As a rule of thumb, spend two hours of home study for every hour of classroom time you participate in.

Notecards work the best for rote memorization – you can organize them in a certain order, then shuffle – you can’t do that with your notebook.

Never drink after you study – you block the synapses to allow for the memory to ‘stick’.

Also, have specific times when you don’t have to study so you can tell yourself, “I’m studying now, but later I WILL be free to do whatever I want.” — That kind of thing.

Listen in class and take notes, but don’t depend on your teacher/instructor/professor to tell you everything. If there is assigned reading, read it. If there isn’t, but the lecture was based on a specific chapter, read through it if you didn’t understand the lecture or glance through it (AND your notes) to review before a test.

If you have ANY questions, and you haven’t been able to find an answer in your textbook, notes or whatever, talk to the instructor. Profs and teachers (as far as I can tell) LOVE being asked questions if you really listen and try your best. Most of them are teaching for a reason.

Keep a good calendar so you know when everything is due. Prioritize things so you know what is most important to do when. If you have a major project , start early and break it into little pieces (unless you like big chunks or cramming!). You’ll feel like you’ve done something if you can look at your “to-do” list and see that “Draft Outline for Research Paper” is crossed off. It’s a small thing, but it helps.

If you like having your evenings free, try to get up earlier or set aside morning time for studying so you can keep your evenings for fun.

Last thing, work hard! I’m an “A” student, but I (sadly!) can’t really put it down to brilliance when I know the students who get C’s and D’s are the ones who skip homework and class until the last minute or test day.

…Finally (this is kind of a repeat), make sure you have some fun/relaxed/friends time because life is NOT all about school even though it seriously feels like it sometimes.

Have a great school year!

2) Eat a healthy diet

3) Exercise

4) Have a social life but not one that takes too much of your time

5) Set study time limits. Study 30 minutes straight and then take a 5 minute break and so on

6) Enjoy

7) Check out http://www.getintopharmacyschool.com if you are interested in pharmacy.