8 Skills You’ll Need to Succeed in College

Whether you’re entering your sophomore year or a recent graduate headed to college this fall, it’s never too late to build helpful skills for college — and life.

Your high school classes somewhat prepare you for the rigors of college, but what don’t they teach you outright? The softer skills you gain through interacting with other humans or skills that build your well-being. Read on to find out the eight most useful skills.

Start mastering these skills now

1. Time management and staying organized

The most important skill that I didn’t have going into college was time management. In high school, from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. school and 2:30 to 5:30 practice to dinner to homework, my daily time was accounted for.

Once I got to college, my free time increased exponentially, challenging me to figure out how to stay organized and navigate the novelty of college.

Writing down assignments in a planner and establishing routines helped me stay organized. Whether you like to color code notebooks with folders or not, using different tactics helps organize the information thrown at you in four different classes in the first few days of college.

Building a routine can include preparing your outfit and packing your backpack the night before, especially if your writing class requires you to bring your book to class. A consistent routine reduces stress, ensures preparedness, and promotes a regular sleep schedule.

Whether you’re planning your day out to the minute or just generally planning around your classes, focus on one task at a time. Multitasking can be ineffective — you’ll get better results if you work on one thing at a time.

2. Prioritize sleep

That regular sleep schedule we talked about earlier? It can contribute to a better performance in your classes.

Prioritize rest and aim for eight hours of sleep each night. With those time management skills, getting your Z’s becomes easier during the week when you’ve got an 8 a.m. seminar.

3. Seek help when needed

What happens when you approach the final exam and realize you don’t really understand the core concepts of the final lecture that the professor stressed was really important?

While your instincts may say, "Learn it yourself," which may lead to cramming and higher stress levels while studying, try this option instead: Ask for help.

Seek out your professor, a tutoring center, classmates, or anyone else who may know the material and can explain it to you. Never be embarrassed to ask questions that will help you grasp challenging material.

If you’re visiting your professor during office hours, prepare ahead of time by breaking down what you don’t know into smaller questions. This strategy is much more effective than showing up and saying, “I just don’t get it.” They may be able to help you, but you’ll use your (and your professor’s) time more productively with guided questions.

4. Use the resources at your disposal

Don’t forget all the resources at your college or university, either. Trust me, there are almost too many! Writing centers, tutoring centers, speech and presentation centers, and of course your professors’ office hours are all options when you need it.

If you need help with your resume or cover letter — or want to research summer internships — visit your school’s centers and meet with a career counselor.

Check out the resources online and visit its physical location if you can. Actually going to those places also helps with navigating campus!

Improve your study skills for college (and high school, t00)

When I took Microeconomics in my first semester and had to study for my first midterm, I actually thought the world was ending. Studying for my first college exam did not go well — and I had the C- to prove it.

While cliche, it’s true: the main reason you’re going to college is for the degree. The studying and learning parts are important — despite how much you’re enjoying your freedom and independence. Whether you’re in a text-heavy major like history or taking a general education course with a ton of reading and memorizing (like economics), you’ll have to take an exam at some point. Here are four strategies you can start to use while you're still in high school.

1. Reward yourself

Studying leads to doing well and getting good grades, but grades don’t mean everything. Taking brain breaks during a long study session allows your knowledge to marinate — and who doesn’t enjoy a reward like a favorite snack or playing a level of your favorite game?

What’s worthy of a reward? It’s not five minutes of studying. If you have trouble focusing, set a timer to write your term paper for 30 minutes, or take 10 after you’ve synthesized the first month of notes in preparation for your midterm. Small breaks constitute a reward, and more intense tasks warrant larger rewards, like having dinner with friends (and not thinking about work at all!).

Another component of rewards? Staying disciplined and focusing on work for 30 minutes or whatever task you set for however long you determine. Here’s a trick: reward yourself with five minutes of screen time for every question you answer correctly on a practice test. Finished writing that annotated bibliography? Curl up to enjoy a guilt-free chapter or two of your favorite book. Rewarding yourself like this will help promote good study habits, and make them easier to continue in the future.

2. Distributed Practice

Instead of cramming in one long, torturous session, successful students study a little each day, which helps transfer information into long-term memory and improves test performance. By breaking up your work into manageable pieces — and rewarding yourself — learning difficult concepts becomes much easier. Setting a schedule that works for you and sticking to it will lead to a better grade, longer knowledge retention, and less stress than cramming generates.

3. Effective Note-Taking

Taking notes during class helps you stay engaged and provides a concise study guide for exams instead of digging through lectures to find the answers you need. The best thing about note-taking? You've got lots of options — like these three methods.

The Outline Method

The Outline Method organizes notes hierarchically, using headings and subheadings to represent the main topics and subtopics. Main ideas are listed as headings, and supporting details are indented underneath them as sub-points. This method visually distinguishes between primary and secondary information to show concept relationships.

The outline method provides a clear and organized format, making it easy to review and understand information hierarchy. While it encourages a logical flow of information, these outlines aren’t practical to use during fast-paced lectures. Outlines have less flexibility for subjects that don’t follow a linear progression.

The Free-Form Method

The Free-Form Method, or the Mind Map or Flow Method, is a more flexible and creative way of taking notes. Notes are taken non-linearly, often using diagrams, arrows, and symbols to connect ideas and concepts. You have more freedom in your approach to recording information based on your style and preferences.

This approach works well for various types of information and learning styles, and it’s personalizable and adaptable. However, there’s less structure, notes can greatly vary in quality and completeness, and it’s harder to review key points or find specific information quickly.

The Cornell Method

The Cornell Method divides the note-taking page into three sections: a narrow left-hand column (cue section), a larger right-hand column (note-taking section), and a bottom section (summary). During the lecture, you take notes in the right-hand column. After the lecture, record key points or questions in the left-hand column to create study cues. Capture the lecture’s main ideas by summarizing the notes in the bottom section.

This highly structured strategy promotes thorough understanding and review by requiring active engagement and critical thinking throughout lectures. This method also makes studying much easier. But, it requires a ton of initial effort and can be time-consuming and really rigid, especially for students who prefer a more flexible approach.

4. Location matters

Now that you know how to study, let’s discuss where to study. There are almost too many options!

A dorm room, the library, coffee shops, oh my!

Choosing a productive study environment is important, and it’s important to personalize it to fit your needs and preferences. For example, I hate studying in the library because it’s almost too quiet for me. I prefer studying in a loud coffee shop, where I can put on my noise-canceling headphones, listen to music, and get a snack or drink if I want.

Try to keep your study space distraction-free. (I typically toss my phone into the depths of my backpack so I’m not tempted to doom scroll on TikTok for hours.) If you’re going to study in your dorm room, declutter your desk and avoid studying in your bed! It’s much easier to accidentally nap mid-studying among your pillows than at your desk.

There is value, of course, in studying with friends or classmates. You can bounce ideas off each other or learn a different way of looking at a problem. Plus, if they aren’t the same major or taking different classes, teaching others is a great way to reinforce your knowledge. But try to get some work done and avoid chatting all night. It’s easy to have too much fun studying!

Now that you’re equipped with all these new skills for college, personalize them based on your preferences. It might take some trial and error, but eventually, you’ll find strategies that work and will help you succeed in all areas of college life.