Online Study & Skill Building Resources

Math Links

• Math COMPASS Guidelines and Hints
• Practice COMPASS Exam   Solutions (answers only) or (worked solutions)
•  http://www.highlands.edu/wcotter/COMPASS/math_practice.htm
•  http://www.oaklandcc.edu/MathTest/Practest.htm    
•  http://www.doyourmath.com/all_tests.asp  Interactive Learning and Practice Tests (Pre-SAT, SAT, AP and Calculus)
•  http://mathonline.missouri.edu  Online Math Tests generated at your request. Provides solutions and explanations once test is completed.

Writing Links

• Regents’ Test Website: http://www.gsu.edu/~wwwrtp/index94.htm
• Writer’s Handbook :http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/index.html
• ACE Writing Practice Tests  http://college.hmco.com/devenglish/resources/writing_ace/students/index.html
• Exercises at Grammar Bytes: http://www.chompchomp.com/exercises.htm
• Dr. Grammar – Your Rx for Writing Ills  http://www.drgrammar.org
• Grammar Slammer: http://englishplus.com/grammar
• Business English Grammar: http://www.better-english.com/grammar.htm
• Guide to Grammar & Writing: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar
• The Blue Book of Grammar & Punctuation: http://www.grammarbook.com
• The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing: http://www.nutsandboltsguide.com
• Get bibliography help at: http://www.easybib.com  or http://www.noodletools.com
• Landmarks Citation Machine will construct citations for you http://citationmachine.net
• Citation Assistance & Plagiarism Resources for Faculty & Students: http://lib.ocean.edu/CITATION.htm

Reading Links

• ACE Reading Practice Tests      http://college.hmco.com/devenglish/resources/reading_ace/students
• Dalton State College Online Writing Lab Exercises and COMPASS Practice - Click here
• Mt. San Antonio College Language Center Reading Exercises
  Finding the Main Idea - Click here
  Identifying Supporting Details - Click here
  Transitions/Pattern of Organization Clues (examples) - Click here
  Inferences - Click here
  Inferences Exercises - Click here
  Figurative Language vs. Literal Language - Click here
• Bainbridge College Regents' Reading Course
  Tone and Purpose Interactive Exercises - Click here
• Regents' Testing Program
  The official website for information and preparation tips on the Regents' Exam. - Click here

Study Skills Links

• Virginia Tech has a wonderful site full of Study Skills Self-help Information including online workshops.
• Over 80 learning skills handouts on topics including textbook reading, note taking, concentration, memory, time management, test taking, attitudes, and goal setting are available from the Student Academic Resource Center at the University of Central Florida.
• Over 100 learning skills study guides are available at Study Guides and Strategies.  The site also contains translations of many of these study guides in more than 20 languages!
• Visit the Study Skills Library at California Polytechnic State University. Topics include listening, memorizing, time management, note taking, test preparation, and test taking,
• Conduct a Time Audit to help you to improve your time management skills (University of Minnesota--Duluth).

Conquering Test Anxiety

• HowtoStudy.org also has many resources for conquering test anxiety.  One of the best is Beating the Big Bad Wolf, a multimedia test anxiety presentation from Austin Community College.  This may take a few minutes to load-especially if you have dial-up!

Learning Styles and Learning Self-Assessments

• Diablo Valley College has an excellent introduction to learning styles, learning strategies to use with each learning style, and an online learning style survey to identify your preferred learning style.
• The VARK is an excellent guide to learning styles, complete with questionnaire and Helpsheets for studying and learning tips for each style.
• North Carolina State University has a good learning styles questionnaire and helpful information. This is the one that you take at the BC ARC!
• Here is a learning styles survey chart from Chaminade that provides an alternative way to identify your primary learning style.
• Take a learning style or learning strategies self-assessment from the University of Arizona to find out more about how you learn best and ways to take advantage of your learning styles.
• The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) will provide feedback on your motivation and use of learning strategies.

Note-Taking Systems

• California Polytechnic State University provides a good assessment of the different systems for taking notes, their advantages and disadvantages, and when to use each.

Group Projects
Having difficulty getting the group together? These links may help:

• Working in Groups from Harvard University
• Group Work and Collaborative Writing from University of California-Davis
• Group Project Guidelines (especially for group presentations) from the University of Hawaii
• Comprehensive Approach to Working in Groups from the University of Southampton
• Group Work (especially science projects)  from the University of Delaware
   

GPA Calculator

• This GPA Calculator from the Center for Academic Success at Louisiana State University computes how many As, Bs, and Cs you need to achieve the GPA you want. You enter your current and desired GPAs, credit hours earned, and the GPA you want.  It's quick and easy!

Helpful Links for Online Students

• Read a brief, but excellent article on study strategies for online students written by Robin Geery of Schenectady County Community College.
• Coastline Community College provides a great set of brief skills modules for online learning.
• Get valuable advice from other online students from the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium.
• A great orientation to online learning with lots of success tips for the online student from Ivy Tech Community College
• Tips for Online Success from the Illinois Online Network
• Following directions is especially important for online students