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Running Head: LEARNING AND COLLEGE SUCCESS 1

The Process of Learning Leading to College Success

Lindsey Roylance

Southern Utah University

LEARNING AND COLLEGE SUCCESS 2

Abstract

Good grades in college are vital for college success. Many students, however, do not know how

to accomplish this. Lack of preparation, time management issues, and no motivation are factors

that lead to underachievement in college, and several strategies are needed to reduce this. Having

proper note-taking skills is a skill that makes learning more effective and has different pointers.

To make studying most effective, a good learning environment is advised. This means distraction

free, organization, and mental and physical alertness. There are various strategies to study

properly but some are not as effective as others. The SOAR method of studying outlines weak

strategies vs. stronger ones. Lastly, final review prior to test is not for learning material but for

last minute cool down review. These areas outlined are important in making the test-taking

experience less stressful and better prepared. Overall, getting good grades is a small stepping

stone, but one that will impact future successes in life.

Keywords: study, learning, college, success, grades


Process of Learning Leading to College Success

Good test results and college success are synonymous with each other. In order for the

nation to prosper, America needs good education and training for the workforce (Blai, 1993).

Since childhood, parents and teachers have stressed the importance of doing well in school. In

elementary school, it was mostly participation and learning activity based. In junior high and

high school, it was the homework projects and tests that became important. However, college

success mostly depends on exam scores from lecture or text learning. In all of this, good grades

are stressed. However, something the teachers often forget to teach is how to accomplish this

and many struggle. There are various factors that lead to underachievement in college and

research needs to be done to combat this. Proper learning and studying are two skills that must be

developed in order to gain college success. These are the processes prior to test taking that

include note-taking skills, a proper study environment, study sessions, and the final review

before the test. Learning how to do these processes are important, but it is up to the student to do

with it what he or she will. Most students are not expert learners and do not have the best

methods to prepare for tests and ultimately college success. I want to provide statistics to show

students this, and I want to solve this dilemma with my research.

Before considering how to gain college success, the problem must first be addressed.

Students do noy inherit good study skills; they must be learned and applied. Therefore, most

students struggle in entering college because of some prior discrepancy in education. According

to Balduf (2009), many students who leave college prior to graduation were previously on

academic probation at some time. In researching this fact, a study was done to see exactly what

contributes to this underachievement. Through self-selection, students from Queen Mary College

were interviewed to find common themes in the underachieving students. Lack of preparation in


high school, time management problems, and lack of self-motivation were three factors found to

contribute to underachievement. A main reason for this is many students reported that high

school was too easy and did not prepare them for the rigorous college course load. A lot of these

students took multiple AP classes in high school and still easily received A’s for their half-

hearted learning. Because getting good grades in high school was so easy, the students did not

learn valuable study skills to carry on to college. Some did not have to study, and those who did

studied shortly, did not pace themselves, and procrastinated often (Balduf, 2009). Because of

these factors, the adjustment from high school to college is hard, and many find

underachievement to be a problem in entering college. Finding solutions in each area of study

and learning will clear the air of how to learn and can be an evaluation for students to compare.

The SOAR Method of Learning

Generally, students have poor note-taking skills and miss about 70% of critical points

when taking notes both in lecture and when reading text. This is a problem because stuff that is

not written in notes only have a 5% recall. In the SOAR (selection, organization, association, and

regulation) method of study presented by Jairam and Kiewra (2009), weak strategies are

addressed and solutions are presented to overcome the problem. Students admit to linearly take

notes in lists and outlines which limits learning and making connections. Another poor study

strategy is learning piece by piece and not connecting concepts. Redundancy is a problem and a

habit that many students fall into and include rereading and recopying notes. Each of these weak

study strategies lead to a 73% reported trouble with recall on tests (Jairam & Kiewra, 2009).

Because of this, the weak strategies will be given a solution each with corresponding letters in

SOAR.


Four good study strategies from the SOAR method are selection, organization,

association, and regulation. This method works by targeting each incorrect and less effective

study strategy and correcting them to make them better. There are two sources of support in the

SOAR method: empirical support and theoretical support. In empirical support, taking notes

show that a student is giving higher attention to what is taught and performs better in tests versus

one who did not take notes. It is shown that there is a positive correlation between the amount of

notes and academic performance. Linear notes are established in this article as a weak study

strategy and include lists and outlines. To overcome this problem, more effective strategies are

introduced as hierarchies and sequences. These show connections to notes rather than separate

ideas. Making associations is another way to show connections with what is learned and prior

knowledge. This can be done by asking questions, creating mnemonics, and making analogies.

