Being a community college transfer student is exciting but it can also be a little scary. It doesn't matter if you're transferring from a small, suburban community college or big, urban community college, you're in an new place, surrounded by unfamiliar faces, and about to start a lot of classes with professors you don't know teaching subjects you might know little about. That's a lot to worry about! Well there's good news and there's bad news.
Let's start with the bad news: I can't help you much with any of those things. (Get a map, introduce yourself to people, you know the drill!) The good news? We've got a great list of study tips to take at least one thing off your plate. So whether you're a study novice or expert, here are a few ways to make studying more bearable.
1. Get a desktop monitor. Having the extra screen space in front of you is not just easier on your eyes, it makes working easier, too. Think about when you're using three, four, or ten different documents, photos or applications - things can crowd on your laptop. Having the desktop monitor makes it easier to sort through everything, and keeps you off the couch, which keeps you from turning on the television, which distracts you from working.
2. Force some Self-Control on yourself. Sometimes it seems like Facebook has a magnetic force over your online actions, pulling you in, keeping you there, holding you hostage from the paper due tomorrow morning. Or maybe it's Twitter sucking you in. Either way, Self-Control is an app built for your computer to essentially disable your browser. It will behave as if you're offline. Set it for however long you need and get something done.
3. Hide your phone. Depending on how old you are, you may remember a time before cell phones, a time when just having a telephone in your bedroom was a privilege, and if someone called while you were studying, they'd have to get through your mother before they made it to you. We are so used to keeping cell phones with us all the time, that we forget that we can just leave them behind. Next time you go to the library, leave your cell phone at home.
4. Try FocusWriter for those long term papers you'll need to write. Another way to block out the internet, FocusWriter is built with writers in mind: it mimics an old school word processor-like environment, assuring you don't do anything else besides write. Use this when you sit down to write your tome on being a transfer student at community college.
5. Take a walk around the block. When you're feeling like it's crunch time, you may find yourself holed up in the library, only leaving to find something to eat, maybe occasionally take a shower. You think the more hours logged in the library, the higher your test score. Well - I've got news - taking regular breaks is one of the best things you can do for your study sessions, and you'll feel even better if you get up and do something.
About the Author:
Steven Burrell often covers new and exciting tools that assess student readiness. However, he also spends a sizable portion of his day doodling and just generally becoming distracted online.
