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YOUR CRAMING DAYS ARE OVER
In college, you may be shocked by the workload you suddenly face. Read a whole book for the next class? A test on three chapters when the semester has hardly begun? Think of college as a full-time job, in which you spend about 40 hours a week on class, labs, section meetings, and study groups, and doing homework. And you're largely responsible for deciding exactly how much time to allocate to each task. Getting organized and using your time well are key to succeeding academically.

DECIDE WHEN & WHERE TO STUDY
Come up with a specific plan for where and what you'll study during any gaps in your schedule. In addition to making use of transitional times during the day, it's generally a good idea to avoid studying too late at night, when you tend to be tired, work inefficiently, and forget much of the material you cover. The best places to study have the following qualities:

* Good light
* Comfortable temperature
* Good desk space

Beyond that, different environments have their own pros and cons. Ultimately, the decision of where to study depends on two factors: the environment in which you are best able to concentrate and the type of work you are planning to do. For completing problem sets or brainstorming possible test questions, you may want to study with a group or at least in a setting where others in the class are available for discussion. When you are reading Friedrich Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil or working on a research paper, by contrast, you are probably better off in a less social environment