Perspectives of Successful Study Skills As Provided By The University of Central Florida

February 12, 2009

The University of Central Florida’s Department of Academic Services website offers excellent tips to student-athletes looking for a better way to balance the rigors of playing a sport and doing well in the classroom.

Though meant to target student-athletes at the collegiate level, the recommendations made by the Academic Services for Student Athletes division are universal in nature and certainly offer meaningful advice to students at this nation’s secondary education institutions as well.

NATS below offers a synopsis of some of the more prominent suggestions provided to student-athletes logging onto the UCF site and splits them up into two distinct categories – the first, a broader analysis of the mindset and attitude which accompanies a strong of study skills, the second, a more direct and applicable look at the most beneficial practices comprising the act of successful studying itself.

The Mindset and Attitude of Successful Study Skills

• Take responsibility for yourself: The student-athlete is many things in life, but perhaps most important is that he / she are learning what it means to be a young adult. Adults, notes the UCF site, take responsibility for themselves, their needs, their wants, and desires. As such, if a student-athlete finds him/herself confronted with an academic or time management-related challenge, it is the responsibility of that individual to step up and ask for help. Another person cannot force you to study, but certainly can aid in making that process an easier one. It is up to the person having trouble to seek out and request assistance, however, and make the most of it when provided.
• Set short term goals: As if a student-athlete doesn’t have enough on his/ her mind in the course of dealing with the struggles associated with in-school activities and after-school commitments. Yet, writing down a running list of short-term goals – day-to-day, week-to-week – and how to obtain those goals can be a critical process in keeping those obligations in order and making sure they are met in a timely and total manner. Such goals, note the experts at UCF, should be realistic, reflecting what you want to do, but also allowing for a degree of success equal to the given strengths and weaknesses of a respective student-athlete. Use short-terms goals to make easier the process of attaining certain benchmarks, not an added frustration that doesn’t allow for those benchmarks to be met.
• Get interested: Every student-athlete will have a favored subject, but fact of the matter is, individuals have to learn material outside of a particular area of interest. This can be a daunting process, but asking questions, participating in class discussions, joining a study group, or asking for assistance from a tutor or instructor can greatly deepen an appreciation – not to mention, understanding – of those topics which have less appeal.
• Stay positive: Oftentimes, the possibility of achieving success in a given task is either secured or unsecured at the moment an individual begins to act on making a particular undertaking a reality. Maintaining a positive attitude in how one will approach and complete a specific assignment has been proven to go a long way in ensuring that that assignment is completed to the best of one’s abilities. Thus, sustaining a positive attitude in everything a student-athlete is expected to do on a day-to-day basis is critical to ensuring that the responsibilities put before them end up yielding positive and fruitful results.
• Balance work and play: Some student-athletes find that life is all work and no play, whereas others subscribe to a philosophy which suggests quite the opposite. In reality, neither option is better than the other, with both creating significant problems in terms of a student-athlete maintaining a balanced and enjoyable lifestyle. Making time for hitting the books and studying is an essential part of finding success in the classroom. Still, there are lessons to be learned in those relationships found outside the classroom and the personalities encountered by the student-athlete either in the sports he/she plays or in the activities which comprise the day-to-day comings-and-goings part of everyday life. As such, making sure that one devotes the time to both sides of the secondary education equation – school / extracurricular and personal – is a necessary part of finding success not only in high school, but also in the process of preparing for college.

Practical Applications of Study Skills

• Study earlier in the day, when the mind and body is fresh and capable of absorbing necessary information.
• Establish a time each day when studying will take place, but make sure it is broken down into sections and includes regular “refresher” breaks.
• Identify a quiet and comfortable environment to study in, away from potential distractions.
• Arrive to class early and prepared – but most important, go to class!
• Take legible, organized notes. Work with a classmate in order to establish a buddy system which allows open sharing of notes taken during class, particularly as students will almost inevitably miss or misunderstand important theories / concepts being presented. Also, make sure that notes use bullets or brief sentences to capture ideas and themes presented by instructors.
• Participate and ask questions.
• Review notes on an ongoing basis (daily) to make preparing for exams easier. The same goes for reading material assigned by instructors.
• When engaging a textbook, use the popular SQ3R method: first, survey or preview the material to be read, then write down questions related to the main headings and subsections encountered while scanning the assigned text. Follow that up with a commitment to read, recite, and review material studied in order to a) answer those questions created prior to the process of reading taking place and b) to reinforce the main concepts covered within the reading.
• Join / create a study group with students of varying learning styles; this will help reinforce pertinent information needed in the particular subject studied, but also provide the opportunity to learn new and effective ways of processing material.
• Make effective use of “downtime” – i.e., breaks between classes, before practice, waiting for a ride, etc.
• When it comes to taking tests, make sure to read directions thoroughly before ever answering a single question. Take the time out to scan questions more than once in order to ensure no pertinent information is missed. Underline key phrases included within questions in order to ensure complete understanding of the intended purpose of the question – i.e., what is it asking and why is it being asked? Use a process of elimination to narrow down potential answers. Pace the answer process as well; the UCF site recommends taking the total number of questions on an exam, adding to that number one, and then dividing the answer by the amount of time you have in order to complete the test. Finally, don’t get hung up on difficult exam questions; if you spend more than the allocated time as discussed in the last sentence, simply skip the question, then come back once more if time allows.