Poor Study Skills and Untapped Resources: A Study of Entry-Level Mathematics Students’ Study Habits

Abstract

The purpose of this descriptive study was to discover the environment in which students enrolled in entry and lower-level mathematics courses study, how long and when they study, whether they study in a group or alone, how they organize their notes and homework, and what use they make of the textbook and online class notes provided by their instructor. Fifty-eight students were interviewed in their instructors’ offices. Responses were correlated to final grades in each course. Results indicated that students making higher grades studied earlier in the day and kept more organized notebooks than students who made lower grades. The majority of students studied alone and did not use the resources available to them.