5. College Wisdom

From high school to college is a gigantic transition. Living apart from your family paired with the foreign dynamic of college courses is enough to drive almost anyone out of their mind with stress, but even though it was pretty awful semester, it was also a lot of fun and very informative. For one, I've learned that different textbooks warrant different types of reading. Teachers assign a formidable amount of book work so in-depth reading on each of these books would take centuries to complete. Knowing which books to skim and which to read in-depth interspersed with ample note taking is key to acing any class.  This means not spending 2 hours on a fifteen page american heritage reading assignment. Taking notes on the broad ideas and key vocabulary is the most important thing here. A specified time and place to study is also very important. If you don't assign yourself specific books and times to read them at, it won't get done. I try to get my history and mythology homework done on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and then get my physical science, religion, and writing on Tuesdays and Thursdays. You definitely need to find what works for you though. One of the most important things you can do is stay up to date on homework assignments. Although it seems daunting, plan out a schedule for everything you need to do that day and then do it. Don't make it a huge list that can't possibly be completed in one day (meaning leave yourself breaks and allot enough time for each assignment), but make sure you're scheduling enough that you have time to get ahead if one week is going to be busier than the others. Plan for that too. Finally, the most important thing is to have a good study schedule. Finals week is full of last minute cram sessions and very very late nights trying to keep up on stuff. It probably will go like that anyways, but at least if you have been studying since week one, usually your test scores will be higher than those who rely exclusively on the last minute study sessions to pull them through. I recommend looking over notes right after you leave class to solidify everything you've learned that period, and then looking it over later that week. Repeat this process through all of your classes as well as going over any key vocabulary and getting help outside of class in a lab or something if you have any questions. It saves you a lot of trouble later if you put in the work now.