academic goals

Academic Care Week-At-A-Glance

I love the beginning of a semester. When a new semester begins, your grade is an A+ and you are completely on top of your work. It seems like the farther into the semester we get, the poorer our habits become. What we need to do is practice academic care to keep our habits strong.

It’s not difficult or time consuming to practice academic care. In fact, you can improve your academic health and fight the procrastination monster by focusing on one aspect every day as you study. Try using the Academic Care Week-At-A-Glance below.

Sunday: Prepare for the Week Ahead

Look over your course calendars to see what content you will be learning during the week.
Look ahead to plan for future exam or project due dates.
Skim the readings for the week’s classes to familiarize yourself with the content. Look at the headlines, subheadings, images, and vocabulary.

Monday: Start Strong

Break down large assignments into chunks that you can work on over time.
Begin your readings, filling in information missing from your lecture notes.
Start turning new information from your notes and readings into study questions.

Tuesday: Stay the Course

Continue with your strong start from Monday.
Don’t start to procrastinate! Stay on top of your notes, readings, assignments, and study questions.
Review your study questions, focusing more attention of questions you can’t answer.

Wednesday: Look at your Progress

You are at the midpoint of the week.
Look at what you’ve accomplished so far. Identify the benefits of Preparing for the Week, Starting Strong, and Staying the Course.
Focus on what you need to do for the rest of the week to stay on top of your work.
Continue with your notes, readings, assignments, and study questions.

Thursday: Modify and Adjust

Review your plan for the week. Are you still committed to following it?
Identify anything that got in the way of sticking to your plan.
Modify and adjust so that you can successfully complete your work. Do you need to change your schedule? Are you using the most effective study strategies?

Friday: Relax and Have Fun

Make notes of important information you need to review or relearn from your classes, clinics, labs, or exams.
Take the night off. Relax, rest your brain, spend time with family or friends. Do something creative and give the left side of your brain a rest.

Saturday: Finish, Review, and Reward

Finish any work from the week so you don’t have to carry it over and risk getting behind.
Review all the new content learned during the week.
Review content learned during previous weeks and connect new information to what you previously learned.
Reward yourself for all your hard work. Do something you enjoy, spend time with friends or family, whatever you want.

Planning for Finals

It’s hard to believe, but finals are just a few short weeks away, which means you are probably buried in papers, projects, presentations, and unit tests. Don’t let this sneak up on you! Planning for your finals doesn’t have to be difficult. With just a few steps you can go into finals focused, prepared, and ready for the challenge. Make a plan now so you are primed when the time arrives.

Focused on Finals

Being focused means that you know what you plan to accomplish. One good way to approach this is to make two sets of goals: what you need to accomplish, and what you want to accomplish.

Need to Accomplish. Think of these goals as your minimums. Look at your class performance over the semester. What scores do you need to make to achieve satisfactory performance in each of your classes? Distinguish the classes that will require more effort from those where you already have high scores.

Want to Accomplish. These goals are what will please you. In answering this, make sure you keep these goals realistic. Don’t set impossible goals for all your finals. Set these goals class by class to help keep them achievable.

Balance the two sets of goals and determine a goal for each class. This will help you focus your time management and study strategies to achieve your goals.

Prepared for Finals

Preparing involves more than just going over notes. It’s strategic. It starts right away with time management. Clear your calendar as much as possible and set a study schedule. Then find out whether your tests are comprehensive. If they are comprehensive, then you will want to begin reviewing past material right away. What do you know and what do you need to study? You can’t prepare for a comprehensive final by reading a semester’s worth of notes two days before the final.

Find a way to create notes that allow you to test yourself, especially in content where you are weaker. The more you practice retrieving information, the better your test performance will be, whether you are trying to remember information or applying your knowledge. Self-testing will reassure you that you know what you think you know.

Ready for Finals

Being ready means you have set goals for, and learned as much as you can about, each test. You’ve stuck to a study schedule, and carried out a study plan. It doesn’t mean you won’t be anxious. Ready means that you have done what you need to do, to the best of your ability, for the goals you set.

