| I'm a counselor at a community college, and one of the first things we try to address with a new student, is the fact that the work load in college is dramatically different than it is in high school. Many students in high school can slide by and get decent grades by studying an hour or so every night. We point out that a new college student should count on putting in 1 and a half to 2 hours of study for every credit hour that they take. If a student is taking 12 credit hours, this translates into a MINIMUM of 18 hours each week, usually more like 24 hours. And for students with some type of learning disability or ADHD (yes, they go to college too!), they should increase that figure to 3 hours of study per week for each credit hour they're taking. Many students (at least at the community college level) are shocked - SHOCKED! - at this level of time commitment.
I agree with the earlier poster who suggested day-planners as a good way to keep track of study time and other commitments. Our office has long discussions with each "newbie" about the importance of using a day-planner to manage life and school responsibilities. Some kids just feel too "restricted" by this type of planning, but others find the structure pretty liberating. Having a student track a full week's worth of how he actually spends his time (literally 24/7) goes a long way towards figuring out if too much socializing, not enough sleep, or not enough studying contributed in any way to the rough semester. Hope this helps! |