Here are a few ideas how to make the most of your studying time and study effectively. Consider this your guide to success for online exams and beyond.

Read to learn: Most people read their notes or read the textbook without actually learning anything or just a little. Don’t just read – read to learn! Read with the intention to learn something from it. There is no point in reading if your brain isn’t fully awake to retain most of the information. Most of the time simply reading isn’t enough to pass an online exam or exams in general.

Be a part of what you are studying: Engage yourself with the material you are studying by using what you have learned and becoming a part of the experience. For example, if you are reading about how to start a website – try starting a website yourself or instead of just memorizing something – test yourself by writing what you have learned on a piece of paper. Actually engaging yourself in the learning process will help you retain the information and help you study effectively.

Don’t just memorize – memorize with the intent to learn: When you memorize something, you should also practice writing it down. The more you write what you have memorized, the more likely it is to stick! Memorization only stays in your short term memory, but writing it out and memorizing it will place the information in your long term memory.

Test yourself: Take a quiz to see if you really know the information. Testing yourself will give you an idea about what you know and what you still need to work on. Another good idea is to ask a friend or relative to test you using your notes.

Do you know of any other tips to success for online exams?

1. Skip Breakfast

On test day skip breakfast. Yes you usually function better on a full stomach, but on exam day it may just all come back up if you know what I mean. It’s bad enough you may fail, you do not want to have to clean up a mess also.

2. Stress Out

Panic! This is your education on the line and all is hanging on how you do on this exam. Maybe you can put it off to later. Remember how you do on online exams will determine if you can be successful with the online learning process. So not doing well on exams could derail your goals and dreams in life, try to put it off as long as possible.

3. Social Studying

Where should you study? Study in front of the TV; if possible invite family and friends over during study time. Make it a pizza party maybe a keg or two kegs! Just think if you can concentrate with all this going on you will do great on the exam.

4. Don’t Sweat What You Do Well

What do you do best at? Got an answer? Good, now do not worry about that subject. You always do well in that subject so why waste time on it. Now use this extra time you have gained by not going over this subject to do something you enjoy. Something you’ve been putting off because of your online studies. Maybe you could watch a ball game, break out the game console, watch season 3 of the Sopranos marathon style, anything to take your mind of the upcoming exam.

5. Be A Lone Wolf

Do not get help. The Internet is full of a bunch of “know it alls”, who do they think they are? Do not ask your classmates anything or join the class online discussion group. They just want to sponge off your answers let them do their own studying. Remember it’s a dog eat dog world and you got to get yours or the other guy will.

6. Try Cramming

Cram! and the closer to exam time the better because the information will be fresh in your mind. As a matter of fact do not even bother touching your books until the day before test time. Remember the sooner you start studying the long you’ll have to keep all that stuff in your head.

7. Procrastinate

Do not forget about time management. The best way to develop time management skills is to put everything off until just before the deadline. Your mind will work better under the stress and try not to be too organized remember the chaos theory if it works for the universe it should work for you.

8. Forget The Boy Scout Motto

Before the test starts try not to have everything you need. This will help you stall for time and if not it will be a good excuse for why you did so badly.

9. Fake Illness

During the exam if you feel you are not doing so well then try faking illness this will help you put the test off. Never mind that this is an online test and no one can see you, this will be great practice for when you flop at your online degree and you start your professional panhandling career.

10. Review

Post test review time! Try to find out what happen, why you did show badly. Start thinking of excuses to make you feel better and that you can tell your friends and family when they find out. Most of all blame others, remember its always someone else’s fault. You are never responsible for anything bad that happens in your life. Remember the four keys to attaining a successful modern urban life;

• Complain
• Sue
• Past the buck, and
• Lotto tickets

Before taking most of this advice remember that muscle on the floor of the mouth that manipulates food of the author was firmly place in the the area of the face below the eyes and between the nose and the left the ear . Good Luck!

Several studies have been conducted by various online education and student bodies to ascertain the reasons behind the failure of some students during their online studies. The studies all point to one common factor of distraction: the wasting of time while studying online. Now, these modes of time wasting vary from one student to another and include:

Excessive time in chat rooms:

While doing an online course, students will spend a lot of time on the internet. Some networking programs such as Windows LIVE Messenger, SKYPE or Yahoo Messenger only require your computer to be logged unto the internet for them to be automatically signed in. Even if you do not sign to a page such as Facebook, your friends can still know you are online. Now many online students do not like to be impolite to their friends and, when contacted, spend hours chatting online instead of studying.

Playing video games:

The internet is buzzing with both free and for-profit video game sites that allow users to either play alone or compete remotely with each other. Some online students easily get caught up in video gaming and before they know it, 3 hours have elapsed that could have been better spent studying.

