A few days left until the beginning of the 2022-2023 academic cohort. This also means it is time for our students to start thinking about effective ways to help set the tone for a productive semester. To help them feeling more well-prepared for the new school year, here are a few tips:

1. Maintain a certain level of interest towards the subject

Viewing from the course’s outline, if you are interested in its materials, it is a positive sign. It helps you to consume the information more effectively due to the high level of attention while actively recalling the knowledge when needed. If you are not interested in the materials but have to take it since it is a required course, a suggestion will be attempting to find thought-provoking concepts that can spark your interest. You may gain more valuable knowledge than what you expected.

2. Get organized and Stay organized

From academic life to personal life, everything will stay organized when you have a plan. The act of creating a study plan allows students to block time for well-defined learning activities while avoiding procrastination, keep them disciplined and motivated, and balance between study and social life. You can create either a hard-copy or a digital or even both versions for the monthly study schedule to stay on the right track. In addition, sticky notes can also be used as small reminders for upcoming deadlines and/or project meetings.

When it comes to the academic success of students, know how to build your own study notes is also important. This helps strengthen your note-taking skills while improving comprehension and retention.

3. Ask for help

Sometimes, seeking for help can be difficult. Some students have the fear to ask questions as they are afraid that others will laugh at them due to the feeling of being unintelligent.

Whenever you have any troubles understanding the course’s materials, please seek for help as soon as possible and our teachers are more than happy to provide explanation. If you do not want to ask questions in front of the class, you always have the choice to ask after class or during the instructors’ office hours. Regardless of which option you choose, when you do not fully understand the knowledge, asking is better than not doing so for the purpose of information verification.

4. Practice makes Perfect

Academic knowledge and personal experience should go hand-in-hand. Frequent practical experiments will help students to get familiar with various of new ways of consuming the information and solving the problems.

A tip students can adopt to consume and recall the knowledge effectively is using cue cards. Names of the concepts can be written on the front side of the card while the back side can be the explanation of the concepts.

5. Take study breaks

Study breaks matter more than you think. They increase productivity, creativity, and emotional stability. That is why there is a 10-minute break between study sections at Coquitlam College.

Breaks can be used wisely. It is the opportunity for learners to be more involved in community activities while building more close-knit relationships. For instance, students can join the school’s clubs, volunteer for the library, play some outdoor sports, or even just do a few body stretches. Both your physical and mental health will feel thankful for that.

Everyone has their own study strategies. Regardless of which one you apply, as long as the method puts you in a mode of doing or starting to do something before they are due, you are one step closer in achieving your academic goals.