Tomorrow's the test, and your professor warned it would be the biggest thing since the Tickle-Me-Elmo craze.

You were sitting in the front row yesterday when he described this monster in all its gory details. Forty multiple-choice questions, just to "warm up the pencils," the professor had said. He smiled. You didn't.

"Oh, and there will also be a few short-answer questions, about a paragraph each—as a warm-up for the essay question."

"Essay? How long should that be?" you asked.

"As long as it takes to completely answer the question," was his reply. This isn't high school anymore, you thought to yourself as you walked back to your dorm room.

And now you're at your desk. It's 11 p.m. The monster's tomorrow. Scattered about the desk are a textbook, study guide, notes from class, and notes written to the guy next to you during class. You don't know where to start. It doesn't occur to you at the time, but far more goes into acing a test than what was studied the night before.

That's what the professors say, at least. They'll tell you there are essentially three areas that contribute to success on a given test, and even more importantly, to the knowledge you draw from each class as a whole:

1. Know your professor.
2. Manage your time.
3. Study effectively.

"When you take a class, you need to master the professor as much as the material," says Dr. Rick Mann, vice president for academic affairs at Crown College in St. Bonifacius, Minnesota.

Master a professor? How does that work?

Mann says successful students first identify the things a professor gives priority to, and then they figure out how to communicate this information back to the prof in the method he or she requires.

But how do you know what a prof is looking for? Just ask, Mann says. They won't bite. He says students often think wrongly that faculty are unapproachable and don't want to talk to them. But that's not true. He says he values visits from his students—even when they don't have class-related questions.

"Go see a prof if for no other reason than so you'll know how to approach them when there is a reason," Mann says. "Stop by their offices often. Then when you really need help, it won't be so daunting. Professors really value student initiative."

But there's a catch: You need to master professors whether you like them or not. It's an important life skill, Mann explains.

"I always tell students, if you have a great prof, you're going to benefit from it; if you have a terrible prof, realize this may be the type of person you'll be working for when you're out of college," he says.

The good news is, most professors are not of the "terrible" variety, says Dr. Amiel Jarstfer, dean of the school of arts and sciences and an associate professor of biology at LeTourneau College in Longview, Texas.

"Professors are real people," he says. "And most of the time, they're real nice people."

Jarstfer says he likes to meet students so he can better understand who they are and where they're going. He says that aquiring this knowledge helps him help his students succeed.

The concept of connecting with professors—as well as with others on campus—is so vital that it's the first thing Virginia Lettinga tells students about how to succeed in her class.

Lettinga, associate professor and director of academic enrichment and support at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota, says that connections with friends and professors are key ingredients to a successful student.

"Those connections make you feel like you are in the swing of college—if you feel like you belong here, you'll do well," Lettinga says. "Research shows that if you study like an animal but don't make friends or meet your profs, you'll likely drop out after your first year."

So, back to that monster test you're studying for. As long as you review the right material the night before the test, you'll succeed, right?

Not necessarily. Since that's probably not the only class you're taking, you may have reading to do for another class, as well as a paper to write for still another. Or worse.

Jarstfer warns: "Expect that you may have three tests on the same day, and you're not going to be able to study for all three the night before. You really need to start studying for them the week before."

This concerns you, because the last time you did something a week ahead of time, it was by accident. From a professor's perspective, however, efficient time management is critical to college success and survival.

"Incoming students tend to think they can do things at the last minute, and in high school they probably could," Jarstfer says. "But it's better to plan ahead rather than throw something together at the last minute."

Unfortunately, though, planning ahead in college can be tough, considering the heavier class load and increased responsibility, not to mention more social options.

Jarstfer says that every year students overcommit their time because they fail to properly evaluate the activities that would be best for them. Surrounded by so many good options, it's hard for them to say no.

"But it's OK to say no," Jarstfer says. "You don't have to be involved in everything. You need only to do the things that are in keeping with your goals and talents."

You'll want to find time for a social life, of course, but not at the expense of your studies. Do your best to work social activities around your academic schedule, but don't neglect your social life altogether.

Which leads to the obvious question: How much time can you expect to spend on your classes?

Lettinga says professors generally design two or three hours of outside-of-class work for every hour spent in class. For an average classload of 15 credit hours (that's about how many hours per week you'll actually spend in class for all your classes), this equates to a full-time job.

Mann agrees: "If you put a 40-hour week into schoolwork, including class attendance, you should do fine."

Money-making jobs, then, should be viewed as overtime.

"Statistically, as soon as students start working more than 15 hours a week at a job, their grades drop," Lettinga says. "I often tell freshmen not to work more than five hours per week their first semester."