Take control and plan for your finals now. Don’t wait until the last minute. Getting started now will help reduce your anxiety and make you better prepared when the time arrives.

What Do You Expect from Your Education?

Why are you at UAMS? No, really, why did you choose us for your education? Educators talk a lot about expectations, usually referring to the expectations they have for their students. But faculty expectations for education is only part of the equation. Students bring their own expectations, and they should be examined as well.

It’s Your Education

Okay, so it’s your education. What are you expecting? You started this journey for a reason. What was it? What are you expecting to get out of it? These questions will determine the time and effort you are willing devote to your schooling, so you need to ask yourself, what do you expect?

Look, a health sciences education isn’t easy. There are books full of facts that your instructors say that you need to know. You are expected to learn a wide variety of procedures that will need to become second nature. You have to grapple with ethical issues that will inform your future practice. Will it be enough? Will you be ready? Or, is it all too much? The answers to these questions depend partly on your expectations.

If you don’t know why you are here, or what you want, you won’t be able to answer these questions. Sometimes, people choose a path because they don’t have anything better in mind. They adopt a “why not” attitude. They drift through courses, not unhappy, but not fully engaged either. Without a set of reasonable expectations based what they want out of their education, they can’t be truly successful.

So, do you know what you expect and why?

Examine your Expectations

Take time to think about your expectations for your education. How informed are they? Did you know what your education would be like? Will it get you where you want to be? Were you realistic? If you know why you are here and what you want, but find that some of your expectations were unrealistic, then maybe you need to modify your expectations.

Expectations should change a bit when they encounter reality. Like so many things in life, you rarely know what to expect until you have at least some experience behind you. So expect to make some adjustments. When your expectations are aligned with your experience, your motivation and satisfaction increases. If they don’t align, you get frustrated, your courses seem pointless, and your motivation plummets. So, stop often to adjust your expectations.

Own your expectations, and be aware of how they affect you. Stay engaged with your education. If something seems pointless, ask about its significance. If you are inspired by an idea or assignment, connect it to as many other experiences as you can. Look for ways to have your expectations met, and don’t wait on others to do it for you. After all, it’s your education.

Traditions from Babylon: Resolutions for Success

Are you part of the nearly 45 percent of Americans who say they make New Year’s Resolutions? The tradition dates back to the ancient Babylonians who made promises to the gods in an effort to gain their favor. While we’ve been keeping the tradition ever since, today our resolutions focus on self-improvement.

Reflection to Resolutions

January 1st is a great opportunity to make resolutions to change academic habits that aren’t working for you. Think back over the last semester.

How successful were you?
Did you meet your goals?
Were your goals attainable?
How well did you balance your academic requirements with the other areas of your life?
Did you manage your time as effectively as you could?
Did you work hard enough to achieve your goals?
If you worked hard, do you need to find ways to work smarter so you can maximize your study time?

Potential academic resolutions lie in your answers to these questions. If everything is running smoothly, that’s great! But if it isn’t, what do you want or need to change? If Plan A isn’t working, then it’s time to move to Plan B or even Plan C. No plan is ever perfect. You should always be updating and changing your plan based on your needs. What worked for you in the past may not work in your current situation. So, make a new plan and meet your goals for academic success.

Resolutions to a New Plan

If you want some help creating a new plan, the Student Success Center has a wide range of resources to help you find what you need. Visit our On Demand Support page to find materials that provide support and guidance. And if you don’t see what you need, tell us what you are looking for. Use the Academic Coaching Request form to make an appointment with a Learning Specialist for personalized guidance and advice. We will work with you to find what you need.

Learn from the traditions of ancient Babylon. Make your resolutions for the new academic year. The Student Success Center is here to help if you. We want you to have a very successful New Year.

Reflect: How are you doing?

At this point, most students are about halfway to mid-term exams, making it a good time to look at how the semester is going. How is your academic performance? Have you set yourself up for success? What about your study skills and test scores? If you aren’t where you hoped to be, it’s probably a good idea to reflect on how well what you are doing is working for you.

