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How to Get ThroughMay 20 '01 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line It's just a matter of getting down to business. The first time I went off to college, I simply wasn't ready for it. My grades showed that. When many years later I returned to university, I ended up with carrying a 4.0 for 5 semesters. The difference was maturity and readiness. Also, my years in the work world had taught me some lessons that I took into my university studies. 1) Preparing the minutes of the meeting. As an office secretary, I often sat in on meetings and took notes. Immediately following the meeting, I would recopy the minutes of the meeting. Nothing else would interfere with this task. I found out that if I went to lunch first, or worked on another project the minutes were invariably incomplete. I remembered things immediately following the meeting that I might not have had a chance to write down. How this relates to school: One of the best things I ever did for myself when I returned to school was to schedule an hour break between classes. During this time, I would recopy notes from my lecture while my mind was still fresh. The result was that I had great notes. I reinforced what I had learned. There is a tendency to try and schedule classes back to back. This makes the day shorter, but it causes interference. It can be especially difficult if you have two classes that utilize similar vocabulary to mean different things. For example, linguists and composition teachers do not mean exactly the same thing when they refer to grammar; political scientists and historians may or may not mean exactly the same thing or have exactly the same emphasis when they talk about constitutional rights. You will save yourself a lot of time come finals when you have well organized notes from which to study. You will also have already reinforced the material which will make the study time you need shorter. 2) Plan preparation time In the world of business, people schedule time to prepare for meetings and presentations. Even if you are just sitting in a meeting, you better be up to date on the material. How this relates to school: Your meetings are class, lab and study sessions. Come in having done the reading. This will give you a tremendous advantage. You may discover quickly that your professor covers all new material and that the book seems unrelated to the lectures. If this is the case, go in and talk to the professor during office hours. Discuss how the readings and lectures relate. Are you supposed to synthesize the two sets of information? The professor may give you some great tips on how to study. You may also discover that the entire lecture comes directly from the readings! Yay! This means that your note taking should go WAY down. Just sit and listen attentively. With professors like this, I found it helpful to skim the reading material before class and then in my hour between classes to add notes to the material in the book. Finally, in regards to prep work, don't get behind in your reading. Sooner or later, you will have to catch up. It is much easier to do a little at a time than all at once. Besides, all at once rarely sinks in. At some point, your brain gets full and you just can't study anymore. 3) Talk to the boss. When I worked in business, I scheduled a regular meeting with my employer to let him or her know what was going on. Was I having problems? I also made sure that he or she knew what was happening at my end. How it relates to school: Make a point of going to see every professor at least once during each semester. Come in with questions you have about the material. If there is an aspect that particularly interests you, dig for more material. 4) Keep a tickler file. In an office, a tickler file is a calendar that tells you when things are coming up. It includes regularly scheduled meetings (every second Thursday), and occasional things (birthdays, anniversaries). This helps to keep the office running smoothly. How this relates to school: Most computers have a scheduling program. Learn to use yours. When you first get all your course syllabi, put in the dates of quizzes, tests, papers and finals. Also put in family birthdays and other occasions. Put your classes in, too. Set up the machine to notify you 1 or 2 days before a quiz, a week before a paper is due, or whatever makes sense. This will keep you from missing a chance to show the teacher (and yourself) what you have learned. 5) Be on time. In the business world, there is nothing worse to a person's professional reputation than consistently being late to scheduled appointments. In business, however, people might have to wait on you. How this relates to school: No one is going to wait a class on you. If you are late, you lose valuable information. Be on time to classes. Better yet, get there a few minutes early so you can have yourself set up and ready to go. These ideas from my life in an office helped me a lot when it came time to make being a student my profession. Remember that when you go to school, that's your job. Take it seriously and be a success.  |
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