Online College Tips for Success

High Achiever Shares Secrets of Success

Returning to school and getting a Ph.D. at the age of 47 wasn't easy for former mechanic and rock musician Frank Koscielski.Frank admits, "Probably the greatest challenge for me and I think one that is shared by most adult learners is finding time to work, live and go to school. I developed a variety of strategies to maximise the time available for study and writing:

1. Take a speed reading course.
Reading fast need not be an end in itself. What Speed Reading teaches you to do is to keep going through a text without re-reading words, sentences and sections over and over. It is really a form of self-discipline. You will amaze yourself how much faster you can read and still understand and retain information.

2. Never go anywhere without a book.
Time spent waiting in line or in the car while someone is shopping or playing soccer or whatever can be study time.3. Keep a tape recorder in the car.After reading a chapter or a book sometimes the ideas flow when you can't write things down. I have dictated entire papers this way that then can be transcribed.

4. Quiet time.
Find a quiet place to study and be a little selfish with your time.Learn to say no.

5. Use post-it notes as bookmarks.
Simply put a word or two at the top to create your own reference index. This saves you when writing a paper from having to reread whole chapters.

6. Kill your TV!
There is very little you can watch on TV that won't be a rerun or appear on ESPN Classics. If you must, discipline yourself to tape a selected show that you can watch later and zip through the commercials. Don't waste time!

7. Be an active reader.
Take notes. In your own books write in the margins. Highlight the most important parts with your own code of x's, *'s or whatever. Don't reread irrelevant stuff.

8. Find time to rest.
If you allow yourself to get totally exhausted, not only will you be unable to learn, but you could get sick, further hampering your learning efforts. If you keep falling asleep while reading, don't blame the text, don't tell your teacher the course is "boring" get some sleep!

9. Exercise a bit.
It stimulates blood flow to the brain and relieves tension.

10. Read all your work aloud to someone else.
It'll save valuable time proof reading, and improve your writing. If it sounds crummy, it is.Returning to school, especially to a program designed especially for adult learners like the Interdisciplinary Studies Program at Wayne State University, can be a wonderful and enlightening experience.Do it now, no matter how old you think you are. As Satchel Paige said: "how old would you be if you didn't know how old you were?"