to undertand the material better -- it alo a good way to tudy your note. Whether you imply review your note or recopy them, ue a marker or underline to highlight epecially important fact, idea, and poible tet quetion o you can find them eaily. 9
Develop Your Tet-Taking Skill Taking tet and exam i an important part of college life. Tet give you and your intructor a reliable way to meaure how well you are learning the material -- and they may determine what your final grade will be. You want to do well on your tet, and there are a number of tep you can take that will definitely help you to do your bet. Step 10. Prepare for teting. Before the Tet Make a tet chedule at leat one week in advance. Avoid cramming. Don t wait for the lat minute to begin tudying. Cramming may help ome tudent, but mot information learned thi way i quickly forgotten and eldom undertood. Be ure you know what material the tet will cover -- if in doubt, ak your intructor. Review your cla and tudy note. No matter how often you ve reviewed them before, it worth looking at them again to refreh your memory. Review your note for poible tet quetion. Review previou tet. Ak your intructor if tet from previou emeter are available for you to look at. Reviewing old tet will give you an idea of what the tet will be like. Study for the tet with other tudent, and -- help each other undertand the material; -- ak each other practice quetion; -- talk to your intructor about information you till don t undertand. Get a good night leep before the exam or tet o you can think clearly. Do your bet on the day of the exam. On the Day of the Tet or Exam Arrive early. Get to cla early enough to relax and get organized. Bring everything you will need for the tet -- pencil, pen, calculator, etc. Try to relax. Stay calm and liten carefully to all intruction, epecially thoe about how much time you hould pend on each quetion. 10
Quickly review the entire tet firt to ee what the quetion are like and what intruction you will need to follow. If you don t undertand omething about the tet, ak your intructor. Read intruction carefully for each quetion o you know exactly what i being aked. Pay attention to key word uch a ome, all, never, and alway. Don t try to read omething into the quetion that in t there. Make a tentative deciion about how much time you can afford to pend on each quetion. Do eay quetion firt. Don t get bogged down by quetion you don t undertand or that are difficult. Put a mark next to thoe quetion and do the eay quetion firt, taking your time o you don t make carele error. You can go back to the difficult quetion later. Many tudent tell u that after they have done the eaier quetion, they feel confident and relaxed enough to tackle the harder one; and ometime, the other quetion provide clue that are helpful. Read objective tet item carefully. On multiple-choice and true-andfale tet, be ure to read all the item carefully before deciding on the bet anwer. Avoid reading thing into tet item, and look for the bet anwer. On Eay Exam... -- Think about the quetion and briefly outline your anwer before you begin writing; -- Don t pend too much time on thi, but know what you want to ay and how you will cover the important point; -- Ue example and fact from cla dicuion and aigned reading; -- Make ure you anwer the quetion thoroughly. If you omit any portion of the quetion, your intructor will aume you do not know the anwer; -- Be neat; ue tandard Englih grammar, and proofread what you ve written. And For All Tet... -- Review your anwer at the end of the tet/exam. -- Leave time to review your anwer before you turn in your tet. Check to make ure you haven t forgotten to anwer any of the quetion. 11
When Your Graded Tet I Returned Tet may determine your grade, but they can alo help you learn more. Look at the quetion you had wrong. Try to undertand why you mied them, and make a point of learning the correct anwer before the next tet. Once again, ak your intructor for help if you need it; or make an appointment with your intructor to dicu what you are having trouble with, and get ome uggetion for how you can improve. Don t be dicouraged. Realize that reaching a goal i not alway without etback. Keep your energy focued poitively. Uing the Teting Center The Academic Teting Center i located in LA216 (ext. 3295) at the Wet Windor Campu and KC311 (ext. 6695) at the Jame Kerney Campu. To gain acce to the Teting Center, tudent mut preent a valid MCCC I.D. 12
Maintain A Poitive Attitude For Succe Student who ucceed at college do o becaue they have a poitive attitude. They realize that no college or curriculum i perfect. Student who ucceed value their education and look for opportunitie and ervice to enrich their live. When they experience time of doubt and dicouragement, they do not concentrate on negative feeling. Your attitude will affect your entire college experience. To be ucceful, keep it poitive! Take control of your own life direction and ucce. You alone are reponible for how well you do at Mercer. Know what you mut do to ucceed in each cla and tick to it! Develop the peronal determination, peritence and trong work habit needed for ucce in chool and in life. Alway keep trying, believe in your own abilitie and ue every aignment and tet/exam a an opportunity to demontrate your capability. Find out what your option are if you are having problem. If you feel overwhelmed, don t uddenly top attending clae. Never heitate to ak for help and information from your intructor, counelor, diviion chairperon or dean. Admitting that you have a problem and aking for help will not be held againt you; rather, it may be the ingle mot important tep you take toward guaranteeing your own future ucce. Maintain a balance between your tudy hour and work hour, if you mut work while attending Mercer. In general, full-time tudent -- thoe taking 12 or more credit -- hould not work more than 20 hour a week. Try to chedule your work hour o they don t conflict with your clae and tudy time. Remember to allow yourelf ome leiure time alo! Regiter early each emeter o you can arrange your academic chedule to make juggling your job and clae a eay a poible. Member of your family may not undertand the new demand your college coure will place on you. Try to work out your chedule in advance and hare it with your family. You have made a mart deciion by enrolling a a tudent at Mercer. Keep your academic goal high on your lit of prioritie. It up to you to chooe ucce. We hope thee uggetion will give you 13
