Academic Success: 80/20 Rule, Study Tips, Secrets to Success

Hi everyone, Anna Dyson with
the Women in Engineering program,

and today I want to give you some tips
for some academic success.

We're going to talk about the 80/20 rule,

thinking about how to study
and what that means,

and some other secrets to success.

Diving right in, there are a lot of
common struggles

that students are going through;

feeling isolated, trying to make
new friends, dealing with roommates,

socializing a lot, failing a test,
not studying enough,

financial issues, sharing a room,
lack of support, missing your pets...

Wow, there's a lot going on, making that
transition to college life.

And there's a lot of mistakes
that students make,

and that's okay, we all learn
by mistakes.

One that I see frequently are students
who are trying to do

all of it by themselves.

You're definitely relying on
what worked in high school,

but listen, why wouldn't you?

I mean, that's what worked,
that would only make sense.

Unless somebody's actually walking
you through

what are some things you need
to change,

why wouldn't you do that?

But there are some very specific things
that need to sort of shift

from the skills that you learned
in high school,

and not asking for help is one of those
common mistakes.

We also know that some of our students
are working too little.

They're studying too little,
they're working too much,

they're really not very good
at managing their time,

and there's a lot of distractions,

so it's an easy trap to fall into.

And these are all mistakes that are
important to make

because you have to make them
before you can learn and adjust.

So look, whenever you find this
information, the sooner the better,

but it's okay that you've make mistakes,
all is not lost.

And the point is, is that everybody
is stuggling,

and the way to fix that is by doing
these three things:

You have to connect with others.

You have to connect with other students
in you major, with similar interests,

with very different interests, so that you
can share the struggle together,

and that you can get the support
from your peers.

Some characteristics
of successful students:

We know that there are five things
that really set apart

the most successful students,

and we're going to go through these
one by one.

So, the first is the ability to use
help-seeking behavior.

So what does that look like?

This is, number one, deciding that you
need help early.

Now, this is hard to do because,
coming from high school,

you probably didn't need much help,

and to decide that you need it when you
haven't really experienced

anything that would suggest that
is a difficult ask.

I get it, but the sooner you decide,
and at least open your mind

to thinking about things differently,
the better off you'll be,

and to use the tutoring services
that are provided.

Look, they're provided for free because
students need them.

So that's sort of the unspoken truth
about tutoring.

And this attitude of needing and accepting
help is really an important one,

and again, overcoming the "I can do it
all by myself" attitude,

and then responding and interacting
with your mentors.

We provide mentors, and many programs
and offices across the university

provide students with mentors,

and the reason why is that you can,
again, connect with someone else,

share your struggle, and get support,

and those are three ways that you can
overcome some of these things.

The second secret to success --

sorry, characteristics of successful
students, is self-discipline.

And this is, again, seeking help,
avoiding procrastination,

planning ahead, learning how to say "no,"
which is difficult

because we all have some level of FOMO,
and then staying healthy.

These are all ways that you have expressed
the self-discipline

that you need to be successful here.

The third is acknowledging that UT
is competitive.

It's important to understand
and acknowledge,

that's kind of it.

You're not going to really
change much

because you belong here,

but it's important to understand that
it is a different kind of experience

than what you've probably experienced
in high school.

So understanding that everybody who's here
belongs here,

and everybody who's here is really good,
it sort of changes the dynamic,

and it's just important
to acknowledge that.

The fourth is having a positive attitude.

Remember, you belong here.

Everyone struggles, and struggles
equal learning.

So you have to figure out how you're
going to tap into your own grit

and resilience, and those reserves
that you have

so that you can push through
those times of struggle,

and then connecting with others
is a way for you to

continue that positive attitude and learn
the other things that people are

not only excited about and doing,
but also, what are they stuggling with?

So the fifth characteristic is adapting to
different learning environments.

And so, it's important to stop and think
a little bit

about how do you learn best,

and start to observe where and when
and how your learning is enhanced

by different methods.

Connecting with others,

again, I've said it a hundred times,

but connecting with others helps you
to share the learning

amongst a peer group
or a study group,

and then you've got to find
some new strategies.

There's going to be a variety
of different learning environments

and a variety of different
teaching methods,

and they're not all going to work
great for you,

so you've got to figure out
how you're going to push through those.

Alright, let's talk about the 80/20 rule.

