2. What is “Counseling”?

Counseling is a process by which you learn to make better decisions, improve your personal skills, develop increased confidence, and acquire a keener awareness of your needs and the needs of others. A wide variety of concerns can be discussed in counseling such as choosing or changing a major, providing communication with parents or friends, changing behavior patterns, learning effective time management, overcoming depression, coping with anxiety, or defeating substance abuse. Counseling also means using therapeutic techniques to help another person deal with mental, emotional, and behavioral problems, or to develop human awareness and potential.

You may receive counseling in individual, couple, or group sessions. Individual, couple or group counseling consist of several steps. First, time is spent discussing concerns and getting to know each other. It is important to develop a trusting relationship with the counselor in this early state of counseling. As trust is developed, it becomes easier to discuss your feelings and needs.

This results in a better understanding of yourself, and the development of plans for making changes in your behavior. Realistic goals can be set and alternatives can then be explored. Your active involvement, both during the counseling session and outside of counseling, is required in order for change and growth to occur.

Study skills are the key to success at Payap [University]! Most students have to enhance the skills they bring to the university setting. It is normal to find that you are required to digest larger amounts of information at a quicker pace than that which was required in high school or even at community college. Furthermore, the nature of testing at the university level often demands a conceptual as well as factual level of understanding. There are skills that can be learned which will facilitate this transition. These follow.

Realistically Plan Your Time

Time management skills can help you feel more in control of your life so that you can find more free time and more effective study time.

  • Structure your academic schedule as if it were a 40-hour work week.
  • Use a planner or calendar to write down all your regularly scheduled activities as well as any due dates for papers or exams. Plan time for sleep, exercise, and social activity.
  • Determine your best study environment and time of the day. Plan study time each week that is consistent with your style.
  • Take ten minutes before each class to review your notes from the previous class. Take ten minutes after each class to “fix up” and review the notes just taken.
  • Break large or overwhelming task into smaller manageable steps.
  • Reward yourself for completing tasks. This means nothing what you have accomplished even if an entire project is not complete.

Read Actively

  • Before you read, preview the material in the chapter. Read any introduction or chapter summaries.
  • Have a purpose when you read. You may want to think of a question that you are trying to answer in each section of material. Do not move ahead in the chapter until you can answer your question. Ask yourself, “Am I getting ii?” If not, go back and find the place where you last understood the material and reread.
  • Focus on the main idea and any supporting information.
  • Take notes as you read. Trying making an outline of the material by organizing the main ideas and each supporting detail.
  • In your own words, write a brief summary of the main ideas. Or, draw a diagram illustrating the relationships between the main ideas.

Maximize Your Memory Potential

  • Before trying to memorize, assess your level of concentration. If you are not able to focus, you are not likely to retain much information.
  • Determine what you need to be able to focus (e.g., food, a short nap, a walk, several deep breaths, etc.), take care of this need then refocus.
  • Use flashcards. Write a word or formula on the front of a card and its definition on the back. Go through the cards until you can define each word correctly.
  • Create acronyms. Make up a word or phrase suing the first letter of each term you want to remember (e.g., the spectrum of colors in a rainbow can be remembered with Roy G. Biv = red, orange, yellow, green blue, indigo, violet).
  • Draw diagrams of concepts that you are trying to remember. Be able to verbally explain the concept and reproduce the diagram.
  • Study to the the point of recall, not simply recognition. This means that you can define and explain material in your own words.

Take Tests Wisely

  • Pay close attend to directions, both oral and written.
  • Skim the entire exam before answering anything, then plan your time according to difficulty and value of each item.
  • Answer the easy questions first, then go back and do the more difficult questions. Pay attention to information in questions that may help in other parts of the exam.
  • Watch out for qualifier words in questions (e.g., none, some, frequently, never, most, etc.).
  • Breathe – 10 deep, abdominal breaths will help release tension and enhance your focus. Remind yourself that your entire future does not rest on one test and that you will learn from this experience regardless of how well you do on the exam.