18 Ideas for Becoming a Master Student

Adapted from A Miniature Guide For Students On How to Study & Learn A Discipline Using Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools by Richard Paul and Linda Elder, Foundation for Critical Thinking, 2001

Note: some of these are also ideas to help you get more actively involved in class discussions.

Idea #1: Although these issues are discussed on my syllabus, make sure you thoroughly understand: the requirements of the course, how it will be taught, and what will be expected of you. Ask questions about the grading policies and for advice on how best to prepare for class.

Idea #2: Become an active learner. Be prepared to work ideas into your thinking by active reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

Idea #3: Think of each subject you study as a form of thinking. (If you are in a marketing class, your goal should be to think marketingly; in marketing research class to think marketing researchly; etc.)

Idea #4: Become a questioner. Engage yourself in lectures and discussions by asking questions of the instructor and fellow students. If you don’t ask questions, you will probably not discover what you do and do not know.

Idea #5: Look for interconnections between topics within this course as well as between this and various marketing, business, and other courses you take. The content in every class is always a SYSTEM of interconnected ideas, never a random list of things to memorize. Don’t memorize like a parrot. Study like a detective, always relating new learning to previous learning and thinking about how you can apply what you’ve learned. Offer ideas you come up with during class discussions.

Idea #6: Think of your instructor as your coach. Think of yourself as a team member trying to practice the thinking exemplified by your instructor. For example, in an advertising class, think of yourself as going out for the advertising team and your teacher as demonstrating how to prepare for the games (tests). (Much business work is conducted in teams preparing for “games” such as a new advertising campaign and new product launch.)

Idea #7: When reading and studying the textbook, think about the textbook as the thinking of the author. Your job is to think the thinking of the author. For example, role-play the author frequently. Explain the main points of the text to another student, as if you were the author.

Idea #8: Consider class time as a time in which you PRACTICE thinking (within the subject), using the fundamental concepts and principles of the course. Don’t sit back passively, waiting for knowledge to fall into your head like rain into a rain barrel. It won’t. Practice by speaking out in class as well as thinking to yourself.

Idea #9: Relate content whenever possible to issues and problems and practical situations in your life or the lives of others you know or in current goings-on in the business world. If you can’t connect it to life, you don’t know it. Offer ideas you come up with during class discussions.

Idea #10: Figure out what study and learning skills you are not good at. Practice those skills whenever possible. Recognizing and correcting your weaknesses is a strength.

Idea #11: Frequently ask yourself: “Can I explain this to someone not in class?” (If not, then you haven’t learned it well enough.) To make sure, try sharing things you have learned in this course with others.

Idea #12: Seek to find the key concept of the course during the first couple of class meetings. For example, in a Marketing Principles course, try explaining what marketing is in your own words. Then relate that definition to each segment of what you learn afterward. Fundamental ideas are the basis for all others.

Idea #13: Routinely ask questions to fill in the missing pieces in your learning. Can you elaborate further on this? Can you give an example of that? If you don’t have examples, you are not connecting what you are learning to your life. One way to get more involved in class is to offer such examples.

Idea #14: Test yourself before you come to class by trying to summarize, orally or in writing, the main points of the previous class meeting. If you cannot summarize main points, you haven’t learned them.

Idea #15: Learn to test your thinking, writing, and speaking using intellectual standards. “Am I being clear? Accurate? Precise? Relevant? Logical? Am I looking for what is most significant?”

Idea #16: Use writing as a way to learn by writing summaries in your own words of important points from the textbook, other reading material, and class notes. Make up test questions. Write out answers to your own questions. (If these are really good, submit them to me for possible extra credit).

Idea #17: Frequently evaluate your listening. Are you actively listening for main points? Can you summarize what your instructor is saying in your own words? Can you elaborate what is meant by key terms?

Idea #18: Frequently evaluate your reading. Are you reading the textbook actively? Are you asking questions as you read? Can you distinguish what you understand from what you don’t? Are you prepared to ask questions about the latter when your instructor asks, “Does anybody have any questions about anything?”