subject: Bad Study Habits That Will Help You Fail College Biology [print this page] Bad Study Habits That Will Help You Fail College Biology
Study habits very from person to person. Each science student will work and adapt differently to the quest of mastering college biology. And the hard part is, each student will have to discover their study habits for themselves...no one will do that for you.
However, there are some contagious study habits that will help you fail your college biology tests/exams or will cause you to spend more time than necessary to understand and master simple or even difficult concepts.
Here is a list of the bad study habits, that if you have, you can start working on getting rid of. This list was shared with me by my freshman college biology professor, Dr. Lee A. Frederick, and it has stayed with me forever.
What not to do
1. "Do not get sucked into studying like your roommate does, just so you can hang out. Group study usually works best after you have studied on your own first."
This is very important because sometimes when group study is not planned or carried out properly, this will only slow you down from maximizing your study time. Study with students who have studied and are ready to do group work. Avoid students who do not take their work seriously.
2. "Do not watch TV while you study. It is not effective, no matter who you are. Don't waste your ATP on Grey's Anatomy! Put in an hour of solid studying, shut the book, then turn on your favorite show. You cannot concentrate on two things at the same time, not well anyway."
3. "Do not put things off until the last minute (i.e. cramming). Read the chapters and get notes organized before you start studying, not as part of your studying regime. When you learn new material and connect concepts, you are actually growing neural connections in your brain. This takes time (and ATP of course!). Fun tip: water and omega 3 help keep your brain happy & healthy. Drink more water!"
Learning is the process of making connections with memory rings in the brain. It takes time and many slow working factors to get this done perfectly. Cramming is just creating raw memories without the necessary factors that generate long term memory/understanding. We have shared in other articles the importance of proper objective learning. There is a difference when studying biology (the course) or studying biology (the degree). For biology (the degree), you cannot afford to cram for a test and forget. And that's because you'd need to remember those biological pathways for the upper level courses.
4. "Do not highlight your entire book and all of your notes. Read first, then go back and highlight the major concepts only. Use a different color highlighter for definitions."
Only highlight or mark concepts that you actually understand and can discuss freely. This makes it easier for you to recall the material. Highlighting before actual comprehensive is a less effective form of generating memory and learning.
