Academic Support
Looking to sharpen your academic skills?
Do you ever lose track of time? Do you sit down to read for class but find yourself losing track of what the author is saying? Are you concerned that your note taking or test taking strategies aren’t working for your current courses?
The Educational Resource Center offers several services to help BU undergraduate and graduate students become confident, independent, and lifelong learners: Academic Coaching, Academic Skills Workshops, and Open Study. Click the links below to learn more!
Academics at BU can be difficult to navigate, but you don’t have to figure it out alone. We are here to
help!
During a 45 minute Academic Coaching appointment, you’ll meet one-on-one with a professional staff member to discuss your academic journey and build on your strengths. Common topics addressed during Academic Coaching appointments include time management, organization, study skills, exam prep and test taking techniques, stress and anxiety. During your appointment, our staff will work with you to develop a personalized plan for your academic success, and you will leave with tangible strategies to use moving forward.
Scheduling an Appointment
Log in to Handshake using your BU credentials. Select “Career Center” on the left-hand panel in your home page, and then, select “Appointments.” To schedule an Academic Coaching appointment at the ERC, follow the prompts and choose “Educational Resource Center” and then “ERC-Academic Coaching.” Select a date, time, and modality that works best for you.
Please note that if you are a first-year undergraduate student, you also have the option to schedule an Academic Coaching appointment with your Assistant Director of First-Year Success. To do so, from the Career Center Drop-Down menu, select First-Year Success, and then choose Academic Coaching: 60 min Appointment.
If you don’t have a Handshake account, you can request one here. Most current students (enrolled in a degree program) already have a Handshake account. To check if you have an existing account login to Handshake using your BU email.
If you do not have access to Handshake or are unable to find an appointment time that works for you, please use this form to request an Academic Coaching appointment.
Cancelling or Rescheduling Your Appointment
To cancel, visit the Career Center drop-down menu and select Appointments. Click on the appointment you wish to cancel, then click the red “Cancel” button. To reschedule, cancel your existing appointment, then schedule a new appointment.
Note: Students will be marked as a no-show if they do not arrive within 15 minutes of their appointment start time. Cancelling an appointment less than 12 hours in advance is also considered a no-show. If you frequently no-show at your Academic Coaching appointments (2+ no-shows), it is the ERC’s policy that you must speak with the ERC’s professional staff about your attendance when scheduling additional appointments. If you have additional questions, please contact Bob Maxwell for more information.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I expect at my Academic Coaching appointment?
When you come to the ERC for an Academic Coaching appointment, you will meet with a professional staff member for 45 minutes. Appointments typically focus on a specific topic (e.g. time management or study strategies). During your appointment, you will work with your academic coach to collaboratively discuss your academic background and brainstorm solutions to academic challenges you’re facing. Your academic coach will also share helpful strategies and resources and work with you to adapt them to your situation.
If you have additional questions regarding a different topic, you might be asked to make a follow up appointment
to allow for an additional 45 minutes.
What should I not expect at my appointment?
You should not expect the staff member to do all the talking; this is your academic journey, and the academic coaching process is meant to be collaborative! The best way to make sure a strategy works is to ensure its tailored to fit your needs, which means we’ll need a lot of input from you. After all, you’re the expert on you!
Also, please keep in mind that ERC professional staff members are not tutors or Teaching Fellows. Our staff can
provide academic strategies that will assist you in navigating any course, but Academic Coaching should not replace going to office hours or taking advantage of Peer Tutoring.
How should I prepare for my appointment?
Showing up on time is crucial for a 45-minute appointment. Beyond that, come prepared to participate! Your coach will ask you a lot of questions during your appointment, so sometimes it can be helpful to do some reflection ahead of time.
You might reflect on or journal about:
- What your goal or agenda for the appointment is
- What specific academic challenge you’re currently facing
- What strategies you’ve tried in the past and their effectiveness
- How you’ve navigated similar situations in the past
Knowing and communicating your current strengths and weaknesses will help you leave the appointment with a customized plan.
Can I set up more than one appointment at a time or have a recurring appointments throughout the semester?
We ask that you limit yourself to one academic coaching appointment at a time. Academic coaching is an iterative, ongoing process. Spreading appointments across several weeks or a semester allows you time to implement and assess new techniques and will help you grow the most as a student.
Once you meet with your academic coach, we’ll help you devise a coaching plan and cadence. We’re happy to meet with you on a recurring basis and will work with you to determine how frequently you might need to meet with your coach. Some students benefit from weekly appointments while others prefer a couple of appointments a key times during the semester, like before midterms or finals.
Whom will I be meeting with for my appointment?
All Academic Coaching appointments are conducted by our full-time professional staff. We are here to listen, and we are dedicated to helping you be your best academic self and will do so with empathy and understanding. Curious which staff member you might be meeting with? Check out our staff bios on our
About Us page. We look forward to seeing you soon!
