For many students,leaming how to leam is the iceberg.Fortunately,it can be chipped away at,or even melted.Professionals begin by getting students to acknowledge that being an undergraduate is a full-time job,requiring 35 or 40 hours every week including attendance in class and course-related work.
When they hit the books,students should also consider where,how long, and with whom they will study.A Cornell student, Paul Kangas,discovered that trying to study "while lying in bed was a good antidote for insomnia but not the best way to memorize a list of German vocabulary words."But no matter how conducive to studying their accommodations may be,few undergraduates work more effectively at night than during the day.
And even fewer can concentrate for more than ninety minutes without a break.This is why,as Michael Chen, an instructor in the center for Leaming and Teaching at Cornell,puts it,"Time between classes is prime time, not face time." In the book,How to Study in.College, the author advises undergraduates to carry pocket work so that they can read an article or memorize vocabularyfor Spanish class while waiting at the doctor' s office or the airport.Even if this approach seems a hit compulsive,a specific goal works only if it lasts no more than half an hour.
Although students often spend their study time alone, studying in groups can be extremely helpful.Group sessions work best if each student has already reviewed all the material required.It is also useful to divide up the work and ask each person to leam a part and to pretend they are tutors.Often students discover that the best way to master material is to be forced to explain it to someone else.
