Troubleshooting Study Problems

Having trouble with your learning?  This page provides quick-and-easy answers to some of the common learning problems that college students face.

Please keep in mind that the information contained on this page is designed to provide possible solutions to problems that occur within learning, and is not intended to offer exhaustive answers.  Students who are experiencing academic problems should contact a learning assistance professional for the best results.   

"My professor's lectures go over my head!"

"I get bored while reading!"

"I don't comprehend what I read."

"I don't feel like studying!"

"I don't know how to take good notes!"

"I don't have time to study!"

"I don't know what to study (or what is going to be on the test)!"

"My grades don't improve no matter how much I study!"

"I have a tutor, but he or she is not helping!"

"I have more questions after the lecture than before it began!"

"My professor moves to the next topic before finishing the current one!"

"I get the material in class, but still perform poorly on tests."

 

 

 

"My professor's lectures go over my head!"

When students are unable to grasp what the professor is lecturing on or discussing in class, they have usually failed to adequately prepare themselves for the material.  Students expect professors to teach them - to cover each detail in its entirety (as they may have become accustomed to in their previous school). However, college professors are not teachers in this regard; they see themselves as guides leading students in their learning.  Therefore students who grasp the class material are those who do the following things:

  1. They read the material to be discussed prior to class.
  2. They formulate basic questions about the material prior to class.
  3. They ask the professor to clarify things that are unclear during the lecture.

"I get bored while reading!"

Reading is very similar to driving in that we can be engaged in both acts (of reading or driving) and yet mentally be elsewhere.  I once worked with a female student who reported that every time she sat down to read, her mind would think of all the things that she had to do throughout the day, week and month.  For this student, this was probably one of the few times that she actually sat still, so her mind often wandered when she was supposed to be reading.  My solution to her problem was simple: take a notebook tablet with you when reading, and when the thoughts come (as they usually came at one time), jot down each one on a "to-do" list for later.  Incorporating this simple strategy into her reading regimen practically solved her problem.  The following strategies have worked for other students; hopefully they will be helpful to you as well:

  1. Read in places where the light is brighter!
  2. Avoid reading in your room, especially on your bed - it has a way of wooing you to sleep!
  3. Avoid reading after eating a big meal.
  4. Read in small time frames (20-30 minutes) with brief breaks in between.
  5. Formulate questions in your mind based on the chapter and sub-chapter headings, then read to answer those questions.

"I don't comprehend what I read."

Reading comprehension is far more than merely taking in information from the text.  True comprehension involves intangible qualities such as attention, cohesion and application.  Students who experience difficulty comprehending the material that they read may benefit from incorporating the following strategies:

  1. Preview the chapter summary before actually reading the chapter to get a "feel" for the important concepts.
  2. Formulate questions in your mind based on the chapter and sub-chapter headings, then read to answer those questions.
  3. Find or start a reading group with other students (preferably those who are doing well in the class) to discuss the readings. This will broaden your perspective to see important concepts that others are extracting from the material.

"I don't feel like studying!"

This is a matter of motivation!  Generally, when we lack motivation in one aspect of our life such as academics, we are overly motivated in another area such as our social life. I typically help students recognize where their motivation is and use that as their source of motivation for their academics.  The old carrot before the rabbit trick (hence the picture)!  For example, one student had been playing video games during the times that he was supposed to be studying.  He was afraid to see me, fearing that I would tell him to put away his video game.  However, I told him to use his desire to play his video games as his motivation.  We devised a plan where he would study for X amount of time and then play his games for X amount of time.  Placing the game as a reward for completing a segment of studying was enough motivation to improve both his time spent studying and his ability to focus while studying.  Here are a few additional tips:

  1. Set limits on activities, and then study.  For those students who can't wait to "eat the carrot," they can have their fun for a specific time and then study afterwards.  This may require an external source to keep you honest on your time limits.  For example, a student who loves to talk on his or her cell phone can set aside X amount of time to talk on the phone prior to studying. 
  2. Choose a consistent time to study on a daily basis.  Have you noticed that you began to feel hungry around the same time each day?  These feelings, commonly referred to as hunger pains, are actually what I call "habit pains" - feelings prompted by our internal clock that remind us that we are accustomed to eating at a specific time.  By developing a consistent study time you train your mind to focus during those times.

"I don't know how to take good notes!"

Actually, there is no one way to take notes.  Note taking is a very personal act; the notes only have to make sense to the note taker.  Having said this, I've encountered countless students whose notes make no sense to them.  The reasons that their notes don't make sense range between recording too much information to copying too little information.  Effective note taking lies somewhere between the two extremes.  Here are a few helpful tips that will make your notes more meaningful:

  1. Make notes, don't take notes.  Note making is taking the information that the professor dispenses and making it make sense to you.  To accomplish this, you must constantly ask yourself: what does this mean?  If you can't answer, then ask your professor to explain.
  2. Abbreviate whenever possible.  Make sure that you will be able to determine the full measure of the words you abbreviate later.
  3. Briefly review your notes prior to leaving class.  This takes less than five minutes, and will save you hours later.
  4. Include real-world examples and/or analogies that make sense to you in your notes.  Most of us learn by equating something we don't know with things that we already know.

"I don't have time to study!"

