My first tip is for you to reflect upon your habits. Are you choosing patterns of behavior that set yourself up for success or not? For example, do you plan a schedule for your week that is balanced with school, studying time, exercise, etc? Do you get enough good quality sleep most nights? Are you eating a healthy diet? Do you spend too much time in front of a screen to “relax” only to feel more exhausted afterwards? If you were to take an honest inventory of your habits, which ones do you think really benefit you, and which ones may seem like a good idea at the time but after closer inspection you can see they are not the best choices for you? Consider making a conscious effort to drop bad habits and cultivate good ones.

Attending class is so important, it is one of the most important times for you to learn the material of the course. But your presence alone is not enough, you must be engaged and to actively participate. You will be more likely to do that if you have read the material before class, have had a good night of sleep, have eaten a healthy meal, and are alert and wanting to make the most of your class time. Taking notes is a great way to stay focused during longer lecture times and will also help you study for the exam later on. If you are not a good note-taker I suggest you ask one of your peers if you could have a copy of their notes, because that may be very valuable to you during your study time. I think it is always a good idea to set your intention before class: what is the big picture? Why are you taking this course? How will it impact your goals? Is it worth for you to make an extra-effort so you have the best chance of a good grade (and help increase your GPA)? Are your long-term objectives better served by doing your best to make the most of your time attending this class? I have learned that putting activities into perspective enables me to make the very best choices for myself; I suspect and hope that this strategy will work for you too.

It is very important that you try to study regularly: everyday if possible, or at the very least once a week. This allows you to better absorb the information you are learning and also gives you a chance to find out if there are aspects of what you are studying that you don’t fully understand, and you have time to clarify your doubts in class before your exam. Trying to cram information in your brain before the test does not allow for deep learning. By skimming through the surface, you may retain some information briefly, but you will forget about it as soon as the test is over, if you actually can retain anything prior to the test. It is so much better to study a little bit at a time, allow the information to sink in, and then only refresh your memory about what you already know the day before the exam.

Too many things to do, too little time to do it. Does this sound familiar? You are not alone. Most of us feel that way, and life tends to get busier as you get older. So, what is the answer? Prioritize. Write down your to-do list, then order the activities according to their importance or deadlines. Once you have decided what comes first then focus on that as if there was nothing else in the world that you needed to do. This will remove all the stress while you are doing that one task, and you may actually truly enjoy what you are doing. If you keep thinking about all that you have to do, then your life can become extremely stressful, and you cannot really enjoy doing anything because you will feel so overwhelmed all the time. The way out: one task at a time, and only one task at a time. Once that one task is over, then another one task, and so forth. This applies to everything: from doing dishes to going to work, to studying a chapter or preparing a meal or going for a walk. You may not always succeed, but every time you do there will be a little less stress in your life. Over time it becomes easier.

You decided to take time to study, what is the first thing you should do? Remove all distractions from your vicinity. Your phone is turned off, if you are using a computer the wi-fi is turned off, etc. You are somewhere where you are not going to be interrupted or at least you can post a sign on your bedroom door saying that you are trying to study please do not knock. If this is not possible at home: then go to a coffee shop, or to the library, or sit outside at Dominican, or cover your ears with headphones and play some soothing music that will help you focus and obliterate the noise around you. Make sure you are wearing comfortable clothes, there is a glass of water nearby, maybe a couple of (healthy) snacks, etc, in other words; prepare your environment so you have no reason to leave your study area for a long while and if feels comfortable to be there. Also remind yourself before you start of why you are doing this: you have long-term goals you are trying to achieve and this is your path to success, and thus very much worth your effort.

Although tests may be in an essay or a multiple-choice format, even in the latter case the way the questions will be asked and the answers presented will still require you to truly understand the material to be able to pick the correct alternative. Memorization alone will only take you so far. That means that if you are studying for an exam counting that by looking at the alternatives it will be very easy to pick the right one, it is likely that you will be in for an unpleasant surprise. Also know that, if in the future you have to take standardized tests to get into a certain graduate program, it is likely that the exams will be multiple choice tests that will be designed in a similar manner. So you really need to study as if the questions in the exam would be essay questions, where you need to be able to fully articulate your understanding of the concepts. If you can do that, I guarantee you that you will do very well in all my exams. First start with the memorization of main concepts, making sure you can spell it out what you remembered correctly without looking at anything, then make sure you understand the concepts well enough to be able to apply them within a certain context or hypothetical scenario. If you can explain what you learned to someone else clearly that means you got it.

If you find the material challenging to study on your own, consider organizing a study group where you and your peers can go through the content together. Just remember that this is studying time! If getting together is more of a distraction than anything else, then a study group is not the best option for you. Or maybe you just need to find the right people to be in your study group. Alternatively, or in addition, consider getting a tutor. Dominican offers free tutoring so you might as well take advantage of it! Here is the link to request a tutor: https://www.dominican.edu/directory/tutoring-and-learning-center . In the same link you will find drop-in tutoring hours as well.

If you did not get the grade you wanted or expected in an exam, please consider the following possibilities:

a) Did you study enough?

b) Have you followed the guidelines I am suggesting? Please ready these tips carefully as they may provide you with the keys that will help you do better next time.

c) If you feel you studied a lot for the test and followed the guidelines I am recommending, but still did poorly, then there must be something ineffective with your studying methods: you must change that in order to do better in your next test! If you keep doing the same thing it is likely that you will keep getting the same grade in every test. Please do schedule an appointment with me so we can sort out together what may be going wrong.

d) Do you feel that you could have done better in the exam if you had more time to take the test, or do you suspect that you may have a learning disability and need special assistance? If this is the case, please do contact Dominican's Accessibility and Disability Services office and they will be happy to work with you, determine what accommodations you must receive, and communicate with me so I can make sure you are getting the assistance needed.

Sometimes our personal lives can become too difficult and interfere with our ability to do well in school. If this is happening to you, please consider talking to a professional counselor at Dominican. This service is free to all students and there is no long-term commitment, so you can sign up for just one session if you wish. I strongly encourage you to do that because these are professionals specialized in helping people navigate difficult circumstances in life. So they are the very best people to help you find healthy coping tools and also to assist you in dealing with challenging relationships or situations. Here is the link to schedule an appointment: https://www.dominican.edu/campus-life/health-and-wellness/university-counseling-services . Also please be sure to let your advisor and professor know in case there is a lot going on at home and this is affecting your academic performance. We will do our best to try to help as much as possible.

If your grades are not what you want them to be this semester, please consider if you are taking too many difficult classes at the same time. Or it is possible that, if your personal life is very challenging at this moment, you may not be able to take a large number of units and still get the grades you want. While taking fewer units may cause your graduation time to also be delayed, consider what your best options are. Talk with your academic advisor and decide if it may make sense for you to withdraw from one course, so you can use that freed time to study and bring your grade up in all other courses. Maybe you can replace that course later on during a summer or winter break, or maybe you have room in later semesters to add that course again. Also, some of you have very ambitious career goals where a high GPA is very important, if this is your case, consider the possibility that taking fewer courses may potentially allow you to get a higher GPA than what you would be able to do otherwise. Remember, if you do not have the minimum GPA required by the program you want to go into, you may not be able to apply for the program, so that would mean having to go back to school for a master’s degree or post bac degree to get the minimum GPA to apply, or choosing a different career path. A discussion with your academic advisor is the best way to help you make this type of decision.