A lot of students today are overworked and overstressed. Work, family, friends, Netflix shows that you lowkey really want to binge—all of these (and more) compete with the demands of your college classes for your time and attention. Being a college student involves all sorts of obstacles that can affect your success, regardless of your knowledge of the course material.

These are what education researchers call “noncognitive factors.” These noncognitive factors are often overlooked elements to succeeding in college, even though they can be just as important as course content.

Researchers at the University of Chicago define noncognitive factors as “sets of behaviors, skills, attitudes, and strategies that are crucial to students’ academic performance and persistence in post-secondary education.” These factors include everyday practices like attending class when possible, communicating with your professor, taking notes, reviewing your notes, making friends in class, using tutoring & support services, asking for help, attending office hours, and loads more. These are sometimes divided into 5 categories: academic behaviors, academic mindsets, social skills, perseverance, and learning strategies.

Now, to be sure, many students do these somewhat automatically, but how systematic, how mindful are you?

Your goal this semester should be to develop an awareness of how noncognitive factors affect you, positively and negatively, and to develop a game plan that will help you manage them. In my English 101 class, I have students fill out an inventory survey that encourages them to think more critically about the factors in their life that impact their success (and, potentially, failure) in class. The purpose is not to shame or belittle but to raise one’s consciousness of these potentially invisible expectations that your professors have, even if we don’t always clearly articulate them or teach them to you.

To be successful in college does not mean doing all behaviors, skills, and strategies at the same time—that may never be possible, which is totally cool. Instead, your goal is to learn what factors you need to activate to be successful and when to ask for help.

For example, creating a study group that meets weekly can not only help you make new friends (or enemies, who knows? Why limit yourself?), but it can also teach you new learning strategies while also making it more likely that you’ll attend class and turn work in on time. Why? Because other people depend on you, and you depend on them. You cultivate a feeling of belonging that can go really far in helping everyone to succeed. Rising tide, you know?

Does that study group need to meet every day? Probably not. Do you need to attend office hours every day? Probably not. Do you need to attend every single class? Probably not but maybe should try.

But what you do need to do is learn how to negotiate the factors that facilitate and hinder your ability to pass a course and to graduate.

In the end, success in college is not reducible solely to course content. We shouldn’t pretend that it is. It’s whole web of factors that you can influence and affect. As researchers remind us, noncognitive factors “are not fixed traits that students either do or don’t have.” They are skills, attitudes, and strategies that you can cultivate. And if you are worried, you have an entire support system at ECC to help you.

You are not alone. But you are smart. You are resourceful. You are going to crush it.