College is a test. Sometimes the academic machine is testing your knowledge or your memory, sometimes it’s testing your ability to make adjustments and think quickly on your feet and sometimes it’s testing your ability to follow directions and take orders. The institution we call college will definitely test your sanity, but there are tricks of the academic trade — shortcuts to learning — that will protect your mind and body from any unnecessary damage during your trip to intellectual enlightenment. If you keep your ears and eyes open in class, establish good study habits, and never quit, even if you think you have really messed things up, you might just catch your competition sleeping.
My college years lasted decades. They were undoubtedly some of the best decades of my life, and some of the most excruciating. Through trial and error I have chipped away at a couple of degrees including a master’s in literature while hustling late nights in restaurants after school, helping raise a child, and for the most part, keeping my personal relationships from going up in flames. I have been on both sides of the classroom, as a student and as an instructor and I have some insights about what to do — and what not to do — to make academic life at least mostly bearable.
IN CLASS
Don’t participate in class if you have nothing to say. You might have nothing to add because you didn’t read the book or do your homework, and professors can see right through that act. As an instructor, I didn’t like listening to students talk in circles and I hated hearing it as a student.
If you didn’t prepare for class, go anyway. Your professor might be mad, especially in a small classroom, but be brave and show up. Even if you didn’t read the assigned material, listen in class, you will get the important points and can re-visit the text with a fresh set of eyes. No matter how much you may dislike your teachers, you’re there for yourself and every class period is valuable. Don’t make up excuses for missing class. You can’t have a death in the family every semester. Professors respect honesty more than you might think.
Take notes on everything — trust me. It’s a matter of preference, but handwritten or typed notes always worked better for me. If you record the lecture, you won’t miss anything the instructor said, but you have created more work for yourself because you have to search through the recording to find the important points.
Take afternoon or night classes when you can. Your social life may suffer, and we all have lives outside of school, but it’s much harder to sleep through a class at 7 p.m. than it is at 7 a.m. I noticed the work I received when teaching a night class was substantially better than what students turned in first thing in the morning.
GOOD STUDY HABITS
Read every book your instructor assigns cover to cover. Remember that you paid for these books and, whether you realize it at the time, college will make you smarter if you take advantage of the opportunity to devour every scrap of knowledge your teachers dangle in front of your face. Professors are smart and they have gone through what you are going through and made it. Trust their experience and realize that if they assigned something to read, they probably think it will help you be a better student — and more importantly — a better thinker in some capacity.
If you’re pressed for time and can only skim through a book, read the introduction, first chapter and last chapter. The intro will usually point you to the juiciest meat, sandwiched between the first and last chapters, then you can pick additional chapters that seem important to cram in at the last minute.
If you find yourself reading the same line ten times, take a nap — even if it’s for 15 minutes. Try sleeping with the light to avoid drifting away for too long.
Caffeine is not as good of a friend as you think it is and neither is alcohol, so use sparingly, if at all.
TAKE SOME TIME TO LIVE YOUR LIFE
Studying in public places may work for some students, but I always found it to be a distraction, causing more harm to my academic performance than good. For me, the most social atmosphere I could handle while studying or doing research was the University of New Mexico’s Zimmerman Library — an absolute goldmine of material. Even there I kept my head down and avoided eye contact with anyone who might coerce me into hitting the town or “networking” at social events.
That being said, you have to find some time to escape the grind and reward yourself with a brief sojourn from academia. Find fun things to do for college credit whenever possible, and kill two birds with one stone. Add a yoga or swimming class as an elective. Take music appreciation, or attend a handful of concerts at UNM’s Keller Hall, especially if it means extra credit for a class.
In order to succeed in any field or concentration, you must also take care of your mental health, and there are some spots around campus where you can grab a coffee or let loose a bit without derailing your track to a bright future.
The Frontier played an instrumental role in my collegiate success not just because of its proximity to campus, but because the menu is affordable, even in a post-COVID economy. It’s arguably some of the best and most nourishing food in Burque. If you don’t have time to sit down and eat, Golden Pride, on Lomas Boulevard, has many of the same menu items, and of course fried chicken available on the fly.
Guild Cinema is a short walk from campus and one of the coolest theaters in town. They screen intelligent, cultured and weird stuff that you won’t likely encounter at a larger, more expensive theater.
Go catch a local music act, see a play or visit a gallery. Invite your cohort to fish or wade in the Rio Grande for the afternoon or go on a date. Remember these are the best years of your life, why else would I drag them out like I did?
Before writing for The Paper., Michael Hodock attended New Mexico State University and later UNM, where he received an undergraduate in psychology and a master’s degree in English language and literature. During his master’s program at UNM, he taught English composition and technical writing.