Back To School: Five Ways to Do Better This Term than the Last
Posted on August 17th, 2010 in Students | 1 Comment »
It’s that time again. Time to buy all of your textbooks, start getting up early, and prepare yourself to actually do well this semester. But let’s be honest, after about oh I don’t know say the first week the newness and excitement of a fresh semester wears off and keeping up with our assignments is a slippery slope. So what can we do to make Dean’s List this semester? Well, this is what I’m doing:
1.) Write Everything Down! I know I’m a broken record if you read my blog “College Got you Stressed? Five Tips to Help You Relax” but seriously this does help. I detest having to open the PDF of the course syllabus, scan through the various sections and finally (after five minutes) find what’s due the next day. If you write down all of the assignments in a planner, you can simply flip to a page and see what’s due in seconds. It really is a beautiful thing!
2.) Highlight Your Text Book! I’m going to tell you what no professor ever will: taking notes is a waste of time, paper, and effort; all you really need to do is highlight important information. Highlighting is so much more practical because then you don’t have to worry about losing your notes or finding them on your computer if you type them. Give it a try, I promise you’ll never go back to note taking again.
3.) Go to Class! I know you hear this ALL the time, but do you actually listen to it is the real question? Probably not. I know how it is, when no one is making you (Ahem, your mother) and in a lecture when there really aren’t a lot of consequences if you do skip, temptation to ditch is high. My advice? Take classes with friends (or better yet make a friend in your class). In my own experience, I am much more likely to attend a class if I have a buddy to suffer through with…I mean learn with!
4.) Don’t Over Do it! Last semester I enrolled in a whopping 21 credits! I know; I have no idea what I was thinking, but regardless learn from my mistake. If you are taking a class that seems unnecessary and is extra drop it! If there is no immediate value from taking the class then don’t bother. Why solicit the extra stress?
5.) Take Breaks! You know how nutritionists preach everything in moderation? Well the same rule applies to school. Make sure you’re studying and doing your assignments but also plan time away from the books and away from work to do things for fun. Ultimately, if you are working hard and doing all that you can for your classes your grades will reflect that. So go ahead, take a break.
What do you do to succeed in school? Let me know. Leave me a comment 
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