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Starting Study

1. Setting up a study schedule requires that you set aside a reasonable amount of time for your school work.
   
   
   1. Make a temporary schedule of fixed periods in your week for classes, work, sleep, meals, and study.
      
      
      1. If you are aiming at a B or better, in many classes at Lander University, you need to schedule at least 2 hours of study for 1 hour of class. At other universities, you might need to schedule more for classes with time-intensive homework assignments such as mathematics and computer science.  Some classes require fewer hours of study per hour of class.
         
         
      2. Your schedule must be reasonable; after all, you are planning to follow it.  At the beginning, plan a bit less than you think you can do and later adjust your schedule, if necessary.
         
         
   2. Every time you begin to study, make a conscious decision (even write yourself a short contract) on what you will study and how long you will study. Above all, be reasonable. Your success at this can only be fulfilled by the history of your successes in the contract.
      
      
      1. Once your decision has been reached, throw yourself into the project enthusiastically.
         
         
      2. It is psychologically important to begin with the idea that with all the possible alternatives available to you, studying for this time is the one thing that you want to do most.
         
         
         1. If you have trouble about deciding whether to study when something special comes up, flip a coin. By seeing the outcome of the toss, introspect to your immediate reaction in order to determine what you really want to do. There is not much point is trying to study when your mind continues to wander if it is likely you will be reinforcing poor study habits.
            
            
         2. End the study period with a definite statement about what is to be done for your next study period in that subject. Take a minute and write out:
            
            
            • What ideas are to be reviewed.
            • What questions still remain to be answered.
            • What page you are to start on.
              
              
2. Classes in the humanities and social sciences might have fewer homework problems assigned, but the study time required to do well in these classes is often quite as much as courses assigning many practice problems.