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The Women Study More

Photo credit: Blue & White Flash Female students were more often found to study harder, earn better grades and graduate on time.

By Chineka Jones and Shannon Watkins
Black College Wire

The women are doing better than the men at North Carolina Central University.

Last spring, female undergraduates at the school had an average GPA of 2.72 compared with 2.46 for their male counterparts, according to the university's office of Research, Evaluation and Planning.

Ask any professor and you'll hear a good reason: "Females study much better than males," said physics professor Kinney Kim.

This is consistent with a recent nationwide survey that found differences between the study habits of male and female students.

It was conducted for the Association of American Publishers by Student Monitor, a research agency based in Ridgewood, N.J.

Female students study more and they study better, according to the report.

Photo credit: Blue & White Flash Male students tend to skim what they read, according to the study of 1,800 undergraduate students.

Male students tend to skim what they read, while women are 23 percent more likely to read their assignment closely.

"As a study technique, I read my book thoroughly and write down what I think is important," said Micha Davis, a freshman studying psychology.

The Student Monitor report surveyed 1,800 undergraduate students attending community colleges and public and private universities.

It showed that female students more often study harder, earn better grades and graduate on time.

According to the report, female students are 35 percent more likely to study daily, and they are 20 percent more likely to study 15 hours a week or more.

Davis' study habits are consistent with these findings. She said she studies 10 hours a week.

"I study two hours a day," said Hillary Sherrill, a mass communication senior.

But several male students said they studied only four or five hours a week. Men study one-third less than women, according to the report.

"I personally retain more in a less amount of time," said James Knight, a junior majoring in English.

Students at North Carolina Central and at Jackson State University have several theories about these differences.

"Males are workers, not thinkers," said Jeremy Russell, a junior at North Carolina Central majoring in mass communication. Female students have fewer distractions "and are more concerned with grades," said Narissa Smitherman, a North Carolina Central junior studying mass communication. Smitherman said she likes to study at the Barnes & Noble bookstore, where it is quiet.

"Females study more because they care more in general," said Shelby Gilliard, a junior in mass communication at the same school. "Males are less organized."

But not all agreed with the study's conclusions.

At Jackson State, Pierre Fields, a freshman social work major from Chicago, said, "For centuries men have" headed "and are still head of majority of business" and "government positions and if you think about it, it takes studying and being focused to get to these positions.”

Amanda Rouse, a freshman biology major at Jackson State from Sardis, Miss., said, “I believe it’s 50-50, because I have noticed that some freshmen girls like to party four days out of a week. The freshmen guys may party on a Friday or Saturday and Sunday, they may go to church, do some laundry, and do a little studying.”

Tori Cousins, a freshman mass communications major from Jackson, Miss., said, “I don’t study at all, but I still do well and the guys I know don’t study either and some do well and others don’t.”

Others said the study sounded credible.

"Girls study more to a certain extent, because they tend to worry more about their schoolwork and grades, where guys have the attitude either you know the class material or you don’t," said Phillip Stewart, a freshman pre-med biology major at Jackson State from Lake Village Ark.

“If I call any of the girls that I’m friends with," said Corey Conerly at Jackson State, a freshman from Brooklyn, N.Y., "nine out of 10 times, they will be in the library or with a group of friends doing classwork or studying. And when it comes to reading books for class, you will find more guys asking girls about the given reading assignment and what it was about.”

Chineka Jones, a student at North Carolina Central University, writes for the Campus Echo. Shannon Watkins, a student at Jackson State University, writes for the Blue & White Flash.

Posted Dec. 29, 2005