As a new semester begins at Sinclair Community College, the stress of staying ahead and staying organized is often a challenge for many.
According to Sinclair’s department of Disability Services, their primary goal is “to help students reach their academic goals.”
Disability Services recommends for students to “control your life by controlling your time.”
One thing they suggest is for students to keep a paper and pencil or electronic planner to help them plan accordingly throughout the term.
Sinclair Communication major Travis Frashier has similar methods for staying organized.
“For me it’s lots and lots of notecards,” he said. “It’s important for me to keep an agenda. I plan a schedule on a notecard and carry it with me, and I’ll use them to study too.”
As well as planning out a schedule, Disability Services also recommends setting aside specific times allotted solely for studying.
“In a national survey, the more hours students spent studying or doing homework, the more they liked and stayed in college,” according to Disability Services.
First year Sinclair Psychology major Madeline Fletcher has a few tips on how not to study.
“Don’t do it in a comfy chair or a comfy bed,” she said. “I fell asleep studying once with a pink highlighter and woke up with it all over my face.”
Fletcher recommends getting out of the house when trying to concentrate on schoolwork.
Neda Azzam, a Business student at Sinclair, agrees with Fletcher.
“I can’t study at home,” she said. “I work on campus so I’m here all the time. Every day I try to set aside time in the library to get work done.”
For those who sometimes struggle with good study habits or time management, Sinclair offers several tools from Disability Services and Sinclair’s Tutorial Services to aid students.
According to the Sinclair Tutorial Services “any Sinclair student who is enrolled in class for academic credit may receive tutoring assistance at no cost to the student.”
Tutorial Services is located in the lower level of the library, Building 7 in room 7L07.
Sinclair’s website sinclair.edu/support/counseling/studenttips/ also contains tips and strategies on student success ranging from student study tips, tips on getting motivated, test-taking strategies, good time-management and dealing with test anxiety.
For Sinclair Biology major Ashley Seitz, it’s another part of college life that causes the most stress.
“Tests and homework I’m pretty good at,” she said. “It’s writing papers I always get frustrated with.”
When it comes to writing papers, Disability Services recommends students “work backward from the due date, reserving enough time for each step and assigning a completion date to each step.”
According to Seitz, “when it comes to doing the things I really don’t want to do, like long papers, I just have to remind myself that I’m in school for a reason, and staying ahead through an entire semester is a lot easier than doing a lot of catching up and make-up work later on,” she said. “My future success is what inspires me the most.”