Academic Success

The first day of classes is fast approaching! We know that you have what it takes to be successful, but here are some tips to help you prepare for academic success as a college student.

The Workload

Although you spend less time in class in college as compared to high school, you spend much more time preparing for class and completing course work outside of the classroom. Washington College courses are designed to require two to three hours of work outside of the classroom for every hour in class.

So let's do the math! If you’re taking four courses and each meets for three hours/week, plan to spend 24 to 36 hours/week on your course work outside of the classroom.

Getting Organized

To get all of your work done – correctly and on time – you need excellent time management and organization skills. Make sure you have all the information about the work for all of your courses in one place, whether that’s a planner or agenda book, a calendar on your computer, phone, or a wall calendar. Most successful students use more than one, for example, they have a wall calendar in their room with notes about everything they need to do each day and a paper planner/agenda or a digital calendar such as your Outlook calendar, with the similar notes.

Whichever format you use, be sure to list your due dates as well as your internal deadlines. For example, if your calculus exam is on Friday, write in or schedule the days and times you plan to study prior to the exam. If you have an essay due for your FYS in two weeks, you should map out on your calendar when you want to have your research, first draft, revisions done. It may sound like a lot of work, but trust me, you’ll thank yourself later.

Managing Your Time

With a solid system for tracking what you need to do and when, time management will be much easier. Work well ahead of the due date and schedule enough time to get everything done. Knowing when you are busy and when you have free time will make life much more manageable.

You’ll also have time to meet with professors outside of class if you have questions or need extra help. If you start an assignment the night before it’s due, you definitely won’t have time to meet with your professor if you have questions!

With a well thought out plan for getting your work done, you’ll experience less stress and have much more time for fun. Now you can plan for campus clubs and organizations, writing for a WC publication, attending campus events, and most importantly hanging out with your friends.

Course Policies

College professors have more discretion on course policies like attendance, deadlines, make-up exams, and grading. Read the syllabus for each course very carefully, so you’ll know what your professors expect of you. Ask your professor if you have any questions about course requirements and policies.

Academic Support

Familiarize yourself with all the academic support the College offers. All of these offices allow you to make appointments online, attend a drop-in session or scheduled seminar, or walk in to get help. All students use these services, from those who are struggling to those who are doing fine but want to improve their performance in a specific course or enhance specific academic skills and talents.

At the Writing Center, trained student tutors can help you with all aspects of the writing process, from developing ideas for writing assignments to focusing an argument and incorporating research. The tutors come from all of the College’s academic disciplines, so you can choose a tutor who is a major or minor in the subject you are writing about. You can also come to the Writing Center to get tutoring support for developing, designing, and delivering oral presentation projects.

At the Quantitative Skills Center, trained student tutors support statistics, calculus, and other courses requiring quantitative skills such as mathematics, computer science, physics, chemistry, and economics. The QSC has drop-in hours and evening review/active learning sessions for specific classes. You can also make an appointment for one-on-one tutoring in any course requiring quantitative skills.

At the Office of Academic Skills, you will find Academic Success Seminars, study tables for specific courses and one-on-one tutoring in all subject areas except quantitative subjects. Students with documented learning disabilities should work closely with our Disability Access Specialist on classroom and campus accommodations.

If you’re taking BIO 111 General Biology, CHE 111 General Chemistry, CHE 201 Organic Chemistry or PSY 111 General Psychology, you will have a course mentor for that course. A course mentor is a student who has done well in that class, been recommended by the department and trained by OAS to help students learn and review the course material. Your course mentor runs a weekly review/active learning session. Attendance at course mentor sessions is voluntary but very highly recommended.

At the Global Education Office, the professional staff and student workers provide support and services for international students, including great programs for students from the U.S. to meet international students, and help all students who want to study abroad.

Library and Educational Technology

The reference librarians and other staff at Miller Library can help you with research including how to access online and in-print sources, evaluate a source of information, and cite sources. The team in Educational Technology, from the help desk to the Media Production Center and Ideaworks, the college’s maker space, can help you use technology to enrich your academic experience.