So, the 80/20 rule in high school
looks something like this:

So 80% of your success in high school
came from the teacher teaching you,

and 20% were the things that you did
on your own

or outside of the actual
teacher/classroom environment,

and that's, essentially, the success
that you had in high school.

So, welcome to college,
the formula flips,

and 20% of your success in college
comes from the lecture

or what the professor is giving you,

and 80% of your success are all the
things that you're doing on your own

that are called "studying."

And so that's what is so different,

and that's what's often not very clearly
communicated to students.

So we have to think about, how do we
redefine what studying looks like

from what you experienced in high school

to what you can experience
and expect in college.

And it looks like doing all of
these things,

we talk about tutoring and study groups
and office hours

because those are all important components
of how you redefine how you study.

These are some ideas.

These are some more ideas, and these
came from students,

these are not from my little brain.

These are things that other students
have provided

as far as their tips and tricks and hints

for how do you think about how you study
differently in college.

Alright, we're going to shift gears to
giving you five secrets

of success in college.

The first one is -- I know you don't want
to hear it,

but there's something very different
that happens

when you take a pen to paper
and you map out your schedule.

And if you map out all of your classes

and your study times, your eating,
your sleeping,

all of your other commitments,

you will see a very heavily-scheduled grid
of what you should be doing.

And something -- there's something
that's different,

that happens in your brain
when you write it down.

You can't replicate that when you do
that on a computer.

So, you can always migrate to an online
tool later,

but at least initially, you should spend
some time

with the paper planning tools so that
you can really understand

the commitment, and what you should
be doing, and when.

The second secret is the time used
in between classes.

Now, if you live on campus, one very
tempting option in between classes

is to return to your residence hall
and take a nap.

Not necessarily the best idea.

Maybe if you're sick, or you have some
other commitment

that you have to do later,

but the most successful students
are the ones

who immediately review what just happened
in class.

Maybe it's 15 to 30 minutes of reviewing
what you just learned,

and then you spend the next 15 to 30
minutes refreshing your memory

for the class you're about to walk into.

Now, why this is so important is that it
helps with your memory recall later.

So when you sit back down
six or eight hours later, to study,

you have spent some time cementing
that information in your brain

and it will take you less time to actually
study that later if you use this strategy.

The third secret.

We have an engineering study formula
that we talk about,

and essentially, it is the formula,

for every hour in class,
you should be studying three hours.

And remember, we redefined
what studying is,

so that's not necessarily sitting in
a space by yourself,

reading your notes or reviewing
the text

or doing homework by yourself.

it is all of those things together.

So if you're enrolled in 15 hours,

you should be studying between
30 and 45 hours.

Now, some classes are going to be
a little bit more,

some classes are going to be
a little less.

You're going to have to modulate that
based on your needs,

but essentially, your job as a full-time
student is going to be about

60 hours a week, between class
and studying.

And if you're doing that, then you're
putting in that 80%

that you're going to get out.

So between going to class and all of
the other things you're doing,

you're going to see success in terms of
your grade outcome.

Redefining studying, again,
that 20/80 rule,

and that list of study techniques and tips
is the fourth secret.

You have to redefine for yourself
what that looks like in college.

And the fifth secret is separating
where you live from where you work.

So I'm in my office, which I love,

and I do spend a lot of time here,
but I don't live here.

When I'm here, I'm focused,
I'm productive, and I'm at work.

And where I live is where I sleep,
and when I'm relaxed, and when I'm home.

And so making the decision early on
to separate those two for yourself

will provide you with more structure

so that you can be productive
when you're studying

and putting in the time, and that
when you go home where you live,

you can relax and unplug and unwind
and really rest

because both of those are really important
to your success.

Some parting thoughts...

Remember, everybody is struggling,
everybody struggles.

It's part of the journey.

Seek and accept help.

There's so much around; you simply have to
seek and accept the help that is offered.

Be open to some new ways of learning.

It can be kind of exciting to realize that
you actually learn really well

in this particular way.

And then, change your high school mindset.

it's okay that you want to hang onto that

because you know that it worked
really well for you,

but be open because making that shift
will help you to make that shift again

when you leave college and you go out
into the work world.

And then the last thought is
to learn from your mistakes.

We all make them.

Some of us make doozies.

I certainly did.

I wished I knew this information
as an undergraduate,

it would have helped me a lot.

I hope that you can learn
from your mistakes,

and look back on some of this
information and put it to good use

for your own success.

So that's it for today.

Hope this helps.

Hook 'em!