by Annie M Manzi

Created on: August 28, 2008   Last Updated: April 08, 2012

College freshmen....you are free from your parents now, out on your own, making your own decisions, and making decisions that will affect your college career in a negative or positive manner. You are going to school and studying and there is no parental pressure in sight. However, the freshman year is the start of your college career and it is important to set up good study skills and habits from the start.

Learn to set up your own schedules and take responsibility for your work. Too many freshman flunk out of college due to the lack of effective study skills. These are ten top study skills you are going to have to know in order to successfully study and succeed in each class.

1) Become organized. If you are not you will be wasting time and getting frustrated. Not a good start for a study session. Make sure you have all the materials and information needed to study.

2) Use your time wisely. Set up a structured time to study everyday. Unstructured time slips easily through your hands and you get little accomplished.

3) Be prepared for anything and everything. This is a brand new experience where you are expected to do it all on your own. You are making the decisions to go to class, to study, and how much effort you are putting in to college. Motivate yourself by setting little goals and meet them. Set career goals, they may change, but it important to strive towards something.

4) Understand your professors' style and what they want from their students. Adjust to their style as they won't adjust to yours. Make sure you go by the syllabus provided by each professor.

5) Find the right place to study. If your room is too busy or noisy, go to the library or study lounge.

6) Form small study groups. You can ask each other questions and compare notes. When studying a difficult subject the members can encourage, support, give feedback, add clarification, and help each other. Study group members have the tendency to get better grades.

7) If you miss class, make sure you have someone to get your notes from. Professors usually give tests with questions directly from the notes.

8) Study in shorter time periods of an hour or so. Then take a break to eat, take a nap or get some exercise. My son claimed that taking a nap let his brain absorb the information he just read. If you study fresh, you will remember more.

9) Stop studying by a certain time each night so you get a good night's sleep. Studying all night will just make you tired the next day.

10) Have a positive attitude when studying; it will help you to focus and be more interested in the subject.

Getting right into developing good study habits may seem an unnecessary thing to do, but the sooner you put the effort in, the more successful you will be. College is a big investment of time and money, so make the most of it. If you fail, look at it as a learning experience and change how you study. Don't forget to ask for help from your peers and your professors. There are tutors who can help you to put it all together if needed. The best advice I can give you is to never give up. If one way doesn't work for you, another way will.

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