planning

College Organization Part Five: Preparing for Exams

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

So, you have committed to study for good grades, but how do you prepare for an exam? It starts back with pre-reading the assignments before the lecture.

You have organized your academic calendar at the beginning of the semester. You have faithfully read your assignments ahead of time, but there are some steps you need to take as soon as you get home.

First, organize your lecture notes. Is there anything unclear or muddy? Plan on asking the professor about it at the next lecture, AFTER you have re-read the reading for that day. You may be able to clear things up by looking at the material again. Does this mean that you are reading the material twice? Yes, but that is just the start.

Next, make up study notes for anything the professor seemed particularly focused on. Sometimes professors will spend a lot of time on one area. It is good to ask him or her if there is a reason for this extended time. It may be because the concepts being described are building blocks that you need for future information or it may be that this information will be on your next exam. There is usually a good reason for us to take extra time with something. Don’t just blow it off or disregard our comments.

On a weekly basis, go back over your notes and remind yourself about what you have learned. Take this information and use it to shore up your knowledge about the topic at hand. Do not wait until the night before an exam to start studying. That is a good way to flunk even the simplest of tests. The idea here is to put yourself in a perpetual mode of preparing for the exam. Guess what will happen? You will actually be ready for the exam and will not be cramming information into your brain at the last minute.

I see this blog is getting a bit long-winded, so I will put your next steps on the next blog, which I write later this week. If you have any questions or comments, please use my name in your reply, so that I will know that you are not a robot.  I would be happy to address topics that concern you.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

College Organization Part Three: What is the oven timer for?

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Here we are at part three, where I will explain why you need the oven timer!

We all claim to spend xyz hours studying, right? Now you are going to prove it to yourself. The rule of thumb is two hours of studying for every hour of class time. I don’t know many people who actually do that (I wrote about the two ladies I found this semester that do spend hours studying in an earlier blog), but that is the gold standard for good grades.

So, pull out your oven timer and get to work. When you sit down to read your homework or write a paper, set the timer for 45 minutes or an hour, depending on how long you can sit down without needing to “fluff your pillow.” Focus totally on your school work. If the phone rings, or the mail carrier knocks on the door, or a family member sits down to chat with you, turn off the timer. You are not studying.

When the distraction is gone and you are ready to get back to work, turn the timer back on. Log your actual study time on your academic calendar or a notebook. Keep track of how long you devote to your studies. Make a commitment to spend so many hours per day and so many hours per week studying and move heaven and earth to make that happen.

Every 45 minutes or hour, get up and walk around a bit. It will help get the blood flowing again and prevent you from falling asleep. If you can talk to your significant other or family about not interrupting your study time, that is a great idea. When I am writing, every interruption takes me about 20 minutes of concentrated effort to refocus my full attention on what I was doing. If you are the same way, even the slightest distraction can really drain your study time.

When I was writing my Ph.D. dissertation, I made a commitment to write two hours a day, five days a week. I also tried to write at least an hour on the two days that I took “off”- these were days that I was teaching face-to-face classes all day and then coming home to make dinner, do laundry, and go to choir practice. I had discipline and, as a result, finished writing a 400-page dissertation with 20 pages of references in 12 months. Some people take years to do the same thing. Dedication pays off. If I did it, you can do this homework thing as well!

I see this blog is getting a bit long-winded, so I will put your next steps on the next blog, which I will go ahead and write today. If you have any questions or comments, please use my name in your reply, so that I will know that you are not a robot.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

College Organization Part two

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Here is part two of what I am writing about college organization. Okay, it is the first day of class and your professor just handed you the syllabus for the class. DO NOT LOSE THIS! I suggest that you slip it into a clear protective sleeve and carry it in your class notebook. [Some professors also post their syllabus on the class webpage, so you can find a replacement copy there, if you do the unthinkable and lose it.]