Redundant strategies can be overcome by self-quiz methods; rather than repetition, self-quiz

forces an understanding of the material (Jairam & Kiewra, 2009).

The SOAR method has theoretical support as well. In cognitive processing, information

is first in sensory memory and goes to short-term memory. From there it is moved into long-term

until needed for recall where it is placed back into short-term memory. Selection is associated

with attention because what the student attends to is what he or she can selectively copy down as

notes. Organization and long-term storage correlate because what is stored depends on how well

it is organized. Association is synonymous to encoding because in both of these, little tricks are

needed to make links in memory. Last of all, Regulation by way of questioning brings about

retrieval of that information. This uses the strategy of self-quiz rather than redundant strategies

like rereading notes (Jairam & Kiewra, 2009). All of these cognitive processes support each

letter in what SOAR is really about.


The purpose of the study was to test the SOAR method against students without the

SOAR method. Jairam and Kiewra’s (2009) prediction was the students of the SOAR method

would perform better than those without. Sixty undergraduates were taken and split up into five

sections: the control, those with selection, those with selection and organization, etc. The control

group was given text to read, and the selection group was given flashcards with all facts

presented linearly. The selection and organization group was given the same facts but presented

in in matrix format. The SOA group studied by associations, and the SOAR group was given

matrix format, associations, and practice tests. Two tests were given: fact and relationship

(Jairam & Kiewra, 2009). From these tests, results were calculated to show a possible

relationship between groups and scores on the tests.

The results of the experiment showed that students who scored well on the fact test

displayed great isolated learning but lacked in grasping the overall concept and relationships

between things. The SO group turned out to recall more facts than any other group. This gives a

boost to studying with matrix organizers. However, the SOAR group had a higher impact on

relationships. The predictions made for this experiment were not completely supported because

fact learning in the SO group had a higher score than SOAR. This is explained because the

associated part of SOAR learning gives relationships and takes away from the importance of fact

learning. Although the complete SOAR method did not produce best results, it is shown that the

control group (students without any aid) had lowest performance on both tests. The two overall

findings is that, for relationship, studying SOAR is beneficial, but, for fact studying, using SO

would suffice and produce best results (Jairam & Kiewra, 2009). Depending on the type of

learning, students can take advantage of the different SOAR strategies to take notes with and

increase success as the students in the experiment did.


Note-Taking Skills

Taking notes is an important step in the learning process whether it is through in-class

lecture or outside reading from text. For outside reading, taking notes functions as an aide in

understanding. According to Onwuegbuzie, Slate, and Schwartz (2001), the majority of students

read passively in reading text. This means that there is no active effort in trying to understand the

material but a monotonous struggle to get through it. Something I have personally found in

reading difficult material such as certain passages of scripture or challenging biology reading is

that I often read without understanding. Taking notes helps one follow along more closely and

understand material better. In taking notes, it is important to make them exact and to not make

them so complicated that they will not be understood in later review (Blai, 1993). It does no

good to write extensive notes that are too arduous to return to; include important facts, and omit

any fluff without purpose. It is also a good idea to highlight or underline important facts and to

write down possible test questions to come back to in later study (Cusimano, 1999). Doing this

helps students prepare for what is to come at exam time.

Because learning of today has shifted from the blackboards, desks, and textbooks of

yesterday, computers, visual presentations, and audio are very much a part of learning in the

classroom. This is often beneficial in learning, but can be a distraction with the complexity of

these styles. In a study done by Lin and Bigenho (2011), different media environments, in

association with note-taking, were tested. The three media environments that were tested for

memory recall were a no distraction, audio-distraction, and visual-audio distraction environment.

The three methods of note-taking included no note-taking, note-taking with pen and paper, and

note-taking via computer. These researchers wanted to know which of the media environments

along with a method of note-taking would produce best recall. To accommodate the various


variables, nine videos were created. For each video, 20 words are flashed onto the screen to test

memory recall. For a no-distraction environment, only the words flashed. In an audio-distraction

environment, a different word was spoken as the target words were flashed. The third

environment had both the audio distraction and a visual distraction. The point of this test was to

see how many words are recalled in each of the various environments versus the type of note-

taking. Twenty-one students were used for this study, and, for a no-distraction environment,

results show that taking notes on traditional pen and paper produces best memory recall.

