The Business Education Support Team (BEST)

Recently a student walked into the BBA Program Office to talk with her advisor.  Ever since she entered the Business School, her grades have suffered.  Her eyes well with tears as she says that she studies as much as or more than her peers, and she is beginning to think that maybe she is just not as smart.  When her advisor asks how she knows how much other students are studying, she says that they tell her.  Her advisor assures her that despite what they may say, most other students are in fact putting a significant amount of time into their coursework. 
           
Her advisor asks the student to show the advisor a recent exam and the materials she used to prepare for the exam.  They review the exam and find that in some cases, the student missed questions that she clearly knew the answer to - perhaps due to nervousness or test taking anxiety.  They also find that in some instances, there was material on the exam that the student had not studied.  They then review the students notes that she wrote out to prepare for the exam.  The student had omitted some important content from both the text chapters and the professor's PowerPoint slides in class.  Additionally, she had written out the notes once and then continued to study for the exam by simply reading through the notes.  Her advisor suggested that her first draft of notes should be much more thorough and then she should continue to study by rewriting her notes multiple times, reducing the amount of text each time, until her notes are whittled down to a few pages.  Through this process, she will learn the material by writing and rewriting her notes until a few key words trigger her memory of the material.

The Business Education Support Team (BEST) provides students with personalized feedback and guidance through academic struggles.  Advisors talk with individual students about specific concerns and strategies for addressing those concerns.  BEST advisors can help students with note-taking skills, test preparation and strategies, class participation strategies, group project management, time management, test anxiety, and more.  Additionally, BEST advisors can direct students to additional resources as needed.  If your BBA student is struggling academically, please encourage them to stop by the BBA Program Office (suite 320) on Monday & Tuesday 11am-12pm or Thursday & Friday 2pm-3pm to meet with an advisor.  Our goal is to help each student perform to the BEST of his or her ability.

Jill Pollard
Associate Director, BBA Program