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7 Bad Study Habits A College Student Must Not HaveBy emievilBad Study Habits Can Break a College Student's GradeI’ve been
part-time for the
past one and a half years. My subjects? Basic business concepts and basic
accounting for information technology students. I enjoy what I do and I like my
students (so far). That doesn’t mean though that I’m not a strict one. In fact,
I have already gained the reputation for strictness and difficulty of exams (I
once made my entire class re-take a certain exam because nobody passed!). But
hey, a lot of them passed and graduated last April so I guess I wasn’t that
bad. Unfortunately, not everyone graduated. One or two of them failed the whole
subject (there goes my reputation again). I couldn’t do anything about it
because their grade was a solid 5 (which is an F grade here) and no matter how
hard I pushed and pulled, I just couldn’t give a remedy for their failing
grade. So, bottomline, they did not graduate.
Some of my students right now asked
me about these failed students. They wanted to know the “whys” and the “hows” for
these cases. I tried to answer as tactfully as I can but their questions really
got me thinking. Is it them or is it me? Am I not a good teacher or were they
simply not good students? Simple answer? More of the latter instead of the
former. I’m not kidding. I’m not saying I’m a good one but I’m not that bad
either. And from jogging my memory, I can see how they failed and I can count
the reasons why they failed. Three words – bad study habits – in plural, not
singular. So what are these bad study habits? Let me count 7 of them.
See all 2 photos
See all 2 photos
Poor Attendance.
For any subject, especially accounting, attendance is really a must. Unless, of
course, you’re a genius who can just scan your teacher’s or classmates’ notes
and you can readily understand the lesson. If you’re not, the next best thing
is to hear firsthand what your teacher has to say and to read through your own
eyes everything written on the board. If you do not attend classes, your chance
of understanding the subject is almost nil plus your points for attendance go
down as well.
No Assignments.
Let’s face it. Basic
is still a numbers game and the only way a
student can learn this subject is through practice. And practicing the subjects
/ topics means diligently doing the exercises and the assignments all on your
own. I noticed some of my students (even those who passed) depend on their
classmates for their assignments. So who learns the subject? The ones who did
the assignments. The ones who didn’t, good luck.
Failing to Take Down Notes. I know, I know, the student can always photocopy the
classmates’ notes. But, personally, I don’t think this really works for those
students who do not take down notes and just depend on their classmates. Taking
down notes mean you are listening and are focused on the subject. A student who
doesn’t take down notes is either somebody who has a photographic memory or
just plain lazy or is not concentrating on the subject at hand. The first
reason is a good one but is quite rare. The second reason may be okay if the
student is intelligent in the first place (but this is still not an excuse).
The third reason may be the worst because the student is really not absorbing
anything from the class. And when this happens, your grades are bye-bye.
Poor Time Management. There’s this one time I gave a major exam for my students. Imagine my
surprise when I saw some of them were not taking the exams (and they were just
hanging around the school!). Their reason for not taking the exam? They were
not able to study on my subject. Gee, but they were able to study for the other
subjects huh? Needless to say, I got hopping mad and told them to take the exam
or I won’t give a make-up exam for them. I mean I know that they have a lot on
their plates what with their subjects, case studies, thesis, exams, etc., etc.
But hey, they have to know how to manage their time and accommodate everything.
That’s part of a student’s life. And to think their schedule of exams were
announced right from the start, so they should have properly prepared and
planned their time to coincide with the official school schedule. Okay, ranting
a little bit here. Next!&Ive been teaching part-time for over a year now and I can tell you its no easy feat. Ive seen my share of ups and downs, of not-so-bright students and bright students, of talkative students and....
This one can follow poor time management skills, but it’s a habit that can be
left on its own. Let’s put it in another word – cramming (which was common when
I was in college, still is apparently). What’s worse right now is that a lot of
students have more distractions than when I was in college. These distractions
(like Facebook, online games, play stations, texting / chatting) make cramming
or procrastination a more dangerous bad habit now than it was before.
Not Following Teacher’s Instructions. Okay, here’s comes the exam. The students are asked
to write T for True and F for False. What do they do? Write the whole word
(what the…?). Or worse, give entirely different answers (had a student like
that, thought immediately of recommending her to a psychiatrist, j/k). Failing
to follow instructions like in the first case means deductions from me. Failing
to follow instructions like in the second case means a failed grade in the exam
or worse, in the subject itself.
Negative Thinking. This one bad habit can wipe out all the student’s good study habits. I
mean if the student perennially thinks he or she does not understand the
subject or that the subject is just too hard for him or her, no amount of
studying or copying notes or doing assignments can really make up for this one
bad habit. It will just simply block everything because the student is setting
himself or herself up for failure. Accounting is already a difficult subject as
it is, adding to this one’s resistance to learning and everything will just
really be for nothing. I’m a strong believer of mind over matter when it comes
to this subject and if the student thinks he or she cannot understand the
subject, chances are, he or she will never understand it. This is what one of
my students did and she, needless to say, failed my subject.
And that’s it. I’m flexing my fingers
here. There are actually more but these are the ones I saw from my former (and
even my present) students. I guess I ranted a little bit but I do hope I
managed to get my message across. I know there’s no such thing as a perfect
student but, hey, I don’t think there is also a thing as a bad student with a
bad study habit passing a subject. Or am I wrong? What are your thoughts on
this? Leave me a message. Thanks and cheers!
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More by emievilThis is a hub about the devastation, brought on by Typhoon Sendong, suffered by Filipinos in Mindanao and the Visayas. It also gives a couple of links on how one can help the victims of this typhoon.
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