Many of the questions you find on class tests will be based upon the information your teachers orally present in class. Therefore, you need to write class notes that completely and accurately include the most important information presented by your teachers. This is hard to do because your teachers can talk faster than you can write.
It would be nice if your teachers talked slower so that you could keep up with what they are saying as you write your notes. This is not realistic though. It is up to you to write more quickly. One way to do this is to write abbreviations for words. An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word used when writing to represent the complete word. You must be able to recognize the complete word from its abbreviation.
Many words have a commonly used abbreviation. Here are some examples of words that have a common abbreviation:
Word - Abbreviation
department - dept
introduction - intro
junior - jr
mathematics - math
weight - wt
package - pkg
negative - neg
magazine - mag
foot - ft
highway - hwy
You can form your own abbreviation for just about any word. Here are three ways you can do this.
1. Write just the beginning of a long word. Here are some examples of long words that have been abbreviated by writing just the beginning of the word:
Word - Abbreviation
different - diff
incorporate - inc
elementary - elem
molecular - molec
division - div
feminine - fem
population - pop
ambiguous - ambig
separate - sep
hippopotamus - hippo
2. Leave out the vowels when writing a word. Here are some examples of words that have been abbreviated by leaving out the vowels when writing the word:
Word - Abbreviation
century - cntry
mountain - mntn
reason - rsn
popular - pplr
quality - qlty
point - pnt
school - schl
clean - cln
teacher - tchr
progress - prgrss
3. For words that have just one syllable, write just the first and last letter of the word. Here are some examples of words that have been abbreviated by writing just the first and last letter of the word:
Word - Abbreviation
quart - qt
tick - tk
girl - gl
night - nt
link - lk
land - ld
round - rd
pack - bk
field - fd
heart - ht
Use common abbreviations of words whenever you recognize them. For other words, form abbreviations by using one of the three ways you just learned. Use the way that best fits the word for which you are writing an abbreviation. Do not try to abbreviate every word you write in your notes. Abbreviate those words that are important and for which you can quickly form an abbreviation. REMEMBER: YOU MUST BE ABLE TO RECOGNIZE THE COMPLETE WORD FROM ITS ABBREVIATION. Knowing the context in which you wrote the word will help you recognize the complete word from its abbreviation.
Using abbreviations for words will help you take good notes more quickly. Having good notes will help you do better on tests.
Most college students tend to share similar feelings of anxiety mixed with hope towards their first day of class. Everyone... even the worst of students... tends to enter "back to school" mode with a genuine sense of motivation. Many of us become ironically eager to purchase new textbooks, to see new teachers, and to adjust to a new schedule. We even convince ourselves that we are going to excel this semester... that we are going to live up to our "full potential" and score perfect marks even if we've never come close to doing so in the past! Hours later, we own at least a few of our books... we've looked over a syllabus or two..and we've begun to plot out an easy path to success: 40% for the mid-term, 50% for the final... 10% for an essay.. no problem... we can hack it...What could possibly go wrong?
What usually goes wrong is poor planning. Overly-creative, highly intelligent students begin each semester with genuine hope and personal promise but typically end the semester with a sense of underachievement and dissolution that had begun to set in even before mid-terms. Understand that when a professor hands out a syllabus, it is essentially serving as a contract between teacher and student-- as a mandate for what is to be expected and as a set of guidelines dictating how the student's work will be evaluated. But on paper it all looks so simple: This quiz will earn us this many points... that exam will add on that many points...Syllabi tend to give students an illusionary sense of ease because they enable us to visualize the entire semester on two or three sheets of photocopied paper. Syllabi do not, however, have the ability to show us the in-between days... the work that must be done at home... the long hours of laboring necessary to achieve a perfect score on each exam. And so we subconsciously note the date that first test will take place and wrongly allow ourselves to slip into a state of academic ease until just a day or two before test time...when we realize we don't know the material well enough to even get a "B."
