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Gillian Herold

Professor Zugnoni
UWP 1Y
1 December 2016
Podcast Script
Hey guys! My name is Gillian Herold and Im a second year Biological Sciences major at
the University of California-Davis. With finals week creeping up on us I know all of us college
students are preparing for the end. Dun dun dunnn. Therefore, it is only fitting we prepare for the
sleepless nights upon us! I myself want to be as prepared as humanly possible so I am trying my
best to figure out my finals routine. It seems as though the number one struggle of any college
student, especially incoming freshmen is finding a good study environment and developing
excellent study habits. In high school, it definitely seemed much easier for students to study for
exams as it was all memorization, less material, and more time. However, for any student within
a quarter system, college is extra stressful as theres less time to study and thousands of other
people in your ideal study place from high school. As a student in a public university with 35,186
students, I know it can be very hard to find a quiet place to study with little distractions. It is
equally as hard to study at home especially with the temptations of your cozy bed, roommates,

and noisy neighbors. However, it is more important to establish good study habits so you can
thrive in any study environment.
As a curious student who wishes to improve their own studying habits, I surveyed my
friends study habits and study environments, while also researching about proven tips and tricks
for studying. I observed three fellow students within the quarter system who I have given code
names so no one can figure out who does better than me on science tests. My three fellow
students are each a different type of college student: one science major (JO), one
communications major (Rose), and one double major (LO). Any college student knows its
rumored that science majors have it the hardest, especially in comparison to communication
majors. But what about a student who majors in both? How does that student manage the
workload? In order to answer all these questions, I took notes on my fellow students studying for
a few days during midterms week, the second busiest time of a students life.
In order to single out the good habits I first found different research studies and
definitions in order to prove the importance of good study habits. A study habit by definition is
the behavior(s) used to prepare for tests by learning academic material (YourDefinition).
Therefore, a good study habit is the study behavior(s) which lead to your academic success. After

defining what to look for as a good study habit, I compared the subjects skills with that of the
study habits discussed in Dr. Sanjay Kumars research journal Study Habits of Undergraduate
Students. Similarly, I compared the study behaviors of students in an experimental environment
such as the one in Charles Calderwood, Phillip L. Ackerman, and Erin Marie Conklins research
journal What else do college students do while studying? An investigation of multitasking to
my observations.
Dr. Sanjay Kumars research provides the public with study habits that are scientifically
proven to be good or bad. Kumar concluded that there are seven good habits which include
practice, alternating study environments, good sleep, tests, good attendance, not categorizing
themselves, and time management. These all make for the best study habits and are associated
with high grades amongst college students. Some of these may seem obvious, but others are
questionable such as alternating study environments. However, as discussed in New York Times
Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits memory is increased if you alternate study
places, as the different locations are stored in your memory which is colored by location
(Kumar). We may not realize it but we all switch study locations by studying at home, on
campus, and anywhere in between even for a small amount of time.

In comparison, Calderwood, Ackerman, and Conklin conducted a study in which they


analyzed students working at a desk in one location and determined the correlation between
distractions such as music or cell phones and the grades received after their three-hour studying
session. The study showed that computers and cell phones distracted students the most. However,
students in the 25th percentile were not as distracted as those in the 75th percentile as the students
in the 25th percentile had 42% of the total number of distractions encountered by students in the
75th percentile, (Ackerman, Calderwood, Conklin).
After reading the research I analyzed my fellow students study habits in order to see what
study habits were in fact the best and how their study environment influences their grades.
To begin, I analyzed each persons study environment and amount of distractions. Two
out of the three chose to study in their room. LO studied at her desk, while Rose studied on her
bed. However, the third subject, JO studied at the COHO, which is known to have thousands of
customers a day. All exercised good study habits as Kumar discussed, such as practicing, testing
themselves, and attending each class. However, they differed in the total of good study habits
exercised. LO had six out of the seven good habits, JO had four out of the seven, and Rose had
five out of the seven. LO exercised every good study habit except for changing her environment,

which most people do not know is helpful when studying. I found that LO would stay locked in
her room, sitting in the same position for hours at a time (she is very determined). The only time
LO would leave her seat was to take a break and use her phone. In fact, when interviewing the
subjects, all subjects discussed the presence of music and cell phones while studying. LO, JO,
and Rose all took breaks for social media.
After midterms week, I compared their grades with their study habits and the amount of
good habits exercised. The first shock to me was that JO received high marks because she
exercised more good study habits in a busier environment such as the COHO. On top of the four
study habits I observed in our apartment, I noticed that after she studied in a busy environment
she used two additional study habits. Those times at the COHO led JO to get better sleep and
change her learning method (since she used the same one all day). Therefore, the busy,
distracting study environment did not play as much of a role as the studying itself. However, she
still did not receive as high of scores as LO who had most of the good study habits. I also found
that LO got the most sleep, and had the least amount of distractions. Those study habits were
what set her apart from the others, even though all subjects received good grades. Thus, it is

crucial each college student utilizes nearly all seven study habits in order to maximize their
efficiency and expand upon their knowledge, rather than cramming at odd hours in the night.

Work Cited
Calderwood, Charles, Phillip L. Ackerman, and Erin Marie Conklin. What Else Do College
Students do While Studying? An Investigaion of Multitasking. Computers &
Education 75 (2014): 19-29. ScienceDirect. Web.
Kumar, Sanjay. Dr. Study Habits of Undergraduate Students. International Journal of
Education and Information Studies 5 (2015): 17-24. Web.
"study habits." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 11 November 2016.
<http://www.yourdictionary.com/study-habits>.

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