The professors at my colleges are required to go over the syllabus at the beginning of class. Though it may seem very boring (we are bored by this, as well), pay attention. Take notes on what is said about assignments. Do not automatically think we will follow up our instructions in writing. I stopped posting additional instructions on my class page years ago, to save time and to acknowledge that you are no longer in grade school. You are an adult and I expect you to write things down. It is not my responsibility to remind you!

When you get home, take the syllabi that you received today and immediately write the assignments onto your calendar, marking the assignments in different colors of ink for each different class. (I also note what class it is for, such as ENGL101, so that I won’t need to remember which color ink is for which class.) You need to do this every day when you get home from your first-time classes.

[Extra Note: do not show up late for class. Many professors make announcements at the beginning of class and if you are late you will miss them BUT you will still be responsible for what was said!]

After you have entered the due dates (including all reading assignments) for each class, go back and use the highlighter to mark big projects. As you complete each assignment throughout the semester, check it off on your calendar. Do not obliterate the information by marking through it; you may need to revisit the assignments and must be able to see them.

By having an entire month available at one time, you should be able to stay ahead of things and not miss assignments. My next blog will explain what you are to do with the oven timer. I see this blog is getting a bit long-winded, so I will put your next steps on the next blog, which I will go ahead and write today. If you have any questions or comments, please use my name in your reply, so that I will know that you are not a robot.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

College Organization 101: Getting ready to succeed

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

My face-to-face college students have asked me to blog about getting and being organized in college. They asked me about balancing work and college and getting assignments done. For the next few blogs, I will break things down, step-by-step and show you how to be more organized. I used these same principles while working on two undergraduate degrees at the same time, home schooling, running a decorating business, and caring for my family. These are tested and true ideas. Let’s get to work!

You will need to purchase the following items: an academic calendar that is a month-at-a-glance, pens that contain different colors for each of the classes you are taking in a given semester (five classes=five different colors of ink), a highlighter, and an oven timer. [With the calendar, you can use a business month-at-a-glance calendar if you want, as long as the squares are at least two inches square. You are going to be writing your assignments in the squares, so a traditional calendar won’t be big enough.]

As soon as you know what books will be used for a given class, buy or order them. You must have the books by the time the class starts because you are going to get ahead of the class (and, hopefully, stay ahead)!

As soon as you have a copy of the syllabus, do the first week’s reading for each class. Do not try to get way ahead or your understanding of the material might fade (or it might simply be wrong). The idea here is that you are going to do the reading for the lecture before you come to class. That way, you will not be overwhelmed by not knowing anything that the professor is talking about. By reading ahead just a little, you will be vaguely familiar with the information before it is presented.

If you do not have access to the syllabus before the class begins,  read the Table of Contents, to see what the book covers and then read the introduction to the text. As you read, highlight information that seems important but do not highlight everything. If you are someone who is distracted by highlighting (I am one of those people), you might find it more helpful to underline in the book. Margins are usually pretty large, so you can actually make notes there, if you would also be distracted by underlining.

I see this blog is getting a bit long-winded, so I will put your next steps on the next blog, which I will go ahead and write today. If you have any questions or comments, please use my name in your reply, so that I will know that you are not a robot.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Preparing for Tests

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Tests….exams…..groan…..groan louder. How do you get your act together to get an exam completed successfully? Well, what kind of grade do you want?

If you are looking for a C or D, you might try to listen occasionally in class but don’t take any notes. You are going to depend on your ability to remember everything the instructor says. In eleven years of teaching college, I have met exactly ONE student who did not need to take notes, but he hung on my every word and looked at my Power Points as if they were the Holy Grail.

If you want to achieve a B, you will take some notes but never actually read the book.  You might skim it once…….You will wait until the night before the test to study and perhaps you will even pull an all-nighter. I saw a girl at the University of Maryland College Park who decided to meet with a study group at the library the night before a day of exams. She was wandering around, showing off her really cute outfit to everyone she knew…..but I didn’t see her sit down and actually study the whole time she was there. She still planned on staying up all night, but was more concerned about her shiny hair, perfect makeup, and (like I said) really cute outfit to actually accomplish anything.

