Balancing High School and Part-Time Work

Part 4

He reminds students that “the activities and courses students choose vary considerably, so it’s important for young people to keep their individual situations clearly in mind.” MacGowan continues, “For example, student actors should allow for the fact that they won’t have as much time during performances seasons. Students athletes need to remember the times of the year that they’ll be tied up with games and practices. Other students who are in classes that make considerable demands outside of the classroom must keep that reality in mind.”

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Balancing High School and Part-Time Work

Part 1

http://www.collegeboard.com /students/plan/high-school/45266.html

Like many high school students, you may want—or need—to work part time. Working takes a lot of time and energy, though, so before getting a job, make sure that you think about your ability to handle both work and your education.

Important Considerations

You have to weigh a number of factors when deciding whether to take on a part-time job. It/’s important to get as much information possible, so you can figure out what choice makes the most sense for you.

Schedule a meeting with your school counselor to discuss the idea of working. Talk to your counselor about why you want to work and what type of position you’re seeking.

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How to Take on College Studying

Part 2

Choose Where to Study

Where you should study depends on two factors: the environment in which you are best able to concentrate and the type of work you are planning to do.

·        The best places to study have good light, a comfortable temperature and enough desk space—usually your dorm room, your apartment or the library.

·        For completing problem sets or brainstorming possible test questions, you may want to study with a group or at least in a setting where fellow students are available for discussion.

·        When you are reading book chapters or working on a research paper, you are probably better off in a less social environment.

Improve Your Study Habits

·        Have a routine for where and when you study.

·        Choose reasonable and specific goals that you can accomplish for each studying session.

·        Do things that are harder or require more intense thought at your most productive time of the day.

·        Take breaks if you need them so you don’t waste time looking at material but not absorbing it.

·        Get to know students whom you respect and can study with or contact to ask questions.

·        Keep up with the workload and seek help when you need it.

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Studying

 

10 Time Management Tips for Students

http://www.collegeboard.com/student/plan/college-success/116.html

Tips 1-4

Organizing Your Life

Managing your time well is an important element t of success—especially if you’re a student. If you set priorities that fit your needs and lifestyle, you’ll have a better chance of achieving your goals. Here are some tips for taking control of your time and organizing your life.

Tip 1. Make a To-Do List Every Day.

Put things that are most important at the top and do them first. And don’t forget to reward yourself for your accomplishments.

Tip 2. Use Spare Minutes Wisely.

When you’re commuting on the bus or train, use the time to get some reading done.

Tip 3. It’s Okay to Say No.

If your friend asks you to go to a movie on a Thursday night and you have an exam the next morning, realize that it’s okay to say no. keep your short-and long-term priorities in mind.

Tip 4. Find the Right Time.

You’ll work more efficiently if you figure out when you do your best work. For example, if your brain handles math better in the afternoon, don’t wait to do it until late at night.

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Successful Students

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10. Successful students are good time managers. Successful students do not procrastinate. They have learned that time control is life control and have consciously chosen to be in control of their life.

An elemental truth: you will either control time or be controlled by it! It’s your choice: you can lead or be led, establish control or relinquish control, steer your own course or follow others. Failure to take control of their own time is probably the no. 1 study skills problem for college students. It ultimately causes many students to become non students! Procrastinators are good excuse-makers. Don’t make academics harder on yourself than it has to be. Stop Procrastinating. And don’t wait until tomorrow to do it!

The 10 items listed above are paraphrased from an article by Larry M Ludewig called Ten Commandments for Effective Study Skills which appeared in The Teaching Professor, December, 1992.

“Learning Technologies and online education”

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Successful Students

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9. . . . Don’t cram for exams. Successful students know that divided periods of study are more effective than cram sessions, and they practice it.

If there is one thing that study skills specialists agree on, it is that distributed study is better than massed, late-night, light-ditch efforts known as cramming. You’ll learn more, remember more, and earn a higher grade by studying in four, one-hour-night sessions for Friday’s exam than studying for four hours straight on Thursday night. Short, concentrated preparatory efforts are more efficient and rewarding than wasteful, inattentive, last moment marathons. Yet so many students fail to learn this lesson and end up repeating it over and over again until it becomes a wasteful habit. Not too clear, huh?

When you cram, you are taking the shortcut, and shortcuts never produce any real worthwhile results. Also, when you take shortcuts, you fell rather rotten knowing that you could have done better but didn’t. Shortcuts cut you short. You can’t plant watermelon seeds and harvest fresh watermelons the next day. It takes time. Cramming for a test or a project and expecting to make a high score the next day is like planting watermelon seeds and expecting to harvest and eat fresh watermelon the next day. Plus cramming for a test or project doesn’t help you academically, so why even do it. Plan ahead, prepare ahead. Give yourself plenty and weeks to prepare for upcoming accountability opportunities.

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Successful Students

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5.  Don’t sit in the back of the room. Successful students minimize classroom distractions that interfere with learning.

Students want the best seat available for their entertainment dollars, but willingly seek the worst seat for their educational dollars. Students who sit in the back cannot possibly be their professor’s teammate (see no. 4). Why do they expose themselves to the temptations if inactive classroom experiences and distraction of all the people between them and their instructor? Of course, we know they close the back of the classroom because they seek invisibility, both of which are antithetical of efficient and effective learning. If you are trying not to be part of the class, why, then, are you wasting your time? Push your hot buttons, is there something else you should be doing with your time?

6. . . . Take good notes. Successful students take good notes that are understandable and organized, and review them often.

Why put something into your notes you don’t understand? Ask the questions now that are necessary to make your notes meaningful at some later time. A short review of your notes while the material is still fresh on your mind helps you learn more. the more you learn then, the less you’ll have to learn later and the less time it will take because you won’t have to include some deciphering time, also. The whole purpose of taking notes is to use them, and use them often. The more you use them, the more they improve.

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Successful Students

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3. . . . ask questions. Successful students ask questions to provide the quickest route between ignorance and knowledge. In addition to securing knowledge you seek, asking questions has at least two other extremely important benefits. The process helps you pay attention to your professor and helps your professor pay attention to you! Think about it. If you want something, go after it. Get the answer now, or fail a question later. There are no foolish questions, only foolish silence. It’s your choice.

4. . . .  learn that a student and a professor make a team. Most instructors want exactly what you want: they would like for you to learn the material in their respective classes and earn a good grade.

Successful students reflect well on the efforts of any teacher; if you have learned your material, the instructor takes some justifiable pride in teaching. Join forces with your instructor, they are not an enemy, you share the same interests, the same goals-in short, your teammates. Get to know your professor. You’re the most valuable players on the same team. Your jobs are to work together for mutual success. Neither wishes to chalk up a losing season. Be a team player.

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Academic Success

Part 2

Laura B.’s Academic Success Story

In high school I was one of the good students who didn’t really have to study to be a good student. The information that I took for notes in class usually sunk in enough for me to be able to get by on the tests by simply reviewing the material just before the class began. I wasn’t that I didn’t try, I had a 4.0 all through out high school, but I never really had to put forth much of an effort to get the results that I wanted to see. In college however, that changed. Not only did I start studying and reading the book, but I began to understand that the little tiny facts were just as important as the general concepts. My overall study method: I do the reading that is required for the classes, and I try to keep up. If I do fall behind, I usually use the reading that id did not get to as additional study aid. I take good notes in class and actually attend every class that I can. Sometimes, with volleyball, it’s tough because we are on the road a lot, but if I do miss class because of volleyball I make sure that I get the notes from another student in the class. Also, for a subject such as chemistry, I do practice problems to help me understand what the material means.

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