Learn the best organization and study strategies to make learning easier and get better grades.

These modules contain one or more videos focused on the 3 things you need to get through college: Organization Skills, Academic Skills, and Motivation. Additional resources and printable handouts related to each module are included below each video and under Start Smart Resources on the navigation menu. At the end of each module, you complete a short quiz or Skill Check to demonstrate mastery of the topic.

Topics Include:

How to Get Things Done

  • Balance your college life with work, home, and family and friends.
  • Discover why time management tools fail. How to identify and process your commitments.
  • Use a simple, comprehensive, and actionable management system.
  • Use the assignment status completion and create a weekly planning and scheduling system.

How to Approach Your Classes

  • What to do before, during, after class to make learning easier.
  • Why scheduling regular study sessions is important for learning.

Super Focused Study Sessions

  • What distractions are and how to prevent or mitigate them.
  • How to plan and set goals for your study sessions.
  • Where you study makes a difference.

Academic Reading

  • Understand how academic reading is different than reading for leisure.
  • The Reading Backwards methodology.
  • Reading for big ideas and key details.

Memory and Learning

  • Learning does not happen by osmosis
  • A strategy for studying that will make your learning more effective
  • How to chunk so you retain more
  • Why making and using a study guide is a best practice

Note Taking Strategies

  • Why taking notes helps with studying and learning
  • When to take notes
  • Methods for taking notes
  • What goes in your notes

Exam Preparation

  • Learn strategies to make your studying more effective so you learn more and get better grades.

To sign up for Smart Start, contact Kristine Korey-Smith at ksmith@hawaii.edu or 984-3446 to register.