A common query from students is about the retention of information: how can a student best retain information they are learning in class? The number one way to increase retention is quite simply to pay attention. Paying attention doesn’t just mean staying awake in class, it means being actively engaged in the classroom. The amount of information you will retain is directly correlated (in my opinion) to the amount of energy you put into the following: · Taking notes . There is evidence that writing information is key to long-term retention. There is a brain-to-pencil connection that just cannot be duplicated, so taking meaningful notes in class is key to retaining information. · Asking and answering questions. If you are actively engaged in the classroom, you will also be active in the classroom discussion. The more involved you are in the discussion, the more personally invested you will be and thus that information is retained for the longer term. ·
I mean. Really. Could the semester be any longer? Has time slowed down? Someone call an astrophysicist because I think something’s wrong with the axial rotation of the earth as well as the earth’s orbit around the sun. If you find that mid-semester is the part of the marathon-that-is-college that completely drags you down, you’re not alone. Every semester, right around this time, I have the most student absences, unsubmitted papers, and dropouts. Seeing as every semester has a mid-semester slump, you can’t just quit after eight weeks every semester – time to make some plans and get some perspective! The next two or three weeks are typically the hardest to make a success, so it’s critical that you focus – right this very minute – on what you need to do to be successful for the rest of the semester. Let’s take a look at a few highlights you will want to remember: · Repeat after me: you’re already past the halfway mark and it’s all downhill from here.