Let’s talk about a few resources for students who may be struggling in their current classes. Having a good set of resources or a reliable source of information is important and can help tremendously when it comes to educational growth and development. Today’s topic will just highlight a few of the resources available that some individuals may or may not be aware of. Some of these resources are a little traditional while others may rely on the internet. The point is that there are a lot of resources out there for you.
Office Hours Are There to Help You
If you are a current student having trouble in any of your classes, let me first start off by saying that it is advised that you take full advantage of your professor’s office hours. This is usually the the first step that should be taken if you are having trouble in any of your classes. Those hours are provided in order to help students. I’ve heard professors regularly comment about students not taking full advantage of office hours. Who else can give you better information about passing a particular class other than the person teaching it? There are a variety of reasons to attend your professor’s office hours. You may want to introduce yourself, or learn a little bit more about the information that was covered during a class session. Those office hours can also be used to help you stay up-to-date on homework assignments and deadlines, and you can go over material that you may not have understood previously. In addition, you can catch up on material from classes that you may have missed, or classes that you might potentially miss. It can help prepare you for upcoming test, and it can also help refine your general studying habits. Not to mention it can be a big help in regards to grade clarification, and can lead to potential research opportunities.
Don’t Forget About Student Instruction Sessions
Plenty of schools also offer SI (Student Instruction) sessions. It’s basically like having a tutor without having to pay out of pocket for one because the sessions are provided by the school. Often times you can potentially work with an SI leader who may be familiar with the exact course that may be troubling you. That SI leader may have also taken that course with the same professor the previous semester. It is possible that an SI leaders may be able to directly relate to what you are going through, and help you along the way.
Tutoring is always going to receive an honorable mention in a post like this. There are obvious benefits to working with a tutor. I will not list all of them in this post, for the sake of keeping it short and to hopefully avoid redundancy. Matter of fact, a lot of these mediums will carry overlapping benefits. Working with a tutor will just usually cost you a little money out of pocket, but can be well worth the cost.
Supplemental Instruction Online
There are so many websites out there for current students. Yes, YouTube counts! I’ve already mentioned how you should be careful with Youtube, but it is also a treasure trove of content. I have also stated many times that sites such as Khanacademy can also come in handy. Both of these sites can help you brush up on various subjects and concepts. They also provide great supplemental instruction if you have a demanding schedule and can not attend the time allocated for office hours or SI sessions at your school. In addition, any of the sites under our “Free Classes” tab can also offer some assistance.
There are also sites out there that can help you study course material before you even enroll in a class. With sites such as Chegg, Course Hero, and Slader, you can review class sample problems, and prepare yourself for future test and quizzes.
Reddit is another good source because it has multiple forums. You can search forums that are specific to your area of study. Your school may also have it’s own Reddit forum. For example, here is UCLA’s Reddit forum.
While we’re at it, let’s also take a moment to acknowledge ratemyprofessors.com. It can come in handy if you feel the need to research professors at your school for specific classes.
Apps, Apps, Apps
Let’s close this out and talk about apps. Phone apps are often overlooked when it comes to supplemental instruction. Are you having trouble in that calculus, physics, or coding class? Well start downloading a few apps on your phone. With apps downloaded on your phone, a form of supplemental instruction will be at your fingertips throughout the day. You can basically study anywhere at any point. The best part is that a lot of these apps are often presented as games, and you can actually have fun using them. There are just a ton of them out there, and they are available for both iPhone and Android users. A lot of them are also free, so take advantage. Listed below are just a few helpful apps that will work on both Android and iPhone.
Now that we have listed all of those resources be sure to checkout our friends at annuity.org where they’ve provided helpful information for students when it comes to learning about financial literacy. The material covers topics such as filling out a FAFSA request, merit-based scholarships, how student loans work and planning for life after college and much more.
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