However, taking notes via computer produce best results in an audio-distraction environment. In

an auditory-visual distracting environment, results show that no note-taking is best (Lin &

Bigenho, 2011).

These results explain that the type of note-taking depends on the complexity of the

learning environment. Because an audio-visual distraction environment is so complex, it is best

to just sit back and listen and not try to actively take notes that could further take away from

learning. A no-distraction environment is so simplistic that it provides the space in learning to

actively take notes that will aid in later recall (Lin & Bigenho, 2011). Knowing this, students can

judge their own environment of learning and decide which method is best for them. This way,

students can bring these notes to a good study environment and hopefully glean as much from

them for long-term remembrance.

Good Study Environment for Effective Learning

A good study environment provides the path for effective learning. If the atmosphere is

not proper, osmosis of learning is inhibited and memory recall is ultimately affected. No student

would purposely hurt their chances of learning the material so it is important to provide the

perfect set-up of a study environment. This way, students can take what they want that will best


suit them. Blai (1993) explained that limiting distractions while studying will positively

influence overall success in learning the material. This explains why homework takes so much

longer while watching TV and surfing Facebook and Pinterest. Selective attention can only

stretch so far, and by doing these activities, schoolwork is put on the backburner. The place of

study varies but is significant to learning. Many students study alone at home; however, a quiet

spot in the library is another option (Kuo, Hagie, & Miller, 2004). In my own experience, I prefer

to study at home but other students report a preference of studying in the library or other school

center as to not bring work home with them. Whatever the preference, a quiet place is needed to

keep distractions to a minimum.

Limiting distractions, however, is a debatable topic in preparing the best study

environment. It is, of course, good to make sure the chance of interruption is lessened, but

distractions for some people can enhance learning for others. Two examples include the presence

of food and music. Food is definitely a distraction, but, if spaced right, can be motivation to get

through difficult material. Music in the background makes selective attention difficult for many,

but some are conditioned to use music as a way to tune other aspects of a distracting

environment out. In a study done by Jones, Bacon, and Williams-Shultz (2010), students

reported benefits of listening to music while studying. Some said that music is a therapeutic

device that calms and relieves stress, others reported greater focus/attention to what is being

studied, some said music is background noise that drowns out everything else, and others liked it

because it makes studying fun. Because of these benefits, music while studying was seen to

positively enhance the learning of the students in this experiment (Jones et al., 2010). These

examples do not discredit the suggestion of limiting distractions in any way; however, it is vague

and all distractions do not mean the same thing for each student.


As well as being focused and limiting distractions, organization is key to providing an

effective study environment (Cusimano, 1999). After finally sitting down to start reviewing for

tomorrow’s exam, finding a necessary tool is missing is such a hassle. Time is then taken out to

either find it or to go collect it. Having all pens, books, notes, computer, computer charger, and

any necessary snacks present the first time lessens time loss in constantly jumping up to get it.

Good organization keeps the study area clean from clutter, which can have a negative impact on

productivity.

In making a productive study environment, mental and physical conditions must be

inspected. Being physically and mentally alert is crucial to effective learning. One suggestion is

to never lie down in the homework or study setting (Cusimano, 1999). This relaxes the body and

can lead to sleep. Fatigued students do not have the attention and motivation that alert ones do.

Not being mentally fresh leads to less effective review of notes which leads to poor memory

recall on tests. This can be overcome by taking breaks when the subject is exhausted and doing

school work at decent hours of the day (Blai, 1993). Depending on whether students are night or

morning people, the time of effective review and learning differs. Staying up until the early

hours of the morning to cram for a test is not productive and could hurt test scores because of

lack of sleep. Making smart decisions about the study environment, and making studying a

priority is a step in the right direction to college success.

Effective Study Skills for Test Success

Many students do not know how to study to produce best test results. There are many

different suggestions to help with this, and different strategies work with different types of

people. Having these strategies make learning more effective rather than just the traditional note

review for test. Making a schedule and managing time are two skills that must be mastered in


order to be successful in anything, especially college (Cusimano, 1999). As to not exhaust all

energy on one subject, a planner and to-do list will help monitor both progress and time. A study

schedule can also incorporate breaks and extracurricular activities for a well-balanced life. I find

this is beneficial when I am held down by mountains of homework. Making time for the other

important things in life assures that other areas of life such as religion, friends, and family are not

getting left out. After the time is made to study, certain strategies can be used to increase

effectiveness.

