Six Habits of Highly Successful Students

Students sometimes take this class because they think it will be less "science-y" than other classes that count as a Science with Lab Gen Ed. Bad news: this class isn't a lesser science. In fact, since anthropology is a holistic field, I assume you have a good background knowledge of basic biological concepts.

Sometimes students worry that they can't do well in this class because they "just don't have a science brain." Good news: there's no such thing as a "science brain"! Successful students aren’t born, they are made. Students don’t get A’s because they’re inherently smart, they get A’s through a combination of hard work, a good academic background, and good study habits. What are those good habits? The results of a survey of A and B+ students from Physical Anthropology in Spring 2013 suggest these are the most critical…

1. Attend Class

Every A student attended class at least 90% of the time. Not one of the students who failed had attended class more than 60% of the time. No student who attended at least 70% of the time got below a C.

Student comments:

“I would say that coming to class regularly is very important. And if you have to miss class make sure you get the notes from someone.”

“Well going to class is the number one thing to do because a lot of the parts that were focused on in the exams were not covered, or as easy to find, in the book.”

2. Do the Readings on Time.

85% of A and B+ students did the readings on time for almost all classes. 61% said they did the readings on time for every class.

3. Take Notes

All of the successful students said they took at least one page of notes, on average, during every lecture. 76% took a minimum of two pages of notes. Just writing down the words from the board or the slides is not taking notes.

Student comments:

“I did my best to pay attention in class and take good notes that I could use for studying later on.”

4. Begin Studying for Exams/Practicums Early

Successful students began studying for the exams early (even though they’d been keeping up all along). All of the successful students began studying for each exam at least 2-3 days before. 38% began studying 4-6 days ahead of time.

5. Study for Several Hours

Successful students had already put in many hours each week, keeping up with the readings and reviewing notes, but they still put in many hours of studying before each exam, and extra time in the lab before each practicum. The successful students studied for an average of 6 hours before each exam. 23% studied 8-10 hours for each exam.

6. Write Substantive Essays that Prove Master of the Subject

Successful students did not blow off the comprehension checks or mastery essays. All of the successful students wrote at least 2/3-3/4 of a page for each essay. 54% regularly wrote a full page or more.

More Tips from Successful Students:

"Form study groups, make notecards and try out different memory tricks!"

"The study guides were very helpful and I filled then all out thoroughly. One of my favorite study strategies is using flash cards for key terms and ideas."

"It helps to have little things to remind you of what you studied, like creating an acronym or a rhyme with the information. Some of those can stick with you for years."