News addiction:

This affects many adult online students who believe they must catch up on all the latest news from all over the world before they can settle down to study. Therefore, in the first hour and a half, they must surf through the web pages of BBC, CNN, NBC, etc. If this is done two or three times per day, they have already lost almost five hours per day that could have been spent studying.

Computer tweaking:

Now, we all want our computers to perform at their best, but it still does not justify spending hours on the internet searching torrent websites for the latest application that increases your speed or gives you access to some program crack. Some online students also search these sites for books that they think they need but really do not and end up losing a lot of precious time that could have been spent studying.

Talking on the phone:

Some online students have not been able to separate their study time from their leisure time. As a result, they broadcast to their friends “hit me up on the phone, I am home all day studying.” Getting this invitation, their friends will call and they spend hours chatting away about everything but schoolwork. Before they know it, the day has elapsed and that is another valuable day lost from their studies.

Studying Online

Studying online has many benefits but also some weaknesses. To begin with, online studies are great for those individuals who are employed and do not want to disturb their work schedule to attend school. As a result, they can study from the comfort of their homes or wherever they desire, as long as they have an access to the internet.

Online students are able to revise past lectures as much as they want to ensure they get the true understanding of the lecture. In addition, they can easily contact their lecturer by email to query any discrepancy. Turnaround time at most online colleges is within twenty-four hours so students can expect to be always up to date.

Online students are relieved of the hassles of travel to reach to a particular class on time. They do not have to contend with rush hour and the cost of paying the taxi driver to take shortcuts to get you to school on time. For those who would normally drive themselves to school, the cost of fuel and maintenance associated with commute to school is eliminated.

The course work of online course is more adaptable to changes in the trends of society. Lecturers are always wired into the latest trends in course work delivery and developments in their specialty and are capable of quickly passing on this information to their students.

Finally, most of the popular online colleges are now fully accredited. As a result, online students can earn an accredited online degree with less stress and hassle.

Studying on campus

Many students profess that have not been to college until you study on campus. This statement is based on several factors.

Campus based students always brag about the personal, face-to-face contact they have with their doctors. They term this as an invaluable experience that cannot be replaced by speaking to a doctor over a screen.

Students of campus-based colleges are given the opportunity to attend labs under the direct supervision of their doctor. This is a sour point with online students, as they must find their own resources to conduct labs.
Campus life is said to play an integral part in shaping the personalities of many students. Students are able to join clubs, attend parties, play sports and just interact generally with other students. As a result, they are able to form lifelong friendships, meet their spouses and form alliances for future business ventures.

Studying online is not for everyone. Many individuals experience problems reading from computers let alone sitting and watching a teacher go on and on about something you do not understand. In addition, I you are one of the many students who are lacking on motivation, at an on-campus college, you can easily draw on the strengths of other students.

1. Be prepared:

Online studying requires you to have some basic tools to make your studies successful. To begin with, students must read their schools website to find out the computer software and hardware required for the successful transmission of study material. Then they should have access to a computer with these basic requirements such as Microsoft Word, PDF reader and an internet access. Some schools also require peripherals such as a printer, webcam, mike and speakers for web conferencing.

2. Create study area:

It is important that you have good organization to be a successful online student. Set aside an area for study. This area should have all your books and your computer. Even if you are studying from work or a public area, organize your study material in a backpack that you can easily move around with. The point is to have your course work material organized.

3. Avoid Plagiarism:

The internet is one big open library. As a result, many students think that their answer to writing reports is to Google their research topic and just change the author’s name and present it as their own. One must remember that there are hundreds of applications that can be used to detect plagiarism on the internet. Once plagiarism is detected, students will automatically be given a zero grade if they are found guilty of plagiarism. Hence, plagiarism should be avoided at all cost.

4. Participate in Online Class Forums:

Participating in live online chat sessions with your professor and other students helps you to understand exactly what is expected of you during the course. It also helps you to socialize and meet other students in your class thus removing the feeling of being isolated during your studies.

5. Availability:

This one factor has discouraged many prospective online students to Online Degrees. Before beginning the online study course, students, especially working students, should carefully analyze their time to make sure that it can include a study program.

6. Prevent Online Distractions:

Online studies require you to spend a significant amount of time online. If you are members of social networking groups such as Yahoo or MSN Messenger etc. your status will show that you are online. A good idea is to change your status to invisible. This will significantly reduce the distractions and you can concentrate on your studies in much better way.

7. Financial Support:

Like in any other study program, to be successful, students must ensure they gave all the necessary financial support to last the entire program.

Besides all these steps there is nothing like your own dedication towards studies, that I believe is the single most important factor to success.
Good Luck Friends !