Realistic Goals

Goals provide structure to your academic life. They help you focus on what’s important and ignore other distractions. Are you on track to meet your semester goals? If you are, then you probably don’t need to change anything. If not, then you will probably want to consider some changes.

Are your goals achievable? If not, you’ll need to revise them. If, on reflection, your goals are realistic, ask yourself if you you have planned adequately to achieve them. You may need to change some of your habits, like how you manage your time, or try sharpening your study skills. Often, our goals require us to change how we work to achieve them.

Maybe you haven’t consciously set goals for yourself. If that’s the case, I strongly encourage you to make the time to do so. Goal setting should be part of your academic preparation. Without specific and realistic goals, you will find yourself making random decisions you may regret. You can find more information about goals setting on our post, Setting Academic Goals.

Organization and Time Management

I know I’ve said this repeatedly, but the fact is that success at UAMS is dependent on organization and time management. It’s hard to keep up with multiple courses, projects, exams, and family, friends and, often, a job. Are you actively managing your time? Do you know where you are in every assignment? You may need to change the way you manage your time. Learn more by reading Time Management and Organize and Manage Your Time on this blog. You can also find resources to help you under the Time Management tab on our Learning Support page.

Study Skills

Successful students have good study skills. Even if you’ve never had to study much before, you will need strong study habits to meet the rigorous academic requirements at UAMS. Reflect on what you have been doing. Do you feel you are well prepared for your exams? Maybe it’s time to improve how you study and build your skills. You can read more in our posts Sharpen Your Study Skills and Step Up Your Study Skills. You can find more resources under the Study Skills tab on the Learning Support page.

Test-Taking

Test-taking skills begin before the test. In fact, the time to begin preparing for a test is the first day of class. Good test-takers use strategies before, during, and after a test. Reflect on your test performance. If it’s not what you hoped, consider the following.

Before the Test: One of the leading causes of low test scores and anxiety is poor preparation. Students often wait until the last minute to study, and then cram all night trying to catch up. They arrive at the test exhausted and overwhelmed. If they try to replace rest with caffeine they might begin to feel sick, which will make it even harder to perform well. Take a look at how you prepare, including your studying, note-taking, and time management. Making necessary changes will help you improve your academic performance.

During the Test: Even the best prepared students can make errors during the test. They may lose track of time, spend too long on one question, or second guess themselves and change answers that were correct. You may need to look at how you are taking your test, and correct some of your habits.

After the Test: What you do after the test is very important to your success. Good test-takers examine their test results to find the source of their errors. Were you missing the information? Maybe you left questions blank. Analyzing your errors can help you take steps to avoid making them on your next test.

There are more helpful resources under the Testing tab on the Learning Support page.

Make the time to reflect. How is your academic performance? Now is the time to change the things that aren’t working for you. Use our resources to help you improve your time management, study skills, and test taking skills. If you want more personalized help, complete and submit the Academic Coaching Request to make an appointment with a Learning Specialist to find the strategies that will work best for you.

Start Strong

School has now officially started and you are probably already busy with your classes. It is much easier to finish strong in your classes if you take the time to start strong, so take the time now to set yourself up for success.

Set Goals

If goal setting isn’t part of your academic preparation, it should be. Goals provide structure in your academic life. Setting and prioritizing goals helps you to focus on what is most important and ignore other distractions. Without specific and realistic goals, you’ll find yourself making random decisions you may regret. Start strong by setting realistic goals. You can find more information about setting your academic goals here.

Manage your Time

Success at UAMS is dependent on time management. You have multiple courses, projects, exams, study groups, and deadlines, and keeping up with them can seem like a part-time job. To help you manage it all, get a calendar and combine it with a To Do list. I prefer to use an online calendar and to-do app that will sync across all my devices, but if you prefer a hard-copy calendar and to-do list, that’s fine too.

As soon as you can, download the schedules for all your courses and put all your assignments, projects, tests, and deadlines for all your courses on your calendar. This will show you when you are going to be the busiest. Break down your big projects into manageable chunks and work on them a little at a time so you aren’t overwhelmed when the deadline is upon you. Keep tasks on a To Do list and check them off when complete. Having a good system for your calendar and tasks will keep you organized and make your academic life much easier. It is a good way to start strong for success.