Some of Mercer Support Service To Help You Succeed Academic Support Service (FA129) can be contacted for general help and information, or help with finding a tudy group at 609-586-4800 ext. 3422 or email, tinona@mccc.edu. A detailed chedule liting our tutor area of expertie and hour i available a a handout. A chedule i alo available at http://www.mccc.edu/pdf/tutor_chedule_ww.pdf Couneling Service (SC229, SC238), Kerney Campu (KC216) provide profeional counelor at both campue to counel you regarding your peronal, ocial, career and academic growth. They are well-trained and will do whatever i neceary to enure your ucce at Mercer. Counelor are available day and evening hour. Englih a a Second Language-ESL (SC252) tudent may ue the Writing Center for aitance in ESL coure. Student may alo go to the Kerney Campu (KC311) for aitance. Day and evening hour are available. Kerney Learning Center (KC311), located on the third floor of the Jame Kerney Campu, provide computer-aited intruction, tutoring and teting for coure in reading, writing and math. All credit tudent may obtain aitance in uing the computer ytem and receive individual tutoring throughout the emeter. Wet Windor Campu-Learning Center (FA129) offer tutoring in all level of reading, writing, and mathematic, plu chemitry, biology, phyic, accounting, economic and computer cience. Specialized tutoring i alo available for introductory math and Englih coure. Tutoring at MCCC i free and i on a drop in bai. No appointment i neceary. Tutoring i individualized intruction in an academic ubject that upplement claroom intruction or lecture hall experience. Tutoring i an integral part of the educational proce. Working with a tutor doe not have to be viewed a omething that occur only when you are experiencing difficulty. Tutoring i not a ubtitute for attending clae, taking cla note, completing aignment or tudying independently. 14
Library (WW) (JKC) MCCC librarie provide reource and taff to upport your academic need. Included in the collection are over 60,000 book, compact dic, newpaper, periodical, audio and videocaette. There are VCR, a tape duplication machine for copying foreign language tape, graphic calculator, and CD player to complement collection reource. Additionally, many intructor place article and upplemental reading on reerve at the circulation dek. Remember that the library i an extenion of your claroom. Library taff work with faculty to make ure that you have acce to the information you need to thoroughly reearch a topic and improve your ability to make better grade. There i alo a 56-eat computer lab located in the library. (Temporarily available in LA232 while the Library i under contruction) A valid MCCC identification card i required for admiion. Policie and rule for uing the lab and acceing the Internet are available in the lab and mut be read before uing the computer. Lab monitor are available to ait you with quetion. Program for Academic Service and Succe (PASS) (SC238) include the Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) program, the Student Support Service (SSS) program related to helping tudent adjut to college academically, ocially and Retention Service. Peer tutoring, mentoring, couneling and pecial workhop are available. Special Service (FA129) provide continuing upport to tudent with documented learning and phyical diabilitie. Variou upport ervice have been etablihed to ait tudent according to individual need: Academic Accommodation Academic Adviement Profeional Tutorial Support Aitive Technology Student with pecial need enrolled at the college can acce ervice by: Self-identification: It i the reponibility of the tudent with a diability to identify herelf/himelf to the Office of Special Service and to requet appropriate accommodation. Providing documentation: Eligibility for ervice and accommodation for tudent with diabilitie i baed on the tudent providing appropriate documentation. Documentation can include medical report, learning and pychological evaluation, or phyical therapy evaluation. School IEP and tranition plan are not documentation of a diability. Completing the intake packet: Available from the Office of Special Service, thi packet contain ome of the neceary paperwork needed by our office, including the Requet for Academic Modification. Student Advocate are qualified counelor located in each academic diviion to ait tudent in peronal, career and academic matter. (ee front of booklet) Tranfer & Career Service (SC229) provide ervice to tudent wihing to tranfer to other intitution of higher learning and ervice to tudent exploring major and career. An appointment i neceary for individual couneling. Workhop are provided throughout the year. 15
Learn About Mercer: Read The College Catalog and The Student Handbook The College Catalog and the Student Handbook may be the mot valuable book on campu. In them you ll find important information about: The Academic Calendar -- including date for exam, regitration, and holiday or vacation period. Rule and regulation of the college -- including what to do if you need to withdraw from a cla. Information about grade and taying in college. Requirement for each degree and certificate program. Coure decription. Service that are available on campu and where to find them. Who Who on campu -- who you need to ee for anwer. If you don t have a catalog or a Student Handbook, top in the Admiion Office, 2nd floor, Student Center or the Information Dek, 1t floor, Student Center. At the Jame Kerney Campu, pick up a copy at the Student Service Office, room KC 218. Since thee book are updated periodically, be ure you have the latet edition. And be ure to read them! They may not be the mot exciting book you ll read thi year, but you ll be glad you did. For more information alo check out www.mccc.edu 16
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