If your goal is an A, then let’s talk. You plan for the exam starting at the beginning of the semester. You read the chapter before you get to class so that you have some understanding of the material, you take notes as the professor speaks, and you make a special note of anything that she seems to be spending extra time on. When you get back home, you go over your notes and make sure that you have understood the concepts she explained in class. If you are unclear, you check what the textbook says and ask the professor via email or at the next class meeting about anything that is muddy. You study throughout the semester, rather than just waiting till the last minute. You also review your notes the night before the exam.

If the instructor offers extra credit, take it. For example, I lecture on various aspects of communication and then show an episode of House, M.D. or a movie (like “Arrival”) to illustrate what I have been talking about. As I show the DVD, I talk about how that applies to the lecture. (Yes, it is annoying for me to talk over the DVD, but that’s how I show students how the DVD ties into the lecture!) The students then have the chance to write a two-page essay that incorporates the textbook chapters that we have been studying (and that will be on the exam) and the DVD. They can earn up to an entire letter grade added to the exam by writing the essay. I have gotten them into the book, shown them how to write an essay (we got over that in class), and given them the chance to earn a higher grade. Like I said, take the extra credit opportunity if one is there. You never know when you will have a bad day and need it.

If you take my suggestions, you cannot help but get a better grade on your exam. If it is too late to start at the beginning of the semester, start now and pull up your less-than-desirable grade. Let me know how it goes!

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Time Management

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Today’s blog is about time management, at the request of one of my students. How do you keep on top of things when juggling work, school, and family? Here are some tips that I have used:

First, keep a month-at-a-glance calendar that shows all of the homework you have due for a specific class. If you have more than one class at a time, which is pretty common, color-code the assignments. I mark up my calendar as soon as the syllabus is available, so that an assignment does not show up unexpectedly. (Now that I am a teacher, I obviously get the syllabus first, but teaching for three colleges, I mark up each college’s work on my calendar accordingly. I know which students will be turning something in and when to expect it, so that I can track my own grading schedule).

Then you need to mark in work commitments, family commitments, and church activities. Take a careful look, so that you know well in advance when you will be having a particularly busy week. Work ahead as much as possible, if you know a busy week is coming. Is there some reading that you can do ahead of time? Does your professor release discussion boards a week ahead of the due date (one of my colleges requires that I do this, to make accommodations for our large groups of military students).

Finally, chart in some down-time. This may be difficult, but you do need to relax. Note: Do not try to guilt-trip your professor into letting you submit things late just because you are overwhelmed. It is not our fault that you work full time, are taking 7 classes for a double-major, and are expecting identical quadruplets the second week of class.

Hope this helps!

Dr. Sheri

Planning for Your Financial Future Starts Now

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

You may be a young person who is just starting out in life and planning for your financial future may seem like something to put off for a lot of years……don’t do it.

I recently spoke with a dear friend whose parents did not plan adequately for their retirement years. She and her husband are now responsible for helping them out. It has been a financial strain but, if they had put away some money as they worked, they would not be destitute now.

What plans have you made for your future? How will you avoid being a financial burden to your children in the coming years?  I would love to hear your ideas!

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Heading into the home stretch!

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

For those of you in college, you are heading into the home stretch- the end of the semester. This is not the time to let your guard down. I have had students who were very, very close to the next highest letter grade, yet who chose to skip the last few days of class.

What does this say to the professor? It tells the instructor that you really don’t care about your education. Unless you have a huge emergency, show up until the bitter end! I once had a class of 17 students, 6 of whom chose to have a family emergency keep them from class on the same day (the final exam). What are the odds of this happening? Slim to none, I would argue. One of the girls admitted later that the entire family had been needed to take Grandma to the hospital. It turned out that Grandma was constipated. Was the girl really needed there for that????? Really?