Whether students spend their hours on work, social activities or mere laziness, both Mann and Lettinga say the problem is that most don't study outside of class nearly as much as they should. Although students realize college requires more work, they often don't grasp the magnitude, which is why scheduling is so important.

A sufficient amount of time should be set aside for a given task. Take reading, for example.

"It takes roughly 20 pages per hour to read a college text," says Lettinga. "So if you're assigned a 35-page psychology reading, it will take one to two hours if you're a skilled reader. Often during the first few weeks of college new students only set aside a half-hour to read something. They're walking in with their high school experience, and it's just not matching up with the reality they're meeting in college."

But even though there is more work on the college level, there are definitely some advantages—like having a syllabus. Most professors will give you a schedule of all your assignments at the beginning of a semester. So you'll never be surprised by big projects. You can even work on them ahead of time, which is yet another reason scheduling is so important.

"Block out time to study for just about every course, just about every day," Lettinga says. "The reason they give you a syllabus is so you can see the whole semester and can divide 80 pages of reading into reasonable portions. Eighty pages in a single blow would mean you read the entire evening, and that's not the way the mind remembers and retains well."

Many professors agree it's helpful to immediately transfer all the due dates from your syllabus into your daily planner. If daily planners don't work for you, find something else—whatever it takes for you to keep track of your tests and assignments as you budget time for studying and homework.

OK, let's rewind a little bit. It's not the night before the test. Instead, you have planned ahead and are taking your whole Saturday afternoon to prepare for next Thursday's exam.

But there's a problem. You're a recovering procrastinator with study skills that revolve around your short-term memory and an uncanny ability to cram. How in the world, you wonder, does anybody go about studying in such a way that information can be retained over the long haul?

One of the first steps is to determine how you best learn. Do you get more information from reading the textbook, or from studying figures in the textbook, or from vocabulary flashcards?

"Some students come to me and say, 'I've read this three times, and it just doesn't stick,' and I say, 'Quit reading it then!'" Jarstfer says. "If you don't get it by reading it, don't read it over and over again. If you would get it better by studying the pictures and diagrams and lists, study those."

Mann agrees. He says students who plow through a chapter word by word will actually retain more if they "move a little quicker rather than doddling along. You don't read the phone book from end to end. You pick out the information that is pertinent."

This means concentrating on the headings, the questions at the end of each chapter, italicized words, vocabulary words and topic sentences. The key is to focus on the main points and not get bogged down by the large chunks of text.

"Whatever you do, don't feel obligated to read every word," he says. "The misconception is that we've done the job when we've read every word. The real issue is that we've done our job when we've retained the information."

In seeking to retain knowledge, Lettinga suggests that a pencil is actually a far greater complement to reading than a highlighter. And since students own their own books in college, scribbling notes in the margins of textbooks isn't only allowed, it's encouraged. After each reading assignment, she says students should write a short summary of the information. This will help them to encapsulate the main idea of the reading in a way a highlighter could only dream of.

"I've had students who have highlighted almost every single word in every single book," Lettinga said. "Highlighting can be really counterproductive if you do that. But if you summarize and reframe an idea in your own words, that makes you understand. Highlighting just gives you a batch of bright words."

Other things to keep in mind while studying:

1. Environment—Lettinga suggests finding several good places to study; just don't make them too comfortable. That means you probably shouldn't study in bed, where you're likely to fall asleep. It also means being realistic about the stuff you surround yourself with. "If you cover your studying area with pictures of people from home, the Rocky Mountains where you wish you could be, your dog, your girlfriend, I promise, it will distract you," she says. "There's all that stuff reminding you of what you'd rather be doing."
2. Been there, done that—Mann gives a good reminder: "All of these classes have been taken before." Because of this, he says, upperclassmen can be a perfect resource in learning how to master not only the material, but the professor's expectations. Be sure to ask those older students.
3. Teaching method—Jarstfer notes that many professors say they've learned the most since they've been teaching students. In order to explain the material to someone else, students have to understand the ideas themselves. Whether it's a classmate or a stuffed animal—as Jarstfer said one successful student used—teaching the material to someone else can pay big dividends in learning and retention.
4. Attendance—"One of the best and easiest things you can do is go to every class. It is a rare student who cannot go to class and do well," Mann says.

Tomorrow's the test, but you're ready. You've managed your time well, and you've studied appropriately. You know your professor and his expectations, and though he wouldn't provide a word count for the essay, he's pointed you in a direction for success.

That monster he promised? It's no longer the Godzilla it might have been. In fact, it's looking more like Elmo all the time.

2002 by the author or Christianity Today International/Campus Life magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Campus Life.

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