Ah, the old, "I don't have enough time to study" response.  I constantly hear this response from students.  Students don't have time to study in college because they don't realize that, upon entering college, they must arrange their time differently.  Most students studied during the evening while in high school.  This was effective because they were in class during the day, and had no other choice. However, the college schedule is arranged much differently.  Students can find more time if they:

  1. Study during the daylight hours!  Utilize the breaks between classes.  This will free up anywhere from 4-8 hours per week.
  2. Limit daylight socializing.  Place a limit on the amount of time spent hanging out in the student union or other recreational places on campus.  The evening hours will provide plenty of time for entertainment and socializing.
  3. Get sleep at night!  College students think that physically attending class is the same as mentally attending it.  This is untrue.  You will usually find yourself sleeping more during the day or sleeping the weekends away if you don't get enough sleep during the night, thus taking away from time that you could be studying.  Therefore, get sleep, if not for your body, then for your mind!
  4. Utilize weekends. Don't spend all day watching every football game that comes on television.  Choose a few of the games that really interest you and work your studying around them.

"I don't know what to study (or what is going to be on the test)!"

This is the typical response I get from students who are experiencing information overload.  They usually ask the professor, "What is going to be on this test."  The professor knows, of course, that EVERYTHING discussed will be on the test. Why waste time discussing it?  However, the material will not be on the test in the form that the students are expecting. The problem is that these students have gotten so much information that they do not know how to organize it in a way that is meaningful.  Here are few things that will help you determine what to study:

  1. Study facts, but learn concepts.  Facts are definition type information, while concepts are multiple facts combined that generate a broader meaning. Students should make sure that they know the facts, but more importantly they must learn the concepts that encompass the facts.
  2. Check out your syllabus.  Some professors will include learning objective or course objective (sometimes by chapter) on the syllabus.  This information can help you determine what they believe is important.  Take what they have written and run it through your mind in form of questions, and then test yourself to determine if you know the material.
  3. Use textbooks wisely.  Most contemporary textbooks contain key points that the authors believe are important at the beginning of each chapter.  Clue: If the authors believe something is important, then your professors most likely will also.  Another key point is that many textbooks contain a section in between the table of contents and the first chapter that tells you how to best use the book.  Students rarely read these pages, but they contain helpful information on how to understand the material.  Reading this section alone has helped many students improve their level of understanding.

"My grades don't improve no matter how much I study!"

I love frustrated students!  When students are frustrated at their lack of success, it lets me know: 1) that they care about their grades and 2) that they have been trying to improve.  These students would benefit tremendously from seeing a learning assistance professional.  However, the following tips may help such students benefit more from their efforts.

  1. Study facts, but learn concepts.  Facts are definition type information, while concepts are multiple facts combined that generate a broader meaning. Students should make sure that they know the facts, but more importantly they must learn the concepts that encompass the facts.  Remember this: quizzes generally test for facts, while exams test for concepts.
  2. Professors don't care how much you know, they care about what you can do with what you know!  This is my favorite quote to students. Students typically study to log facts in their memory with the hope of regurgitating them back on the test.  This method of learning may have been adequate for high school, but it will cause them to fall short in college.  College professors don't test to see what you have stored in your memory, they test to see what you can do with it.  For more on this, see the troubleshooting statement: I get the material in class, but I still perform poorly on test.
  3. Study in increments as opposed to cramming.  A goal of each college student should be to study less and learn more.  It is impossible to learn something in one setting, no matter how much you "study" it. Learning occurs over time.  Successful students study a little each day, as opposed to cramming as the test date approaches.

"I have a tutor, but he or she is not helping!"

Whenever students experience difficulties, they quickly look for a tutor.  When their grades don't improve, they blame the tutor.  Tutors are often more effective for students who do relatively well in their classes, yet struggle in a particular course.  If you are having difficulty with multiple classes, then you probably need help from a learning assistance professional in addition to a tutor.

"I have more questions after the lecture than before it began!"

Most students think that if they don't understand everything discussed during the lecture, then they have somehow done something wrong, but this is not so. Students value answers, which means that they expect their professors' lectures to provide all of the answers.  Professors, however, value questions; this means that they expect their lectures to evoke questions within their students.  They know that that true learning occurs only along the path of questions, and that if students travel this path, they will eventually find the answers they seek.  Remember this:  Most professors prefer dialoguing with students rather than lecture.  Professors see their role as guiding students through the learning process; therefore, as guides, they love it when students have questions.  Questions indicate that students are paying attention, and are important aspects of learning.

"My professor moves to the next topic before finishing the current one!"

I hear this comment quite often from students.  Students expect their professors to cover each thing that they will be tested on.  This faulty expectation is based on students’ high school experience.  Remember the 80/20, 20/80 rule:  In high school, 80% of what you needed to know for the tests came from the teacher, in the form of notes, handouts, etc; 20% came from your own efforts (homework, in-class work, etc).  In college however, 20% of what you need to know for the tests will be covered in class, while 80% will come from your own out of class work (i.e. the textbook, personal study time, etc).  This means that if you only study the material that the professor covers in class, you will only be getting 20% of what you will be expected to know for the tests.  For sports fans, think of ESPN.  ESPN gives highlights of sporting events, and based on those clips, viewers get a sense of what occurred during the competition.  However, no matter how good the highlights are or the number of times that viewers watch them, they will not be able to get a full picture of what actually occurred, how it occurred and why it occurred by watching the highlights alone.  They must watch the entire event.  In the same way, students cannot depend on the "highlights" that professors give them during class to give them all of the information necessary for the tests.  They must put in their own time to get the additional 80%!

"I get the material in class, but still perform poorly on tests."

This is by far the most common phrase that I hear from students.  Students constantly tell me that they "get" the material, but still don't do well on tests.   By "getting" the material, students invariably mean that they have logged the information in their memory, and that if the professor asks a question in a way that jars their memory, then they will be able to provide the answer.  Remember this: Professors don't care what you know; they care about what you can do with what you know.  College professors' tests are not designed to determine what you know (or have stored in memory), they are designed to determine what you can do with what you know. Therefore students should utilize the following active learning methods of study: