College years are the formative years of your young adult’s life. They have newfound independence and responsibility in all major parts of their life, which often can become overwhelming and stressful. Therefore, it’s important for college students to develop successful habits to help keep up with everything and make the most out of their once-in-a-lifetime experience. In this article, we’ve compiled a collection of habits that all successful students swear by, and hopefully, they will help your student develop a routine for success. 

Why is it important to develop habits to be successful?

At one point or another, we’ve all searched for how to be a good student, good student characteristics, how to become a successful student, and other tips and tricks. The answer is to develop good habits, which in turn leads to another question: why exactly are habits so important to succeed?

From this rabbit hole of questions, we can understand that habits help with:

• spending less time deciding and more time doing small things, like where and what to eat, going to sleep, etc.
• having more time and space for creative thinking
• prioritizing important activities
• replacing motivation on difficult days

12 Habits of successful students

Most self-help books emphasize the importance of habits for an organized and healthy lifestyle. As young adults, college students should develop healthy habits that will help them throughout their entire lives. Below, you’ll find twelve habits taken from the experiences of successful students and educational professionals for a more fulfilling college experience. 

Be organized

The first thing you notice about successful people is their ability to be and stay organized. They create their own organizational systems that suit their needs and personality, which is something you can start doing today.

If you’re on the path to becoming a successful student, you should try to take small steps in organizing your life, such as:

• preparing for class and reading the class material beforehand
• having a healthy sleeping schedule
• taking advantage of technological programs and software for note-taking and planning
• having a clean and tidy studying and living space
• making sure you’re ahead of your deadlines

Use an agenda to plan

Taking multiple classes in a semester means you have to juggle many assignments, quizzes, papers, and mid-terms, which is why you have to plan all of that using an agenda. You can use digital planning programs and sites, or you can put your own twist on traditional agendas and bullet journaling. 

You can also make daily, weekly and monthly study plans to keep track of everything in your academic and personal life. 

Be an active participant in class

Gone are the days when students were encouraged to stay silent during class. Nowadays, professors push for engagement and participation by all students. The benefits of participating in class include:

• being more involved with the class material
• remembering the material better
• improving critical and debating skills
• cooperating with your peers and the professor

Ask questions

Though asking questions in front of the class can be intimidating, you should keep in mind that asking questions is beneficial not only for you but for the professor and the whole class as well. The professor notices what the whole class is understanding or not. Asking questions is helpful for you because you:

• gain extra knowledge
• clarify information
• build relationships with professors
• begin discussions
• understand the subject matter deeper

Take notes

Almost all successful students will tell you that taking notes is crucial to effective studying. Taking notes during class will help you focus and engage with the subject matter, know what is important to know, and find gaps you need to fill during revision.

Review regularly

Because new information tends to fade quickly, an essential step to effective studying is reviewing the material regularly. You should review the material you’ve learned during the week on weekends or review the information on set time periods at 7 days, 30 days, 90 days, and 180 days after you’ve acquired the information, which is called the spaced repetition study method. 

Find a study group

Though you may prefer to study alone, taking part in a study group that holds similar values can help you understand difficult topics and connect with your peers. 

They can hold you accountable, help you finish schoolwork before deadlines, quiz you, work on group projects, etc. Lastly, they can help you reach out to people more easily, get professional help when you’re feeling down, and most importantly, they give you a sense of comfort and home. 

Test knowledge

A good habit that helps you assess what you know and what gaps to fill is testing the knowledge before exams by yourself or with others. You can take practice tests or quizzes to get a full picture of the subject matter. 

Get good sleep

Though often overlooked by students, eight hours of sleep during the night are crucial to a healthy brain and a strong memory.  

Students with a good sleeping schedule tend to perform better on exams. Therefore, all-nighters are a big no-no for successful students. With the help of the healthy habits above, you can build a highly practical schedule that allows you to get the rest you need.

Remove distractions

Studying is a demanding process, and it can become difficult if the studying environment isn’t right for you. While most people prefer a quiet and empty space to focus better, others can’t study in utmost silence and prefer white noise and crowded places to study more effectively. 

Granted, there are still other distractions that you should avoid by:

• not checking social media
• putting all your devices on “do not disturb” mode
• avoiding triggers like TV and games or any activity and object that usually distracts you from studying

Do extra-curricular activities

Taking part in extra-curricular activities is another habit that can help you advance in many areas. Extra-curricular activities can include:

• sports and recreation (baseball, fencing, dance team) help you connect with others and maintain a healthy physique
• hobbies, music, and art help you relax and better your craftsmanship
• debate teams and school media teams (magazine, newspapers, radio stations) help you build a great resume and open doors for many job opportunities
• science and math clubs also help you with advancing your knowledge in the field and building connections with future collaborators

But the most important part of extra-curricular activities is to have fun and enjoy your time on campus.

Be honest

Success isn’t a linear road. It has ups and downs, and it’s hard to achieve. However, it’s still something worth pursuing and fighting for. 

Even when the world seems like an unjust and cruel place, you should hang on to your morals and principles because success comes to the patient and honest hard workers. You should always be honest with what you struggle with and what you don’t understand and try to find ways to fill those gaps to become the best version of yourself.

Conclusion

We are the sum of every little detail, characteristic, and habit we complete ourselves with. Hence, it’s essential to develop healthy habits that help us grow and succeed in the world. 

Student life isn’t far from that. We need habits that not only help us get through schoolwork but through life too. So, if you want to have a great college experience and excel academically, it’s never too late to develop habits that suit the life you want to live in the future. 

Source

Article adapted from https://www.pacific-college.edu/blog/being-good-student. Please Note: Missouri S&T does not endorse or have a relationship with SOURCE and articles are provided for information purposes only. Missouri S&T and SOURCE do not assume responsibility for error or omission in materials.  

Family & Friends

107 Norwood Hall • 320 W. 12th Street / family@mst.edu

Phone: 573-341-6323 • Website: http://family.mst.edu/

Facebook: Missouri S&T Family and Friends