Looking for new strategies to manage your time better, improve your study skills, and perform better on different test formats? Our Academic Skills Workshops are the perfect way to brush up your skills. Best of all, they are open to all BU undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and staff. Check out the descriptions of our current workshops below, then visit the ERC Calendar to sign up for an upcoming session!
We also offer custom workshops for faculty/staff and student organizations. Fill out our Workshop Request Form to request a presentation for your class, event, or student group.
Currently offered workshops are:
Avoiding Plagiarism
How do you use sources? When do you cite? How can you best avoid plagiarism? Based on Boston University’s policies regarding academic integrity, this workshop will demystify the proper way to integrate sources into your writing and provide accurate citations.
Boost Your Reading Strategies
Did you know that boosting your reading comprehension is one of the most effective ways to enhance your overall academic performance? This workshop will introduce you to a variety of techniques for reading textbooks, academic articles, and more. You will also learn annotation and note taking strategies to help you translate class readings into study materials for your next exam or paper.
Essential Tips to Manage Your Time
Does it feel like there are never enough hours in the day? Are you pulling all-nighters to complete assignments at the last minute? Or, perhaps, you have all of your classes and extracurricular activities color-coded in your iCal or Google Calendar but you aren’t sure how to optimize your study time. In this workshop, you will learn essential time management principles and strategies to help you productively use your time. You’ll also discover prioritization tools to help you confidently navigate your weekly routine and set achievable goals that build toward your long-term objectives.
Gear Up for Midterms: Study Strategies and Test Taking
This workshop gives you all the tools you need to tackle midterms season! From managing your study time to getting academic support, this workshop will help you study more effectively, lower your stress levels, and stay focused.
Intro to College Writing
Do you get nervous just thinking about a writing assignment? Are you hoping to gain confidence as a writer? This workshop will help you break down the writing process and gain familiarity with essential strategies and resources for approaching college-level writing. This workshop is geared toward students who are adjusting to new writing expectations, those looking for a refresher, and those seeking information regarding on-campus writing support.
Overview of ERC Services
“Introduction to ERC Services.” This workshop is perfect for a class or student group and takes 20-30 minutes. An ERC Staff Member will provide your group with an overview of the various services provided at the ERC and how to best engage with them.
Restoring Academic Motivation
Do you sometimes struggle to find the motivation to complete assignments? Do you wonder why sometimes you feel like you’re “in the zone” while other times you’re waiting for inspiration to strike? In this workshop, you’ll learn research-backed strategies to help you monitor and enhance your academic motivation so that you can better sustain it over the long haul.
Self-Editing Workshop
Led by ERC Writing Fellows, this workshop will equip you to edit and proofread your papers with confidence! While learning how to revise the style and voice of your papers, you will also learn how to identify patterns of error at the sentence level.
Study Smarter, Not Harder: Effective Study Strategies
Are you tired of pulling all-nighters and cramming for exams? Do you ever feel like you spend so much time studying only to struggle on the exam? This workshop will equip you with active study strategies to improve your comprehension, retention, and application of course material.
Taking Effective Notes
Written or typed? Word-for-word or consolidated? In this workshop, you’ll learn the essential strategies for taking clear, effective notes. You will learn about the note taking process as well as some common note taking methods.
Test Taking & Test Anxiety
This workshop offers strategies that will help you navigate exams more efficiently, budget your time, and manage your stress levels during an exam. You will learn how to approach different types of questions on an exam and how to respond if you don’t know the answer to a question. You will also learn how to assess your performance on past exams in order to improve your study strategies.
The Finals are Coming
This workshop gives you all the tools you need to navigate finals – from preparing for exams to lowering your stress during finals period. Whether you’re a seasoned test-taker or a finals rookie, this workshop will equip you with the test-taking, study, and self-care methods to ace finals week!
Understanding and Overcoming Procrastination
Are you a procrastinator who is hoping to change your habits? In this workshop, you will learn how to recognize your individual patterns of procrastination. You will also learn concrete strategies to help you start building new routines to change the habit of procrastination.
Are you looking for more motivation and focus with your studying? Working alongside others can help. The Educational Resource Center offers shared space for undergraduate students in Open Study sessions.
How it works: Come to the ERC to work independently with other students. Additional space is available for collaboration. A Student Support Specialist will be on hand to help with study skills, time management, and more.
Feel free to attend any of the sessions; there is no obligation to commit to weekly attendance for the semester.
Stay tuned for more information about future open study dates! In the meantime, please feel free to book a study room or come study in the 5th & 6th floor lobby spaces.
Questions? Contact Bob Maxwell.
There are so many resources at BU like tutoring, writing help, and more!
Explore all of your options with our Academic Resource Guide:
