THE SUCCESSFUL SCIENCE STUDENT
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Becoming a Successful Science Student

What do you need to be a successful science student?

• Time Management
• Study space
• Reading and understanding your textbook
• Effective listening and note taking.
• Forming and using study groups and preparing for exams

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Time Management
Students often don’t know how much time is required in studying science nor are they conscience of how little time they have available.

What is the first step in planning your time?  Before you plan your time you must first see how you currently spend your time. The following chart can help you assess how you spend your time now.  Remember you are doing this for yourself SO BE HONEST. Keep track of how you spend your time for a week. Everything from when you eat, watch TV, study, exercise, use the computer and all other activities. Having completed this exercise, look closely at the results. Now begin to develop a new schedule. Understand that chemistry can take up to 16 hours a week of outside study time and sometimes more. Biology may take upwards of 15 hours a week and math 9-12 hours a week.  Make sure you put in the appropriate number of hours for studying each of these subjects while taking into account your other coursework. When making the schedule, be as specific as possible.  For example, don’t simply put down studying chemistry. Put down problem solving, studying for an exam, or whatever the activity is. Also, when doing your schedule include other things that must be done such as work, sleep, eat and other responsibilities. Having completed your schedule use it for one week. See how well it works and make revisions on a weekly basis when necessary.  Remember the hardest part of time management isn’t making the schedule but sticking to it!

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Study Space
Where you study is just as important as how you study. Outside of the library where do you study the most?  If it is in your own room that is great!  But you must organize your space so that you maximize your time and efforts when studying. That means having everything you need on hand and available BEFORE you begin to study. Do you have sharpened pencils with erasers? Do you have pens that work? Where is that scientific calculator? Are those highlighters working? And most importantly, is the TV, radio, stereo, cell phone turned off? Once you’ve established that your space is ready for you, open those books and go to work!

I don’t have my own “space” at home. What can I do? Optimal study space is not always available at home so you may need to discuss your options with your family and see if a small area somewhere in the house that is quiet and can support a small desk and chair can be made. If not, your best solution would be to organize your time so that the majority of your study time takes place at the library or some other quiet area that will allow you to study efficiently. Ask about study space on campus, at your job (maybe that lunch room would be available to you even when you are not working), your lab, and ask friends about places they have found useful for this purpose. Bottom line, find a place that works for you and use it consistently! 

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Reading and Understanding Your Textbook
Reading a science textbook is different from reading a novel. Each paragraph must be scrutinized carefully so that important details can be extracted, concepts can be related to each other, and formulas, charts, and graphs can be integrated with written material. Only with much effort can you achieve an in-depth understanding of complex scientific principles. Consequently, many students find reading scientific material difficult and intimidating, and they often delay working on assignments until the last moment. In their haste they overlook key concepts and derive little benefit from their efforts. Scientific journals contain valuable information that can help students understand their coursework and make career choices. However, students rarely read journals because they are intimidated by the terminology, tables, graphs, and diagrams that typically appear.

Subways and buses are not good places to read, nor is a car. Remember to limit outside distractions. Find out when you are most alert and try to coordinate your study time accordingly.  Different people have different cycles, so don’t rely on someone else’s timeframe for studying.

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Textbook Organization
Before starting the reading of your text you should see what kind of support the book provides for you such as detailed indexes, glossaries, appendices and links to websites. Be sure to read the text BEFORE lecture, not after. This will give you the opportunity to have questions answered in class by the professor. He/she can also clarify any differences in explanation of material presented via lecture vs. the text. After reading and outlining each chapter you should turn the outline headings and sub-headings into questions and see if you can answer them either through your knowledge or your notes. If you cannot you need to go back and review that section of the chapter. Upon finishing the chapter, in addition to doing assigned questions or problems divide any additional questions not assigned between your study group members and try to answer them as well.

Textbooks have an original system that you need to understand before you begin reading. Science textbooks are in an outline format—the larger the heading the broader the topic; the smaller the heading the more specific the topic.

Before reading the chapter, read the summary at the beginning of the text and then read the questions and problems at the end of the chapter because they reflect what the author wanted you to gain from the reading. You should plan on reading each chapter more than once for understanding.

On the second reading you should take notes in outline form using the structure of the chapter as a guide.

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Effective Listening and Note-taking
Effective Listening begins with pre-reading and having an idea of the topics being discussed already. Pre-reading provides you with information about complex ideas that may then be covered by the lecture and gives you better opportunities for questions and understanding.

Effective note-taking is necessary in any science course. You take notes in class to develop a comprehensive record of the professor's ideas so you can thoroughly study them later. Think of your notes as a handwritten book. If your note-taking skills are poor, your book-and your knowledge of the subject-will be incomplete and inaccurate. Your exam scores will reflect your insufficient knowledge. The reason for developing effective note taking skills is so that you can produce a handwritten book from which you can study the material successfully.

Having the right tools for note taking is also important. You will need pens for note taking, pencils for problem solving and loose-leaf notebooks for storing and organizing your work. In addition, adopting a specific format will make your note taking efficient. Use a page with a small side margin, using the main part of your page for class notes and the side column for the additional information presented in class. Be sure to highlight any questions you have about the material being discussed.

Understanding how the professor uses the lecture is as important as understanding how an author expects you to utilize their text. Professors use lectures for different purposes. If you are aware of the purpose of the lecture, you will know what is important and what should be included in your notes. Most importantly, lectures make more sense if you think of how they relate to past lectures and to the assigned readings. Review your past lecture and notebook notes the evening before class. Sit in the front of the class. Be selective in writing your notes; write down information that adds to your knowledge gleaned from the text and that further explains concepts you did not understand. To make your notes clear and concise, rewrite them as soon after lecture as possible.

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Problem Solving
You must read and understand the sample problems highlighted in your textbook as they emphasize important concepts in the chapter. Ask yourself the following questions:

• What principle(s) is the problem demonstrating?
• What information in the problem suggests that this principle is involved?
• Why was a particular formula used as opposed to other formulas in the chapter?
• Why was each calculation performed?

Make sure that you can solve the problem without referring back to your textbook. You must solve the problems on your own in order to fully understand the concepts presented. Make associations between the system or process described in the problem and the scientific principles that are applied. You will begin to see that these same principles recur. THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS TO THIS PROCESS!! 

Formulas are an important component of the problem solving process. They are concise, mathematical statements about some system or process in the real world and they describe how things change around us. A superficial understanding of the meaning of a formula will lead to using it inappropriately. To gain a through understanding of this relationship you need to think about the following:

• What system or process in the world does the formula describe?
• What does it say about the system or process?
• What can it be used to find?
• Can you think of applications of this formula to your own experiences?

After you have calculated an answer make sure you are answering the question the problem asks for. Finally, review all the problems you have completed both checking for mistakes and to be sure you understand the concepts involved in solving these problems.

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Preparing for Exams
In medical, premedical, and other science programs, the measure of your understanding of the material presented is your performance on exams. Your ability to prepare for examinations is crucial in determining your success as a student. The key word for preparing effectively is ORGANIZATION. This means you must put your lecture notes, textbook notes, handouts, and problems into a coherent, condensed form so you can review all of the relevant material. 

Exams fall into two categories: essay and objective. Essay exams require the usual written essay as well as tests consisting of problems that are mathematical essays. Objective forms consist of mostly short-answer questions such as true/false, multiple choice, multiple multiples, fill in the bland, matching and short answer definitions. Although there are general approaches to exam preparation, each type of test calls on some specific techniques.

Following the procedures and suggestions presented here will improve your test scores. You should prepare well in advance. Waiting too long to start studying will increase your anxiety and reduce performance. Make sure you know what’s being covered on the exam. Develop schedule for studying. Know the format of the exam if possible. Organize the material you will need to use.  Look for relationships between different concepts. If the course is concept-based make sure you understand the main points and facts associated with these principles. If the course is problem-based do as many problems as possible that illustrate formulas and equations that were covered.  You may want to purchase a solutions manual for the course if it is available. Use study groups to review concepts, formulas and equations and to go over problems you have already solved. In addition to this, prepare your own problems for the group to solve.

The night before the exam, limit last minute studying. Try to have a relaxing evening and get a good night’s rest.  When taking the exam, pace yourself. Do not spend too much time on any one question. If you can’t answer it, go on—you can always come back to it when you have finished the rest of the exam. READ instructions and exam questions CAREFULLY! For multiple choice exams make sure you read all possible answers before you choose one. Finally, when the exam is returned to you review the concepts you did incorrectly, using your lecture and textbook notes and textbook.

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