College Rules!, 3rd Edition

Table Of Contents

Acknowledgments      ix
Introduction      1
 
Chapter 1   You’re in the Big Time Now     7
Doing College  •  But What If I Wasn’t the World’s Greatest High School Student?  •  Six Ways College Differs from High School  •  Start Off Strong
 
Chapter 2   Where to Find the Help You Need      21
I Need Help!  •  Getting Hassle-Free Help
 
Chapter 3   A Few Words About Professors     30
Just What the Heck Do Professors Do?  •  I Have an Appointment with One of “Them”–Now What?  •  Hangin’ with Your Profs  •  What Do Your Profs Think about You?
 
Chapter 4   Zen and the Art of Course Selection      41
Racking Up the Credits: How Many Courses Should You Take?  •  Ommmm: Creating a Balance  •  Working with Your Advisor  •  Choosing Your Professors  •  Making a Plan  •  Withdrawal Symptoms  •  Know Thy GPA
 
Chapter 5   Major Decisions: Selecting a Field of Study     56
Help! I Don’t Know What I Want to Do When I Grow Up  •  So Many Choices!  •  Double (or Even Triple) Majors  •  Major Assistance Is Out There  •  Why Choosing a Major ­ Choosing a Career
 
Chapter 6   Classes, Work, and Play: Adjusting to the      Demands of College      69
Lots of Changes  •  Characteristics of Well-Rounded Students
Chapter 7   Timely Tips: The ABC(&D)s of Time Management     82
 
The Forty-Hour Mindset  •  The Alphabet Approach: The ABC(&D)s of Managing Your Life  •  The Advantages of Excelling at Time Management
 
Chapter 8   “I Think I Can, I Think I Can”: Getting and      Staying Motivated     96
Setting Goals You Can Accomplish  •  Getting Motivated  •  And Staying Motivated  •  Reviving Your Motivation
 
Chapter 9   Igniting the Fire: Discovering Your Inner Learner     110
What Is Your Orientation?  •  Is Interest Really All It’s Cracked Up to Be?  •  Faking It  •  Who’s to Blame for Success and Failure?  •  Get Your Learning Groove Back
 
Chapter 10   Arrrrrrrgh! and Other Ways to Handle Stress     122
Good Stress/Bad Stress  •  What Causes College Stress?  •  Academic Stress  •  Nonacademic College Stress  •  What Does Stress Do to You?  •  Reducing Stress Levels
 
Chapter 11   What’s It All About? Understanding How You Learn     134
Profiles of Amazing Students  •  Learning Matters  •  How the Learning Thing REALLY Works
 
Chapter 12   Can You Believe That?     146
How Certain Are You?  •  Is It Really That Simple?  •  How Quick Should Learning Be?  •  Who’s in Charge?  •  Are You Math-Brained or English-Brained?  •  Transforming Your Beliefs
 
Chapter 13   Shhhhh . . . A Moment of Silence, Please:      Concentrating While You Study     157
Creating a First-Rate Learning Environment  •  Getting Rid of Distractions  •  Six Ways to Improve Concentration
 
Chapter 14   Your Course Syllabus Is Your Friend     169
Anatomy of a Syllabus  •  What Can Your Syllabus Do for You?
 
Chapter 15   What’s Up, Doc? Understanding Your      Prof’s Expectations      180
Why Bother Figuring Out the Tasks?  •  Figuring It Out  •  But What If You Still Don’t Get It?  •  Smart Strategy Selection
Chapter 16   Take Note!      192
 
Write On: Some Terrific Note-Taking Tips  •  Be Creative: Use the Split-Page Method of Note Taking  •  You’re Almost There: Self-Testing Using the Split-Page Method  •  Different Strokes for Different Folks: Modifying the Split-Page Method
Chapter 17   Words! Words! Words!     207
 
How Can I Be in College and Still Need to Learn New Words?  •  Building Your Vocabulary  •  Using Context  •  Using the Dictionary or Glossary  •  Using Word Structure  •  Knowing a Word
 
Chapter 18   Active Reading     219
Reading for Learning  •  Warming Up: Previewing Before You Read  •  Annotation: Text Messages for Active Reading  •  The Nuts and Bolts of Annotation  •  A Sample Annotation  •  Studying Your Annotations
 
Chapter 19   Three Rs and an M: Remembering What You      Have Read and Heard     234
Reflecting: Thinking About Information  •  Rehearsing: Getting Information into Your Memory  •  Reviewing: Keeping Information in Memory  •  Monitoring Your Learning
 
Chapter 20   Studying Smarter      251
Being Flexible: Selecting and Modifying Strategies  •  Acting like Einstein: Studying in the Sciences  •  Beyond Freud and Mead: Studyingin the Social Sciences  •  The Art of the Dance: Studying in the Humanities  •  Parlez-Vous Français? Studying Foreign Languages  •  X + Y = What? Studying Mathematics
 
Chapter 21   Learning 2.0: Technology, College, and You     266
Tech to Expect  •  Reading on the Screen  •  Taking Notes on Your Laptop  •  To Help or Not to Help: Online Lecture Notes  •  Classrooms Without Walls  •  Exams Go High Tech  •  Are You a PC or a MAC?  •  Password Protect Yourself  •  If You Wouldn’t Put It on Your Resume, Don’t Post It Online  •  Keep It Clean
 
Chapter 22   Everything You Wanted to Know About      Research and Presentations but Were Afraid to Ask      281
Finding Resources in the Library and on the Web  •  Forget the Five-Paragraph Essay  •  The Confusing World of Plagiarism  •  Creating First-Rate Presentations
 
Chapter 23   It’s More than Multiple Guess: Prepping for and      Taking Objective Exams      296
Studying for Objective Exams  •  Tips for Taking Objective Exams  •  Eenie, Meenie, Minie, Moe . . . If You Have to Guess  •  An A+ for You: Evaluating Your Test Performance
 
Chapter 24   Bluebook Blues: Prepping for and      Taking Essay Exams     309
Studying for Essay Exams  •  It’s All in the Way It’s Worded  •  Elements of a Good Essay  •  Put It in Writing
 
Chapter 25   Is That Your Final Answer?     322
Smart Exam Prep  •  A Word About Cramming  •  Surviving Midterms and Finals
Chapter 26   Just the FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions      331
 
One Final, Unsolicited Piece of Advice
 
About the Authors      336
Index      338