Tips for Success

• Economics Major Brochure

• Attention Teachers: Economic Education Workshop Information

1. Balancing Academics and Activities: Time management is critical to your success. It's important to get involved with campus activities but some students overdo it. They commit themselves to too many campus activities and their studies suffer. Managing time is a lot easier than it sounds. The fact is, it may take a little trial and error before you find the right balance between academics and activities.

2. Are your study habits working? If, by the third week of class, you find you are arriving for lectures unprepared (you have not kept up with reading assignments) take a long, hard look at your study habits. If you have not already set up a study schedule, do it now.

3. Setting up a study schedule: Use a weekly "schedule planner" to note when you are in class and when you plan to study. Block out specific times and aim to complete certain assignments during those times. Also get a semester planner (available at the University store) and fill in information showing when exams are scheduled and when papers or projects are due. Organization is the key not only to your survival in school, but to your success.

Activities

1. Schools have a wide variety of clubs, societies, organizations, and teams. What are you interested in? What did you do in high school that you want to continue in college? What would you like to try but never had the opportunity? Now is the time.

2. The Economics Department at Millersville sponsors the Economics Society. Through the Economics Society, students gain experience and extend their knowledge by putting theories into practice. Activities include: conducting career and employment orientation seminars for other students and organizing field trips to financial institutions and sites of importance to economists. In this way, the Economics Society helps students forge links with faculty, socially and academically.

Course Considerations

1. Before you sign up for classes: Look through the course catalog. Sometimes you will want to know more than the brief description. When you want more details, contact the department which offers the course. Some questions to ask: Is there a more detailed description available? Can I look at the syllabus for the upcoming semester? If not, can I review a past syllabus?

2. Stretch Courses: Students are understandably concerned about their grade point average. For that reason some students avoid taking certain subjects simply because they are not familiar with them. The do not want to take the risk of getting a grade that could pull down their QPA. That is a legitimate concern. On the other hand, college is about sampling new courses and ideas and developing and refining skills that will be used in the workplace and/or graduate school. Take advantage of the opportunity to take courses that stretch you intellectually and take your thinking in new directions. You will probably find such courses invigorating. And, if you do, good grades are likely to follow.

3. Drop and Add Decisions: If you feel "stuck" in a course, you may find it hard to study. Make good use of the first week of classes to evaluate professors and courses. Then, if you have to drop a course, do it. Or sit in on a course you may like to add. (Just let the professor know what you are doing.) Of course, you will not always have the option to drop a course. In some cases your only choice may be to take a required course from a certain professor.

Getting the Most out of Class Time

1. Sit toward the front of the room. You will stay more alert and there is research that shows you will probably get better grades.

2. Read assigned materials before going to class. This way, lectures will make more sense. And you will take better notes since you will have a better understanding of the subject.

3. Listen for and note key concepts and themes. Try to get the big picture. Avoid trying to write down everything the professor says.

4. Take part in any discussions that develop. Let the professor get to know you through in class discussions or at his/her office. When they see that you are really trying, you may get the benefit of the doubt on papers and exams.

Study Tips

1. Study at the time when you are most alert.

2. Do your toughest work first while you are still fresh.

3. Set realistic, daily study goals.

4. Spread out your studying. Do not try to do everything at once.

5. Utilize your time between classes.

6. Do not be afraid to write in your textbooks. Underlining, highlighting, and writing in the margins are useful ways to emphasize points or to remind yourself of questions to ask in class.

7. Studying with classmates may be a helpful way to verbalize your own ideas and listen to those of others. It may also help you to better remember material.

8. Re-write your class notes. This will make them neater and more organized and will serve as another cycle of repetition in the study process. You may also find it useful to integrate your class notes with assigned readings.

9. Do not take things for granted. Develop critical thinking skills by asking yourself: What if? Why? How? etc. If there are equations or graphs to be studied, ask yourself what kind of information these are presenting.

10. Do not forget to take breaks to keep yourself refreshed.

* Adapted from: Spiropoulos, John, College Freshman Survival Guide, Silver Spring, MD: Copyright Information Video, Inc., p. 1-15.