Chapter 13: Study Skills and Student Success
Christine Malone, EdD
There are many educational success strategies, but each student may need to design a plan that works specifically for them. For example, students who are also parents of young children may need to design a success strategy that includes caring for children; students who work full-time may need an entirely different success strategy for their educational pursuits.
Generally, students should have a strategy for getting their coursework completed. This may include blocking out time in the calendar for coursework. Coursework includes readings, assignments, quizzes, and more. Some of this work may be done in small spurts, rather than a large block of time. For example, if the student rides a bus to work, they may use the time during that ride to read or study course material.
One important fact to consider is that many healthcare profession programs require a level of English comprehension and math skills. These courses may be required as prerequisites before students are admitted into certain education programs.
Setting goals is an important part of educational success. This may include goals for completing course work, or goals for reaching a particular grade. Any goal should be reasonable and achievable. Students set themselves up for failure if they set their goals far too high. A common type of goal setting is called SMART goals. This stands for specific, measurable, achievable, and time-sensitive. An example of a SMART goal would be if a student wants to finish an assignment by the end of day on Sunday. The goal is specific (get the paper done by Sunday), measurable (get the paper done by Sunday), achievable (the student should have the time to get the assignment completed by Sunday), and time-sensitive (get the paper done by Sunday). Setting goals that are not achievable causes students to lose momentum, or become discouraged in their studies.
Students with children in the home may engage the children in studying. For example, a teen may hold flash cards for the parent while the parent practices memorizing terms from their course. Students may also team up with classmates to go over materials or study for exams.
A good rule of thumb is for students to be realistic about what they can achieve. A student working full-time with young children at home may not have the ability to devote enough time to course work as a student who does not work and lives alone. Some students may face time constraints for their educational pursuit. For example, if a student is on a particular financial aid program that requires their degree or certificate be completed within one year, that student will need to devise a success strategy that takes the time constraint into focus.
Generally, students should expect to spend three hours per week for each credit in college courses. That means, a student taking 10 credits should plan on 30 hours per week for the course work. This includes in-class time, homew