I had a student recently who has lost several grandparents, all when something was due. Other students have told me that “oh, I wasn’t here the day it was due, so it’s not late.” Yes, it is. The syllabus clearly states that your failure to attend a class does not negate the due date. If you turn something in late, I lower the grade by one letter grade. Yes, I am tough, but your future bosses will be tougher. Get used to it now.

I hope you have a superb ending to the semester. I hope that your grades are stellar and that you are encouraged as you continue the journey of getting a college education. Not everyone goes to college, so you are special. You are a unique person who has a lot to offer; I wish you well.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Finishing the course from a position of strength

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

As my own teaching winds down for the semester, it seemed good to share with you how to finish your courses strong.

First, do the work! Do not make excuses; you have no where to go but with an “incomplete” and teachers don’t like the thought of having one student to check on over the holidays. Get your assignments done and turned in on time. Some instructors (like me) actually lower the grade by one letter if you are tardy with an assignment. Some professors (also like me) do not accept any work after the end of the semester.

Next, make sure that you have understood the assignment correctly. I had a student come into one of my speech classes recently and tell me he didn’t realize that we had a final speech due……that very day! He thought he had to write a paper, which is weird since it is a speech class. We’d only been talking about it, in-depth, for a month. Where had he been? Oh, yes, he’s the student who shows up late, if at all……Other times, he was in class but checked out, mentally.

Contact the professor in time to get a reply, if you have any questions about the assignment. Midnight the night before the assignment is due is NOT the time to email the professor with the question “So what is due tomorrow???” If you email me several days before the due date, I can see that you have waited almost until the last minute, but you still have time to do the work.

Do not wait until the last minute to do an assignment. At that point in time, you are in panic mode and you can’t really hear anything being said because you are so busy thinking “oh, my, what can I do now?” to listen to what you are being told.

Do the work in time to review it before you turn it in.  Always look over the assignment instructions one last time before you submit the assignment, to make sure that you actually did the assignment correctly. (Once I was getting ready to submit a document, only to realize that I had written the wrong paper. Because I still had two days before it was due, I had time to go back and fix it, re-writing it into the required paper.)

Once you have submitted the assignment, do not bug the professor about a quick grade. After speeches yesterday, three different students came up and wanted to know their grades right then. I told them I needed to meditate on the grade before giving it. That was apparently the right thing to say because they all walked away. I don’t meditate on grades, I calculate them in my own office, without distractions like a student standing over me. It’s too easy to make a mistake with someone breathing down my neck.

I hope these tips help you get the best grades ever!

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Preparing for Final Exams

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

This is the time of the semester when final exams take place. You need to be prepared for them, since they can have a profound effect on your final grade for a class.

First, begin preparations the first day of class (too late for some of you for this semester, I know!). Take good notes, making sure that you make a special note of anything the professor seems to dwell on. A well-organized professor who has taught a course numerous times probably has the final exam already written, so he or she will make sure that a particular topic is covered in class, to help you prepare for the test.

Second, make sure that you set aside time to study, really study. Stopping numerous times for a snack, to do the laundry, to text with friends, or talk on the phone is not studying. Set a timer for a specific length of time that you plan on studying and turn it off when you walk away to do something else. While you may insist that you are still studying as you walk over to the refrigerator, your mind is probably on that leftover pumpkin pie, not the subject at hand.

Next, make sure that your study area is well-lit and free from distractions. You may have to go to the library to study, if they have a quiet study area. Some libraries are noisier than staying at home and having your kid brother practicing his saxophone while you work.

Fourth, do not wait till the last minute to study. Cramming a lot of information into your brain over a short period of time is a very bad idea. A friend of mine pulled an all-nighter in college. When she arrived at the exam, she was so tired that she couldn’t remember her name. She left without taking the test.

Finally, make sure that you eat breakfast before the test and that you have had adequate sleep the night before. You cannot do your best if you are struggling to stay awake or have a growling stomach.

Good luck on your finals!

Dr. Sheri