Danielle Becker Personal Statement

The first step to successfully study for any type of material is to keep the material organized and make sure the information is correct. A good routine would be to check notes periodically

The first two chapters of “What the Best College Students Do” cover several topics. Throughout the chapters, the lives and experiences of different college students are explored. A reoccurring theme in the book is the concept of learning styles. Essentially, the three learning styles are memorization, comprehension, and strategy. According to the author, comprehension is the most effective style of learning. While everyone will possess one of these three learning styles, it is not impossible for someone to adjust to another style. Additionally, the author elaborates on academic ideas such as independence, grades, and outside influences.

As a working student, I am looking for any tips that I can get my hands on that will help me become a successful student.

1. Well, to begin with, most importantly, I like to learn in a peaceful and calm surrounding because that helps in building concentration. I don't like a messy work area because it causes a distraction, so I try to make the area organized if possible. I get distracted easily so, if I am studying near a window, I close the blinds so I won't look outside, turn off the radio, television, etc. I start going through will all easy questions, then I work on the harder questions. Every time I think that I am tired or been studying for a very long time, I take a 30-minute break and I make sure that I am not over-doing it, that way I can take in the best.

My name is Kaitlyn Hoopingarner, and I am a senior at West High School. Sioux City, Iowa has been my home for my whole life. At West High, I am involved in multiple activities: varsity wrestling cheer, robotics, and theatre. In addition to my school activities, I also paint, crochet, and play video games. I plan to attend Iowa State University to major in Computer Science. My birthday is July 25th, and Christmas is December 25th; so, my birthday is "Christmas in

Shellenbarger presents five ways to improve your study skills. Through other people’s experiences and studies Shellenbarger is able to support her claim of the helpful tips for getting the most from your studying while appealing to her audience through her organization and relevant references.

Jeanne Becker has been the secretary at Saint Mary’s Central High School for as long as anyone can remember. She is the backbone of our entire school system. By keeping us all on track with the announcements, our messages in the office, and tardy slips, Jeanne is the crucial piece in maintaining the standard of excellence that St. Mary’s is known for. In other words, our school could not function properly without Jeanne. However, many students do not fully understand nor appreciate all that Jeanne does for those who attend St. Mary’s High School. I spoke with Jeanne to get her take on what she does for the school and why she enjoys it so much. During this interview she stated, “being the secretary for our school is a job that involves a lot

To ensure the retention of information and prepare for exams, I strongly advise you to study. Many different ways to study exist, but you

I try to sit down and study the information for each test a couple of days prior. Yet when I tried to study I get distracted and end up being on my phone for hours instead of studying. I also tried to rewrite my notes as a study strategy but that just left me with two set of notes and an exhausted brain. I even turned to use the study strategies found in Cal Newports’s book “How to Become a Straight –A Student,” like “quiz-and-recall method.” That just caused me to be taking to myself the whole night. I find that when I ask a lot of questions in class about the topic on the current day I understand the information making it easier to connect it to information I already know so I can memorize it better. Some methods I can use to improve my test prep to study look over the notes from the previous day rather than look at it all before a test. Also I should try to get an adequate amount of sleep the day before the test to maximize my memorization ability.

Some of the strategies I want to keep and start applying to become more successful student are to Plan weekly study times, log onto Blackboard a minimum three times per week, work hard, and set SMART goal. Planning weekly study time and check Blackboard are very important to me because I need to know how my schedule will be for all of my class and when my assignment due. For each week I have to work hard complete all the tasks on my weekly plan and I want my goal to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound for exactly what I want to achieve so It will keep me focused on what I want and what I have to do to get there.

Study habits and techniques were non-existence for me in high school. I never did anything but look over notes or previous work. The only time I remembered studying was around the time we took our standardized testing. Looking back, I can’t recall ever learning any study skills or strategies. It may have been that school for me was easy and I had no reason to study. Or I was not challenged academically to have to study. Nonetheless, soon I would find out the difficulties of navigating college courses without effective study skills and habits. I fell behind in college early because of my inability of how to study and what to study for. Just like me, there are many more students that have never been taught effective study skills and habits

This is problem since there are many distractions in my life: games, family, work, friends, boyfriend, parties, and etc. To combat this problem though I'll use the same studying method that I had developed when I was going to WSU (Weber State University). Stay focused in class, take strenuous notes on everything (Can't be too careful!), make flashcards at home and in class. Practice the flashcards with family, friends, and fellow students whenever I can. Thirdly, I have an app on my phone which is called Quizlet and with this app I can make digital flashcards that can be read back to me, I will go through the entire set of flashcards at least once a day. Most likely before I go to bed (Since I have trouble sleeping) I will also study them in the car, at work, while playing video games (during wait times, loading screens, respawn times). The great things about Quizlet is that it's on my phone and my phone is always on me, so I will essentially have my flashcards with me at all times and can practice whenever I

A range of different and useful topics have been discussed since the start of Pathways to lifelong learning, some of which I found to be of particular help. The college expectations which we learned towards the beginning of the course was especially helpful to learning how to become a critical thinker, something that was not very touched upon throughout my time in high school. I now use Bloom’s Taxonomy when beginning to prepare for an important paper or presentation. In addition to the first chapter, I had also found great help in the second chapter on the skills needed to succeed in school. In the past, I used rehearsal as my main strategy to memorize for any upcoming tests or exams, however that often resulted in either retrieval failure or ineffective encoding. I now use chunking and elaboration as my main strategies to studying as I find it most effective when studying and retrieving information, especially when I am needing to memorize and learn a big amount of material.

Studying skills will help you be more successful as well, there is also to much studying. To much studying can cause stress, and dense learning habits, also pushing your self to hard may ruin learning skills and cause your self to feel bad, or not as intelligent. Study skills for tests, quizzes, and exams is very important. Evenly spreading out study time will increase memory of the subjects you learn. Taking frequent breaks will make studying less stressful. Using flash cards, web sites, computers, or just a pencil and paper are all great ways to study. Having an answer sheet to refer to, and look over when your done will also help study and learning skills because it can help you see what you did wrong and need to fix. Having a study group or club before big tests, like exams or diplomas, will help you have more fun with your friends when studying.

A range of different and useful topics have been discussed since the start of Pathways to lifelong learning, some of which I found to be of particular help. The college expectations which we learned towards the beginning of the course was especially helpful to learning how to become a critical thinker, something that was not very touched upon throughout my time in high school. I now use Bloom’s Taxonomy when beginning to prepare for an important paper or presentation. In addition to the first chapter, I had also found great help in the second chapter on the skills needed to succeed in school. In the past, I used rehearsal as my main strategy to memorize for any upcoming tests or exams, however that often resulted in either retrieval failure or ineffective encoding. I now use chunking and elaboration as my main strategies to studying as I find it most effective when studying and retrieving information, especially when I am needing to memorize and learn a big amount of material.