To be an effective college student, the individual must develop a number of academic study and coping skills. While there are numerous such skills that characterize effective students, some of these skills standout as imperative for effectiveness and success.
Vincent Hevern (1999, p. 1) argues that the following skills are a trademark of effective college students: motivation, concentration, controlling procrastination, effective listening, effective note-taking, goal-setting, and time management. These skills are but a handful of the numerous skills it takes to cope and perform effectively as a college student. The good news about such skills, however, is that they are all skills that can be learned and developed through practice and persistence.
The demands of college life are often compounded by the transition from home to campus, by exposure to peers from diverse backgrounds, and the pressures of work and school. Because of these pressures, the need to develop strong academic and coping skills is even more critical to be an effective college student. The academic skills mentioned above are complimented by a number of others, including effective writing and proofreading skills, the ability to perform research through a variety of information sources, and the need for developing ôeffective exam preparationö techniques, (Hevern, 1999, p. 1).
The above skills that go into making an effective college student are primarily academic in nature. Nevertheless, there are a variety of other skills that pertain more to coping that are also required to be effective. Without such coping skills the academic performance of a student is likely to be ineffective. Effective college students know how to budget their time, are organized, and are responsible about meeting deadlines and other college priorities. All too often college students undergo high levels of stress not because they are incapable of high le
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