Introduction

Whether you are starting your further education this year or getting ready to begin your final year, academic success will likely be at the forefront of your mind. Preparing in advance is key to achieving your full potential and making sure you have no regrets at the end of the year. Try these tools and techniques to get you on the right track. 

Table of Contents

Become an Active Learner

Active learning is an educational method that involves students being actively involved in their learning, rather than simply watching and listening.  It encourages skills such as problem-solving, role-playing, and debating.  

The concept behind active learning is based on The Learning Pyramid, created by Edgar Dale in the 1940s. 

The pyramid shows that we retain only 5% of what we hear in a lecture, but 90% of what we teach to others or apply regularly in our everyday lives. The top half of the pyramid represents passive learning, while the bottom half illustrates active learning. 

Even when you are in a passive learning environment such as a lecture, you can still apply the concept of active learning and become an active learner yourself.

Since teaching others is the most effective way to consolidate your learning, teaming up with other students and teaching each other can be an excellent way to reinforce what you have learned in your lectures. 

If you are taking part in digital learning for some or all of your course, having online group discussions can be effective too. Practicing problem-solving in groups will allow you to confront misconceptions together and increase understanding as a team. Why not use online quiz tools such as Kahoot! to make up quizzes for classmates? By taking turns at creating questions based on your lecture notes, you will be improving your own knowledge retention while making revision fun for the rest of your group. Win-win!

Set SMART Goals

As a student, setting yourself goals is a crucial step to achieving academic success. However, simply setting goals is not enough, you need to set measurable goals that you can realistically achieve and that you can take steps towards each day.

This is where SMART goals come in.

Let’s look at what each of these points involves:

Specific

General, vague goals are not going to help you achieve success. Your goals need to be very specific so that you know what you are aiming toward. Make sure you clearly state what you are hoping to achieve.

Measurable

How will you know if you are moving towards your goal, or when you have achieved it? Your goal should have a clear way for you to measure your success.

Achievable

While having lofty dreams is great, when you are setting goals it is important to choose ones that you have a realistic chance of achieving. You can still aim for the stars, but break down your aims into smaller, attainable goals.

Relevant

As well as being realistic, your goals must be relevant to what you are trying to achieve overall.

Time-Bound

Your goal should have a fixed start and end point, making it easier for you to track your progress toward it. Without a deadline, you are more likely to see your goal as an undefined task for the future and are more likely to procrastinate.

Academic SMART Goals Example

Goal: I will get good grades this semester

SMART Goal: I will score at least 80% across all of my subjects this semester

Specific

By using a percentage, there can be no doubt as to what must be achieved

Measurable

Grades can be tracked throughout the semester to see if you are on track to reach your goal

Achievable

As long as the percentage target is based on previous semesters’ success, it should be achievable again this year. If you are looking to improve significantly on previous years, you must make sure you are willing to put in the extra hours and effort that will be required

Relevant

The goal is relevant to the overall aim of academic success

Time-Bound

The goal is for the semester, so you know exactly how long you have to achieve it

By getting into the habit of setting SMART goals every time, it will become much more natural and you will be able to track all of your goals throughout your studies. 

Get Organized

Once you have set your goals, it is time to start working toward them. If you are to achieve academic success this year, it is important to be organized from the start. Studies have shown that students with good organizational skills are more successful than those who are disorganized, and with the number of apps available to help with this, there is no excuse. 

Check out these apps that will help you get your head sorted:

Remember the Milk

One of many to-do list apps out there, Remember the Milk is incredibly easy to use and will help you organize all areas of your life. You can set up different lists for college, home etc. and separate lists for each class if you wish. You can organize your tasks by each day or each week and set reminders. It can be synced with Gmail and Google calendar to make it impossible for you to miss a deadline. You can set priorities for each of your tasks, and you can postpone a task if necessary (though I wouldn’t recommend doing that often!)

My Study Life

If you are a fan of the traditional paper planner, then My Study Life will be perfect for you. This free app, which is available for desktop, iOS and Android, allows you to track your classes, assignments and exams across all of your devices. You can set reminders for deadlines and keep track of which assignments have yet to be completed, making organizing your student life easier than ever. 

Evernote

If you have a habit of losing your paper notes or spilling coffee on them, consider using Evernote. Taking digital notes instead of paper can be a huge step in getting yourself more organized and Evernote can sort them into many different categories, making it easy for you to find exactly what you are looking for come exam time.

Even if you prefer to take paper notes in certain classes, you can take a picture of your notes and they will become a searchable document, making them just as useful as a digital record. This will save you a huge amount of time searching for notes and allow you to spend more time studying. 

Other Useful Apps for Academic Success

Grammarly

For anyone who needs to submit essays for their classes, Grammarly is an essential tool. You don’t want to drop marks for spelling and grammatical errors and Grammarly’s free version will highlight them for you and allow you to change them easily. Your account can be used across all devices and you can even download a Grammarly keyboard for your phone that will highlight mistakes as you type. 

SimpleMind

If you are a visual learner, mindmaps may be an important study tool for you. SimpleMind allows you to create digital mind maps which can be edited and customized as you wish. You can even add videos and voice recordings to enhance your projects. 

Freedom

Although college or university should be a social time of your life, when it comes to exam time, you need a way to avoid distractions. Freedom is the ultimate social media blocker, allowing you to block social media accounts across all of your devices. You can set up blocklists for different circumstances and there is even an extreme ‘lockdown” mode that can’t be edited once you’ve started – perfect if you’re prone to self-sabotage!

Noisli

If you are easily distracted by background noise, you need to add Noisli to your success toolkit.  You can mix and match different sounds designed to cancel out background noise and help you concentrate on your studying. You can set up your own playlists so that you can have different sounds for exam revision or chilling out at home. 

Final Thoughts

Unfortunately, there is no shortcut to academic success – hard work and dedication will be required. However, applying some of the above methods can give you a head start and the best chance of achieving your goals in the coming year.