Increasing Retention By Incorporating Time Management And Study Skills Into A Freshman Engineering Course

The thesis of this paper is that the primary reason that students see their high school GPA drop by ~1.0 grade point their freshmen year in college is a lack of time management and study skills. As the table illustrates, learning in high school is primarily in class while a significant part of learning in college is outside of class, requiring up to 500% more outside study time than was required in high school. The slower pace and shorter assessment periods students have in high school allow them to develop the habit of procrastinating and cramming, with considerable academic success. Table 1. High School vs. College Unfortunately, the much faster pace and longer intervals between assessments in college make the procrastinating and cramming strategy untenable.