Are your kids ready for college? Studies say only 32 percent of high school seniors graduate with the skills they need for college. About 60 percent of freshman in the California State University system need remedial help in math or English. Your kids who are heading to Christian colleges will appreciate the insights in Michael Bozack's book Street Smart Advice to Christian College Students: From a Professor's Point of View:

1. Study Your Study Habits

Few students, Christian or otherwise, come to college with good study habits. They either come from high schools where high grades could be achieved without studying much or they were never taught how to study without memorizing everything. Effective study habits in college, however, require practice, work and discipline. The earlier in your freshman year you get yourself alone in a library to study, the better you will do in college.

2. Clock into College

Say you are flipping burgers at McDonalds to help pay for college. What would be required of you? At minimum, your boss would expect you to show up on time, do your job completely and be professional and accountable. So, why would you do less as a student when there is much more at stake than cooking burgers? Why would you be on time for a job but cut your classes, or be competent at work, then turn in sloppy, careless homework in college? You wouldn't! Treat being a student with the same loyalty and respect as you would treat a job. You will make fewer mistakes and feel better about your college experience.

3. Learn the Curve

You will save an enormous (that is a lot) amount of time and energy by understanding the grading systems used by college professors.  Most employ either an absolute or a relative system commonly called a curved grading scheme. Students seem to understand an absolute system because they were used by teachers in high school, but most of my students taking introductory physics have little idea how a curved system works. If you don't understand how you're graded, you'll find yourself putting your efforts where they are minimally effective. Don't shoot yourself in the foot by misplaced effort! Get ahead of the curve and ask your professor to explain the grading system. Effort is costly and should be placed where it matters the most.

4. Save Dough-Ask the Pro(fessor that is)

When the going gets tough, it's amazing how many students turn to everyone and everything except their college professors. Sometimes it's because they have had a bad experience with a professor, their professor is not adept at helping students, or they simply don't want their professor to know they're so far behind the pace. Whatever the hangup, you've got to move on. I always encourage my students to ask for help early in the semester. I mean really, why hire a tutor or get a roommate to help when you have an expert in the field who you've already paid for! It's true without exception that when a student gets in early for help, the one-on-one interaction turns an F on the first test into an A or B before the course ends.