Students blog

No matter what your major is, it can be hard to find time to study in college. As students, we work, join clubs and sports teams, and maintain a social life outside of school. Assignments and projects can take up a lot of time and energy, leaving an empty tank when it’s time to study for exams. For those in a STEM field, labs, research groups, and a heavy course workload may present additional obstacles to finding time to study effectively.

Time management is an important skill you can develop over time, but there are also ways you can adjust your studying habits to perform better despite having a busy schedule. Some things you can do include committing to a study plan leading up to an exam, only targeting trouble areas using high-retention study strategies, and making concentrated study guides soon after receiving material in class.

1. Make a study plan – Mark your exam dates in your calendar at the beginning of the semester so you always know when they are coming up. Have a rough study plan of what unit or material you are going to review each day that you can refine as you get more material in class and figure out what you need to work on most. Include time to use effective study strategies rather than just re-reading notes or lecture slides.

2. Use course objectives to make study guides – As you receive material in class, begin to compile a study guide of the most important concepts, usually presented as learning objectives. If you do this little by little after every few lectures, you will have a complete study guide of the most important information to refer to use to study for each exam. When it is time to study for your final exam, all the most important concepts from each unit will already be compiled for you to study.

3. Use high-retention strategies to target trouble areas – Once you’ve identified the areas of a course where you need to study the most, consider using strategies that will help you remember the most information in a short amount of time. Have a concentrated study session with timed breaks to reduce fatigue. Instead of flashcards, consider making practice questions from your professor’s learning objectives or find some online. If you are a social learner, ask your friends to quiz you on the material you’ve spent time studying.

If you are still running low on time as an exam is rapidly approaching, condense your learning objectives into five or six major concepts to know. If you can boil those subjects down further, find trouble areas and do your best to resolve any major confusion before the exam. This may mean carving out time to go to one office hour session with your professor for 15 minutes to answer a list of questions you came up with after reviewing the exam material.

Combining these strategies with ways you know you study best can help you reach your academic goals while still balancing social and professional extracurriculars. Sometimes you may do your best to study hard for an exam and still not get the grade you want, and that’s ok! At the end of the day, your mental and physical health is more important than any grade. You will learn from your experiences and be able to better prepare for future exams, so keep working hard and your academic goals will be easily attained.

Do you have a compelling story or student success tips you’d like to see published on the Pearson Students blog?  If you are a college student and interested in writing for us – click here to pitch your idea and get started! 

EarthDay.org reports that every minute, two garbage trucks of plastics are dumped into the world’s oceans.¹ Marine plastic pollution is an ongoing issue that affects everyone, whether you live on the coast or not. Waste we release into the ocean can affect our food, water, health, and economy. We all have a responsibility to make small changes in our lives and use our vote to help reduce the amount of plastic that enters our ocean every year. Since June is National Oceans Month, there is no better time to reevaluate your consumption habits and educate yourself on this global issue.

Before making any major changes to our lifestyle, it is important to educate ourselves on the impacts of plastic pollution. Plastic in the ocean can harm marine life, which can have effects that are felt throughout the food chain. As noted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, seafood accounts for 20% of the world’s protein intake so it is important to protect and maintain the wild fish and shellfish populations we depend on.² Aquaculture, a seafood farming practice meant to provide more food and ease strain on wild populations, isn’t safe from plastic pollution either. Many enclosures are housed in open water where waste can flow freely in and out. In addition to threatening a major food supply, plastic also has negative economic implications related to tourism in many countries that rely on it as their largest economic sector. We should all make it a priority to learn how plastic waste affects our home and what changes can be made to protect it.  

What We Can Do About Plastic 

The first and most obvious change you can make is to refuse single use plastics whenever possible. This can be things like plastic cutlery, straws, bottles, and bags, many of which are the most abundant types of plastic waste in the ocean today. Items like these can harm marine life when they ingest it mistaking it for food. Preliminary research indicates that the chemicals in the ingested plastic can make it to humans with undetermined health effects. Instead, consider alternatives like reusable grocery bags made from recycled materials and reusable metal cutlery and straws. Using a reusable water bottle also goes a long way to mitigate plastic waste, and many public spaces have installed water bottle filling stations to encourage the use of reusable bottles. Though it can feel like we are just one small part of a much larger, more problematic whole, your individual actions matter. You can reduce your own plastic footprint while inspiring others to do the same until environmentally conscious actions have spread to everyone, catalyzing major change.  

Your Vote Matters 

Beyond your personal consumption habits, your vote can make a huge difference in the fight to end marine pollution. Use your voice to tell your representatives and senators to support environmentally friendly laws so they can be passed faster. When laws are passed that regulate plastic production and use, change happens more quickly than if a small group of consumers refuses it. If we can set an example as a nation, starting with each local government, we have the power to set a precedent that can spark change all over the world. This is when education on the issue becomes extremely important. An informed voter is dramatically more impactful than the alternative. 

By the time you’ve finished reading this article, six more garbage trucks of plastic have been added to the same ocean we all share. It can be easy to feel overwhelmed and disconnected in the face of a problem this grand, but in reality, it is no bigger than the plastic straw in your cup or the bag you use for groceries. We all have the power to make one small change every day that will make a world of difference. Educate yourself, make responsible consumption choices, and vote for environmentally friendly policies that can make big change fast. Remember that others are standing with you, from Pacific to Atlantic, and beyond.  

Want to see visuals of marine pollution areas across the world? Check out MapMaster 2.0, an interactive digital mapping tool that helps students develop geographic literacy, spatial reasoning, and critical thinking skills by examining patterns and relationships across regional and global datasets. 

Do you have a compelling story or student success tips you’d like to see published on the Pearson Students blog?  If you are a college student and interested in writing for us – click here to pitch your idea and get started!