Many times I’ve had students come to me after doing poorly on a test and say, “But I studied for hours!” The first thing you need to do is determine your learning style so that you can study in the way that is most effective for you. Some people can read a textbook to study; others can’t.

Go to your college counselor and ask to take a learning style inventory. I will give you links to a couple, but your counselor or student success center can help you evaluate and use the results better.

Here are two:

• http://www.personal.psu.edu/bxb11/LSI/LSI.htm
• http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html

After you have determined your learning style, start gathering and using the tools that will help you use this new information to your advantage. Knowing your learning style will help you study not only more effectively but also more efficiently.

Next, if your learning style indicates that you should take notes, you should learn some note-taking tips to help you. If you try to write down every word of a lecture, you will miss the meaning and discussion of the lecture.

Here are some sites with beneficial information:

• http://www.dartmouth.edu/~acskills/success/notes.html
• http://www.arc.sbc.edu/notes.html

One more thing to think about is time management, especially if you are feeling overwhelmed. The Web has many resources available, but I have included these:

• http://www.dartmouth.edu/~acskills/success/time.html
• http://counseling.uchicago.edu/resources/virtualpamphlets/time_management.shtml
• http://ub-counseling.buffalo.edu/studytime.shtml

These three topics are good places to start. Be sure to visit the student success center, student affairs, or counseling office on your campus early and often to find out the resources that are available to you. Take advantage of the information and use it to be a successful student.