According to Cusimano (1999), working with personal strengths is a useful tactic to take

advantage of. For example, audio learners could study aloud. For me, this helps with

concentration when I cannot grasp a concept. Visual learners can find video helps on YouTube to

help stress a concept that is difficult to understand. Flash cards is another tool that help in

repetitive review and are a great way to force recall on answers rather than being just familiar

when looking over notes. A good idea to keep in mind for flash cards is they take time. Making

flash cards the night prior to test does no good; however, they are a great help if made gradually

over the semester and reviewed frequently.

Higher forms of studying such as self-quiz and teaching others is active learning that

requires an actual recall of knowledge (Blai, 1993; Cusimano, 1999). These two forms are likely

to be most helpful in test preparation; they ensure that the student truly knows the information

rather than just passively looking over notes. Formulating possible test questions takes creative

and intelligent thinking (Blai, 1993). This takes practice but asking questions and then replying

with an answer is, to me, comparable to teaching yourself. This is an alternative to teaching

others if a friend is unavailable to be a guinea pig in such study sessions. On the other hand, it

will be beneficial to students if there is a friend to teach the material. Teaching others helps make


sense of what the material means. In a class, the teacher’s job is to make sure students

understand the material and this is sometimes done by creatively making associations with

different facts. If students teach others via study group, all members have a chance to learn in

different ways and be able to make sense of it and then go and teach it themselves. All of these

study suggestions are backed up by researchers and are shown to have a positive impact on

overall test results. Using this advice gradually will make the final test review less time

consuming and not as stressful.

Final Review Before Test

After proper gradual studying of the material, the test approaches. Now it is time to take

wise steps in doing a final review prior to the test. This is the cool down time to relax and rely on

what was learned in previous study. Using self-made practice questions is beneficial in reviewing

the night before a big test. This assures that the material is truly understood and remembered.

Time management in normal study and final review are alike. It is smart to take breaks when

fatigued to break away from monotonous learning. It is also good to change subjects as they are

exhausted. Stressing one subject pushes other important subjects away from the front of the mind

so switching can help keep each subject fresh. Spacing reviews and answering practice test

questions are two good methods to keep a clear head to get comfortable with expectations of a

real test (Blai, 1993; Cusimano, 1999). Something not advised is cramming for a test the night

before. This is usually caused by lack of preparation during normal study that also hurts the final

review the night prior to the test (Blai, 1993). Cramming gives only a brief touch over crucial

material, and results in poor recall when it counts. This stress, of course, can be prevented by

carefully following the steps outlined in the how to study section. Following these steps in the

final process prior to test-taking gives students great support in scoring that envied A.


In conclusion, doing one’s best will be beneficial in all areas of life, especially school.

Whether it is to apply for a program, scholarship, or even a job, good grades are crucial to

landing these stepping stones in life. This does not come easily for all students, and, unless

taught how to effectively learn and study, many struggle. There are various areas of learning that

contribute to the end test score, and each is equally important. Success cannot be accomplished

by just one particular skill but a combination of them (Cusimano, 1999). Having good note-

taking skills, a proper study environment, good study skills, and tips on the final review all

contribute to the aspiring A. It is important to remember that many students do not use the best

methods to study. Some do but may not realize that the strategies they use are scientifically

supported in research. In addressing these strategies of learning, students can see what they are

doing right and what could be improved upon. This improvement has many functions such as

lessening confusion and stress, building important skills for future schooling, and for getting

good test scores and therefore grades. This achievement in college paves the way for high-

quality jobs and ultimately success in life.


References

Balduf, M. (2009). Underachievement among college students. Journal Of Advanced

Academics, 20(2), 274-294.

Blai Jr., B. (1993). A study guide for students. Clearing House, 67(2), 98-102.

Cusimano, J. T. (1999). Study skills for a successful semester. Black Collegian, 30(1), 14-17.

Jairam, D., & Kiewra, K. A. (2009). An investigation of the SOAR study method. Journal Of

Advanced Academics, 20(4), 602-629.

Kuo, J., Hagie, C., & Miller, M. T. (2004). Encouraging college student success: The

instructional challenges, response strategies, and study skills of contemporary

undergraduates. Journal Of Instructional Psychology, 31(1), 60-67.

Lin, L., & Bigenho, C. (2011). Note-taking and memory in different media

environments. Computers In The Schools, 28(3), 200-216.

doi:10.1080/07380569.2011.594989

Onwuegbuzie, A. J., Slate, J. R., & Schwartz, R. A. (2001). Role of study skills in graduate-level

educational research courses. Journal Of Educational Research, 94(4), 238-246.

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