We cannot articulate this enough fellow students!  Create a schedule. Determine what time is best for you to study and work on your assignments. Is it every Wednesday while your partner is out for poker night? Maybe it’s Saturday mornings when the kids are at soccer practice. By creating a schedule, and setting task reminders, you’re less likely to become overwhelmed juggling school with your other commitments. 

A schedule is extremely important since your classes are online.  While you can access the classroom any time, by setting a regular schedule, you’re more likely to succeed and remember to dedicate yourself to the commitment of education.  A schedule will help you plan ahead, accommodate future appointments and meet your classroom assignment dates ahead of time.  If you lack a schedule, you will more easily forget about an assignment or procrastinate until you are overloaded.

 - Online Learning Tips Staff

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Taking an essay exam can be nerve-racking. So much so, that you could psych yourself out and totally go blank with writer’s block. Follow these helpful tips to steer clear of a crash and burn.

Don’t waste time composing a long introduction. Clearly state your main points in the first sentence. Use the rest of the essay to support and illustrate these points with specific details. As you’re writing, now and then reread the question to make sure that you haven’t wandered off course. Don’t pad your essay with information unrelated to the topic. And don’t try to bluff your instructor by repeating information using different words. Take our word, they’ve been there done that.

If you find yourself running short on time, don’t worry about crafting a lengthy conclusion. Instead, consider listing the key points you still want to make. Such a list will let your instructor know that lack of time, not lack of knowledge, was your problem.

(Source:About.com)

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While you are not participating in a traditional lecture, effective note taking is still important to your online learning success. Writing helps you retain knowledge – don’t rely on memory alone. Note taking gives your mind a chance to absorb the material it needs to learn. Not only can this help you to do better on tests, it’s also a great confidence booster when you’re studying and find yourself easily retaining the information.

There are many ways to take good notes – what works for one person may not work for another. Experiment with a few methods to find what’s best for you. Here are some tips to get you started:

1. Organize your notes along the order of chapter objectives.
2. Your notes should contain:
   - definitions of new vocabulary words
   -new concepts discussed in a chapter
   - questions you have about the material
3. Review your notes within 24 hours of first studying the material. If you don’t review for 10-15 minutes within 24 hours, you will only retain 20% of what you initially learn.
4. Keeping good notes for each unit or topic will give you a tool you can use to prepare for exams without feeling like you’re “cramming” everything in at the last minute.
5. Don’t forget to review, review, and review some more. A semester’s worth of notes does you no good if you never look at the information again.

 - Online Learning Tips Staff