You can find more information, tips and tools for effectively managing and organizing your time here.

Identify Help

At some point during your time at UAMS, you may need help. Become familiar with all the services that the Student Success Center has to offer. You might find yourself falling behind in your courses or struggling to pass a class. Don’t wait to seek help. Go get the support you need right away. Check out the Student Success Center on the 3rd floor of the library or browse through our website to discover all the ways we are here to help you achieve academic excellence.

Setting Academic Goals

If setting academic goals isn’t part of your preparation, it should be. Goals provide structure to your academic life. Setting and prioritizing goals helps you focus on what’s important and ignore other distractions. Without specific and realistic goals, you will find yourself making random decisions you may regret.

Set Your Academic Goals

Goal setting starts with your vision of what you want from the academic program you are pursuing. What do you want to do with your education? What is the 5 or 10-year result of being in school? Knowing what you want to accomplish with your education is powerful motivation, especially when you are struggling.

Write a declarative statement for each of your goals. Formatting your goals in the right way increases your likelihood of achieving them. Use positive language. State what you want, not what you don’t want. Say, “I will get a B or better in Equipment and Techniques this semester”, instead of “I don’t want to flunk Equipment and Techniques this semester”. Thinking positively will empower you to be more successful.

One of the most effective ways to format your academic goals is to write SMART goals. SMART goals are effective because they are both realistic and relevant; making it more likely that you will persevere and achieve your goals. Align your goals with the following SMART concepts.

Create an Action Plan

Goals aren’t accomplished simply by writing them down. You need to create a plan of action in order to achieve your goals. Break each goal down into a set of smaller tasks and subtasks. Checking off each of these tasks and subtasks will give you a sense of accomplishment and feed your motivation to successfully complete your goals. Remember, your goals will never be accomplished unless you take action.

Identify Resources/Challenges

Obstacles and setbacks are a natural part of life, but you also have resources available to you to help you overcome them. Try to anticipate the challenges you may face. Make a list of potential obstacles and identify the resources that will support you.

Maintain Your Motivation

As you work on achieving your goals, you may have trouble staying motivated to push through to the end. One way to combat that “slump” you will likely experience is to ask others to help hold you accountable for achieving your goals. We all perform better before an audience, and having people who will celebrate your successes and remind you to stay on track can be a powerful motivation booster.

Another way to maintain your motivation is to visualize your future accomplishment. What will the accomplishment your goal look and feel like? What will be the benefits from achieving the goal? Will you have more personal time? Will your future goals become more attainable? Whatever it is, visualizing the benefits can help motivate you to progress to the next step.

There’s an App for That!

There are numerous ways to track the progress of your goals. If you like to use old fashioned hard copy methods you can put your goals into your calendar, journal, or on a piece pf paper taped to your bathroom mirror. Just keep them where you can see them every day. If you like a tech solution, there are a number of apps for goal setting and habit tracking available for your smartphone or tablet. You can use any app that meets your needs, but I recommend that you check out these two apps.

CheckMark is a great tool that was designed to help you achieve daily goals. This app is extremely useful for helping you complete the tasks and subtasks associated with your goals. It’s easy to use and the design is very simple. The goals you input are the ones that your want to achieve today, not tomorrow or in the future. The goals expire at the end of the day, whether they are achieved or not.

Smart Goals is an all-in-one goal setting, bucket list (dreams) and habit tracking app. The goals feature helps you set SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound) goals. It allows you to create smaller tasks and subtasks, or milestones, that lead toward the accomplish of your bigger goals. You can re-order your goals or convert goals to dreams or dreams to goals. It is a strong tool for tracking your long-term progress, and it’s editing tools allow you to make changes in your goals as you encounter life changes.

Make goal setting a part of your academic preparation. You will be able to focus on what is most important and complete your academic courses successfully. Your specific and realistic goals will help you make the right decisions to achieve the academic and professional life you envisioned.