Academic Strategies
The Banacos Academic Center collaborates with the CARE Center to provide Academic Strategies support to all students on campus.
Academic strategies are important tools to develop at any stage of a college student’s career.
See the PLANNING TOOL KIT AVAILABLE BELOW! RAs, Team Captains and club leaders may want to use the toolkit to help students get organized.
Spring 2023 Academic Strategies Sessions
Please sign up for the sessions you wish to attend by clicking on the sign up link in the descriptions below. After you sign up, a confirmation email (be sure to check junk mail!) will contain the link or location of the session. Be sure to add this to your calendar! Also, you will receive any handouts for the session on or before the date of the session. Click on the title of the session you want to attend. The sessions include:
Create Your Own Study GuideCreating Useful Notes
Quiz and Exam Preparation Reading for Remembering and Understanding Staying on Top of Your Assignments
Communicating With Professors
Sign up here!
- Communicating with Professors (Zoom)- 2:00pm-3:00pm; Friday, May 5th, 2023
Stand out in class and make a good impression with your professors! Learning to communicate effectively with professors is important. Professors can be used as a reference or help you make connections for internships or future jobs. You will learn how to address your professors, write an appropriate email, and prepare for office hours.
Create Your Own Study Guide
Sign up here!
- Create Your Own Study Guide (Zoom) - 1:40pm-2:40pm; Wednesday, May 3rd, 2023
Take control of your course material! Don’t wait for the instructor to tell you what is important. They have already done that in the course syllabus and in your classes. Use this information to CREATE YOUR OWN STUDY GUIDE! Remember that some instructors don’t even give you study guides. During this session, you will begin a study guide that you can update each week for your studying pleasure!
Creating Useful Notes
Sign up here!
- Creating Useful Notes (Zoom)- 4:00pm-5:00pm; Thursday, April 13th, 2023
- Creating Useful Notes (Zoom)- 3:10pm-4:10pm; Wednesday, April 26th, 2023
Writing notes during class and while reading helps you practice and process course information. Think of them as more than just a recording of what happened in class. Think of them as a tool to help you study and learn information. During this session, you will learn different ways of taking notes and how to use them.
Quiz and Exam Preparation
Sign up here!
- Quiz and Exam Preparation (Zoom) - 3:10pm-4:10pm; Friday, April 28th, 2023
- Quiz and Exam Preparation (Zoom) - 12:45pm-1:45pm; Tuesday, May 2nd, 2023
The most effective way of preparing for exams is to learn throughout the semester instead of cramming for exams a day or so before. In this session, we will address ways to PROVE to yourself that you know the course material and how to space studying for better retention of course material.
Reading for Remembering and Understanding
Sign up Here!
- Reading for Remembering and Understanding (Zoom)-9:20am-10:10am; Monday, April 24th, 2023
Have you ever read for an hour and not remembered much of what you read? Do you read the same line or paragraph over and over again and still not understand what you just read? Reading alone is not enough for most people to process and learn information. The reading material needs to processed, summarized, and discussed to understand and remember it. Come learn some strategies and techniques to make the most of your reading time.
Staying On Top of Your Assignments
Sign up here!
- Staying on Top of Your Assignments (In-Person)- 3:00pm-4:00pm; Monday, May 1st, 2023
It is challenging for most students to stay on top of their assignments. Most classes now have some online component to them and that can make it even more challenging. During this session, we will look at the various ways instructors tell you about assignments and you will create a structure for tracking what assignments are due and yet to be done.
Test Taking
Sign up here!
- Test Taking (Zoom) - 4:00pm – 5:00pm; Monday, May 1st, 2023
Knowing how to take a test is a skill that can be learned and practiced. This session will help you to understand test-taking as a strategy, introduce you to various types of tests and address how to minimize anxiety and stress during exams.
Time Management
Sign up here!
- Time Management (Zoom)- 2:30pm-3:30pm; Friday, April 28th, 2023
- Time Management (Zoom)- 2:30pm-3:30pm; Wednesday, May 3rd, 2023
Managing work from classes is challenging enough. Now many students are balancing much more – work, family, and, still, which room can I Zoom in! Come learn of some basic strategies to manage all that you have to do during the week and throughout the semester.
Planning Toolkit
Below are the pieces of the Academic Strategies Planning Toolkit. Please feel free to grab a few friends, teammates, club members, or classmates, and work together to carve out a regular weekly schedule. This schedule should be one that includes all aspects of your regularly scheduled week including classes, meals, calls home, play time, appointments, worship, laundry, checking email, taking care of business, club time, study time (which class and where!) and review time for each class. Bring color pencils or pens to color code your schedule.
Read this first: Dear Tool Kit User
Here are the handouts:
- Creating a regular weekly schedule
- How much time in a week
- Semester weekly schedule grid
- Class schedule worksheet
- Things to do worksheet
The regular weekly schedule serves as a tool for you to think through your week and how you organize it. Please be reasonable, realistic and respectful of yourself!