How can a student avoid this? Don't look at the whole semester right when you first get your syllabus. Break each semester down into little, sub-goals first. You wouldn't leap up an entire flight of stairs...you'd walk them each one at a time. The same principle applies here: Don't even look at the first quiz or test yet.. it's probably still a long way off in the grand scheme of the academic term. Look on your syllabus at the FIRST lesson to be taught. Worry about how to excel at THAT lesson and ONLY at that lesson. Don't think of the mid-term or any other assessment yet to come. Concentrate only on what is to be expected of you in the very next class and focus all of your time and energy on achieving a mastery over that one subtopic. Do this for each class and when it finally does become time for an examination-- you'll hardly need to study... you'll only need to "review." The secret is truly in the psychology and it's far easier said than done... We challenge you to make it happen this school year!!!
Good Listening In Class
It is important for you to be a good listener in class. Much of what you will have to learn will be presented verbally by your teachers. Just hearing what your teachers say is not the same as listening to what they say. Listening is a cognitive act that requires you to pay attention and think about and mentally process what you hear.
Here are some things you should do to be a good listener in class.
Be Cognitively Ready to Listen. Come to class cognitively prepared to listen. Make sure you complete all assigned work and readings. Review your notes from previous class sessions. Think about what you know about the topic that will be covered in class that day.
Be Emotionally Ready to Listen. Come to class emotionally ready to listen. Your attitude is important. Make a conscious choice to find the topic useful and interesting. Be committed to learning all that you can.
Listen with a Purpose. Identify what you expect and hope to learn from the class session. Listen for these things as your teacher talks.
Listen with an Open Mind. Be receptive to what your teacher says. It is good to question what is said as long as you remain open to points of view other than your own.
Be Attentive. Focus on what your teacher is saying. Try not to daydream and let your mind wander to other things. It helps to sit in the front and center of the class, and to maintain eye contact with your teacher.
Be an Active Listener. You can think faster than your teacher can speak. Use this to your advantage by evaluating what is being said and trying to anticipate what will be said next. Take good written notes about what your teacher says. While you can think faster than your teacher can speak, you cannot write faster than your teacher can speak. Taking notes requires you to make decisions about what to write, and you have to be an active listener to do this.
Accept the Challenge. Don't give up and stop listening when you find the information being presented difficult to understand. Listen even more carefully at these times and work hard to understand what is being said. Don't be reluctant to ask questions.
Triumph Over the Environment. The classroom may too noisy, too hot, too cold, too bright, or too dark. Don't give in to these inconveniences. Stay focused on the big picture - LEARNING.
Transient Credit at Ohio Northern University
1. Check out onu.edu to see if the school you wish to take transient credit at will transfer here!
2. If so, apply to that school!
3. Once accepted and such, go to http://www.onu.edu/registrar/Transient_Student_Request.pdf, print this out, and do the following:
4. Fill the form out to show how credits will transfer from one school to the other
5. Then take it to your dean, or if you are a biology major, Terry Keiser first!
6. After the Dean has signed it, keep it for proof that you have permission that you can take the class.
7. Go home this summer and pass with a “C”, not a “C-“ Ladies, we want the credit to transfer!
8. Make sure your school sends an official transcript to ONU asap!!!!!!
9. Here is the registrar website with some tips:
http://www.onu.edu/registrar/transint.htm
The DETER Strategy for Taking Tests
To do well on a test, you must have good knowledge of the information that is being tested. But you must also have a strategy for taking the test that allows you to show what you know. The DETER strategy can help you do your best on any test. Each letter in DETER reminds you what to do.
D = Directions
* Read the test directions very carefully.
* Ask your teacher to explain anything about the test directions you do not understand.
* Only by following the directions can you achieve a good score on the test.
* If you do not follow the directions, you will not be able to demonstrate what you know.
E = Examine
* Examine the entire test to see how much you have to do.
* Only by knowing the entire task can you break it down into parts that become manageable for you.
T = Time
* Once you have examined the entire test, decide how much time you will spend on each item.
* If there are different points for items, plan to spend the most time on the items that count for the most points.
* Planning your time is especially important for essay tests where you must avoid spending so much time on one item that you have little time left for other test items.
E = Easiest
* The second E in DETER reminds you to answer the items you find easiest first.
* If you get stuck on a difficult item that comes up early in the test, you may not get to answer items that test things you know.
R = Review
* If you have planned your time correctly, you will have time to review your answers and make them as complete and accurate as possible.
* Also make sure to review the test directions to be certain you have answered all items required.