Longitudinal Changes in the Study Habits of Successful College Students

Abstract

Data from a longitudinal study showed that after two years of college study successful students (those completing the first two years) were less likely to report using systematic study methods than when they started college, but more likely to report using "deep level" approaches to study (i.e., higher scores on the Synthesis-Analysis scale of a shortened form of the Inventory of Learning Processes [Bartling, 1987]). Comparisons based on timelagged correlations (predictive validities of the inventory scales versus corresponding concurrent and postdictive validities with semester GPAs as criteria) support the conclusion that students' perceptions of their learning and study habits are more dependent upon their current and past academic performances than are their academic performances dependent upon their learning and study habits.