What is Time Management?
Time management is the process of organizing and planning how much time you spend on specific activities.
Some benefits of time management include:
Effective Time Management aids
Time management aids are an essential tool of helping to organize and prioritize your time wisely. A few of these time management aids include:
Finding a tool that is easy to use, fits your needs, and keeps you on track to reaching your goal is essential to using your time wisely.
Using Time Wisely
Your needs and your use of time are precious. Learning how to use your time wisely helps you to meet your goals. Here are some tips on avoiding procrastination:
What does it mean to read critically?
Critical reading is active engagement and interaction with the text. It is important to your academic success and your intellectual growth that you learn and utilize critical reading skills.
Thinking-Intensive Reading (or critical reading) may seem and feel awkward as you first assume the role of critical reader and begin to use the strategies needed to engage with a text. But these methods will quickly become habits as you transition from just moving your eyes across a page to "seeing" (engaging) with what you are reading.
Strategies to Critical Reading
1. Preview. Previewing lets you get an idea of what the text is about and how it is organized before you begin to read closely. What to take-note of here are headnotes, introductory materials, or an abstract; what is known or unknown about the author such as credentials/ reputation and how these impact your perception of the text; the organization or layout of the text and information as well as getting an overview of the basic content; and identifying the rhetorical situation.
2. Contextualize. When you read a text, you read by understanding the words on the page and their significance to what you know and to your values from living in a particular time and place. Contextualizing means to place a text in its historical, biographical, and cultural context in order to recognize the difference between the attitudes and values presented in the text and your contemporary values and attitudes.
3. Annotate. To annotate is to have a conversation with yourself and take notes as you move through a text. This does not mean you have to highlight everything or anything in the text. Often times highlighting can distract you from engaging with the text and remembering the information. Rather write down words, phrases, ideas that come to you, and notes about things that seem important; connect what you find in the text with notes and discussions from class. Develop a symbol system (such as *, !, or ?) all your own.These personalized symbols will allow you to capture the important insights that occur to you as you read and take notes. Finally, ask questions about the content and write these questions down. Questions should focus on the main idea- not on details or illustrations- and should be written in your own words not copied from the paragraphs.
4. Outline, Summarize, Analyze, and Reflect. Outlining a text (like annotating) is much like creating a skeleton of the main argument of the text: the thesis, the main points, and all the through the conclusion. Summarizing, is similar only it is in sentence and paragraph form, and it makes direct connections between the main ideas. Analyzing requires that you ask questions about what you are restating; test the logic, credibility, and emotional impact of the argument. By analyzing you also reflect upon and decide how effectively or ineffectively an argument has been made. Also, at this stage make note of your personal response to the text. How did it make you feel? Did it challenge your attitudes, beliefs, or understanding?
5. Compare and Contrast. Explore and examine the differences and likeness between other texts in the class. Often times authors ask the same question or discuss the same issue, but they approach it in different ways. Ask yourself how they fit together (compare & contrast), why are they both being read, and how do they contribute to the concepts of the course?
*Part II of the tab "Note- Taking: Reading &Verbal" guides you through using these strategies.
PART 1: Reading Texts & Taking Notes
When taking notes from written material we have to do the following:
Make sure that your note taking format encourages you to read texts in an active way-
such as bullet points, underlining, highlighting, etc.
Always remember! Being a critical reader means active engagement and interaction with the text.
Before you begin reading survey the chapter for:
PART 2: Taking Notes in Lectures
Test Taking Strategies
Preparing for a test begins long before the actual exam time. General test preparation techniques help you to better understand the material you are learning and will be tested on. These techniques include taking good notes in a class lecture and as you read your textbook, reviewing your notes soon after class and briefly before the next class, and scheduling time at the end of each week for a longer review.
A good rule of thumb for general test preparation is to always review the material.
Here are 5 Steps for reviewing material:
How to prepare for a test
Organizing for test taking
There are a few strategies you can consider while getting organized to study for a test. These strategies include:
NOTE: Study the most difficult material when you are most alert as trying to study while you're mentally tired usually results in poor material retention.
Study Tools
There are tons of study tools available to you on the internet, for your smartphone or table, and even tools you can create yourself. Useful study tools include:
Many students experience some level of anxiety while taking a test. There are different strategies to preparing for a test and building your confidence to help reduce anxiety and relax while test taking.
The idea of an upcoming exam can lead to anxiety and this can affect not only test performance, but also how you prepare for a test.
Test preparation to reduce anxiety
Keep these 6 tips in mind as you begin your exam:
Use relaxation techniques during an exam to help remain calm.
How To Work Effectively In Groups
Why participate in a study group?
It can be exciting to form groups to complete a project, especially when you have a group full of friends. However, sometimes gaining support and cooperation from all of the group members can prove to be challenging! Some group members may be unwilling to accept responsibility, while others may be dominant or pushy. This kind of dynamic within a group can have adverse effects on your performance in the project. Unfortunately, this is so common that you are likely to find yourself facing similar situations in your future career.
These resources will help you work effectively in groups.
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