Student Success

“I have not failed. I’ve just found ten thousand ways that won’t work.” These are very poignant and somewhat humorous words spoken by Thomas Edison, a well renowned inventor and businessman. I find them to be very applicable to Study Skills and Strategies for Beginning College Students. I can only speak for myself, but I have found that there can be success in failure. Because my initial collegiate experience, twenty-nine years ago, involved poor study skills, I was not as successful as I wanted to be. However, this go around, by virtue of this class I have learned study skills that will help me to be successful. I believe that the same skills I have learned will also help any beginning college student to attain success in their …show more content…
The one thing that we can’t do is to recapture time that has been mismanaged or misused. That is why it is important that a student learn good time management skills. The most important component in that vein is self-management. In my opinion, every student must learn how to manage himself/herself. Self-discipline is so very important. As we go about daily activities there may be many variables can’t be controlled, but we each have control over our own actions and reactions to situations and circumstance around us. I like this statement from our textbook, “But no one ever said that self-management is easy. You’ll need both awareness and courage, for you must constantly make decisions about where your time is going (Reynolds 49).” Managing one’s self includes not procrastinating, not allowing others to make unrequited demands on our time, and making a study plan and sticking to them. Time management is a huge cog in the machine dedicated to success. In managing time, being sure to leave room to study for tests will increase one’s chances of having …show more content…
Lateral thinking broadens one’s ideas. This leads to new information, perspectives, and viewpoints. Vertical thinking involves classifying, evaluating ideas and information. The textbook give a great example. “When you’re writing a paper, you’ll generate ideas through freewriting or research (lateral thinking) before you narrow them (vertical thinking) (Reynolds 176).” In all that we get, the Bible states that we should get understanding (Proverbs 4:7). I feel that the best way to reach a high level of understanding is to take time to invest in thinking about a problem/issue in order to reach a cohesive and well informed answer. To quote the textbook once more, “Critical-thinking skills can help you avoid thinking errors (Reynolds 173).” In concluding what I have to say here I quote noted French philosopher René Descartes who said, “I think therefore I am.” Paraphrased, because I am alive, I