Even if you were the type who never had to work too hard to earn an ‘A’ in high school, you will need to start brushing up on your studying skills once you get into college. This is because the learning environment in college is dramatically different than that of a high school classroom, especially for first-year college students. Many new college students will find that learning in a collegiate setting is much more demanding than high school learning, transforming even previous "natural geniuses" into dedicated studiers.
College freshmen typically are enrolled in general classes with hundreds of other college freshmen, such as college algebra or U.S. History. These are classes that every undergraduate must take, and many freshmen take the classes together during their first year in school. This means that most of your classes during your first year will be in large auditorium-style classrooms, packed elbow to elbow with hundreds of other students. This is a far cry from the 20-student classrooms most high school students are accustomed to. In addition, college classes are also more condensed than high school courses. This is because most college courses are only taught several times a week rather than every weekday like most high school schedules. However, the feature of college learning that ensnares most students is the fact that a student is typically only in class for about two to four hours every day rather than the customary eight hours of high school. This leads many students into a false sense of academic safety, which in turn spurs many students to procrastinate on their assignments.
Ask any upperclassmen, though, and you will learn that for every hour you spend in class, you typically must spend at least two hours outside of class studying. Reading assignments are usually hefty and keeping up with those as well as other course work is essential. Examinations are largely based off of class lectures and reading assignments, so it is imperative that students do not fall behind in either. Perhaps one of the most important skills that college students learn is time management. Students must balance their off-campus lives, such as jobs and socializing, with their academics, which often is more demanding than it may initially seem. Incoming freshmen, even those who were at the top of their classes during grade school, should expect to work harder in college to earn their grades.
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