Preface
Our goal in writing College Success is to help you succeed in college.
According to Department of Education data, 30% of college freshmen leave school in their first year, and as many as 50% never graduate. College Success is designed to help change that—and to help ensure that you yourself are among those who succeed.
College Success has a student-friendly format arranged to help you develop the essential skills and provide the information you need to succeed in college. This is not a textbook full of theory and extensive detail that merely discusses student success; rather, this is a how-to manual for succeeding in college. The book provides realistic, practical guidance ranging from study skills to personal health, from test taking to managing time and money. Furthermore, College Success is accessible—information is presented concisely and as simply as possible.
College Success has the following features to help you achieve your goals: Each chapter asks you to evaluate yourself because success starts with recognizing your strengths and weaknesses, your hopes and desires, and your own personal, individual realities. You’ll develop your own goals based on these self-assessments, determining what success in college really means for you as an individual. Throughout the book, you will find numerous interactive activities created to help you improve your skills. To assist you with this, the material is presented in short sections of information that you can begin applying immediately in your own life—and get the most out of your college education.
Welcome aboard!
New in this Second Edition
College education continues to change and evolve, and the second edition of College Success has evolved similarly. In addition to thoroughly updated content in all chapters, chapters are more concise and revised to be as practical as possible for new college students facing time constraints.
New content has been added in many areas, including these:
Taking online courses, blended or flipped courses; online instructor and student interaction
Taking digital exam, computer-scored tests and essays
Digital learning tools and apps in all areas: note taking, writing, health and fitness, time management, finances and budgeting, and more
Financing of college, risks of student loans, career guidance
Mindfulness and commitment
In addition to new content, new pedagogy and learning aids have been added throughout, including:
Class discussion questions for all chapters
Embedded and linked videos (e.g., memory tips, time management)
Increased links for web resources on all topics
File attachments for digital readers to print out exercises involving written responses
Thanks to the many instructors using the first edition who took the time to give us suggestions for the new edition and thus helped make College Success even more successful.