![]() I have always been the type of person that, well, didn't study. Simply because I didn't really need to. My first years of secondary school, I paid close attention in class and got straight A's on tests as well as exams. Not because I worked hard, just because it was easy to me. I tended to "study" for the exams that were difficult for me like French and history, but my study style was simply summarise the day before, and read it over and over again. Whatever works right? Now a few years in secondary school and my grades started to drop, at least for the subjects I wasn't particularly good at, however it was never worrying to me seeing my grades were never bad enough to have any real impact, I never really failed a subject. My two last years however, were a mess. I had been noticing symptoms of a chronic disease that has now been diagnosed and I developed CFS as well as a really bad anxiety disorder, this accompanied by the large workload of both my subject in general and my 2 year integrated paper, made the end of secondary school less than pleasant. But I made it through Secondary school, I had my diploma. ![]() And all this was my stepping stone for college. I didn't know how to study, how to take notes or how to plan, and I didn't even have any idea what I wanted to do. It seemed so easy to my brother. He had the same kind of path through secondary school, just with a few more bumps along the way, and he just knew he wanted to major in Biology. Or at least it seemed to me that he had it all figured out. He now has that very major anyway. I however, was a little more calculated in my choice. I weighed the pros and Cons of every bachelor I had an interest in, and ended up with more cons than pros for many. So then there was plan F, something many people saw me doing, and something which seemed to have a minimum of cons, Secondary school teacher. And here my journey began.It soon turned out that I was quite unprepared for the choice I had made. So there is my first tip. 1. Be Prepared. BUT don't believe you'll be 100% prepared.
2. You are not alone I truly thought I was prepared until I stepped into the building and found myself lost after the first step. So, I did what I was most nervous to do, I asked for help. From the moment you get into college, there are many people there ready to help you. That is what half the people are there to do, and the other half are students that are happy to help just as much. ![]() But the faculty members and senior students aren't the only ones you can rely on, those first few days are great to support freshman like you and get the same support back. The people you meet the first days might not become your long time friends, even though they could, but it brings you a great sense of comfort being able to talk to someone who's in the same boat as you. 3. Planning through the year Now you might think this is logical, 'yh sure I need to plan, yadayada' but there are things to make it easier for you. Now I have many apps and techniques for planning that I will list in a later post, but usually your college itself also provides you with some possibilities. I didn't fully realise this or at least utilise this until this year. Now the ugly college planner I got at the start of the years was one thing but you also have your yearplan that enlightens you on what happens throughout the year like classes, free weeks, exams and so on. Then there is your course plan for every single course where it gives you a view of when you cover what and when the deadlines are for that year. I naturally don't know what your college provides you with but try to find all this information at the start of the year and put it all in your planner. Otherwise you might end up like this in the middle of the year as you go 'we have an exam period next week?!' ![]() 4. know your professors and let the professors know you. Whether you have class with 100 others or 10 other, it is not impossible to get a positive connection with your teacher. Me as a junior teacher can tell you that yes, teachers might not recall your name immediately however leaving a positive impression can give you quite some positive results. Being present in every possible lecture and giving answers or asking questions leaves a good impression, no matter if you're right or wrong. (However try to ask clear and explicit questions, and not the captain obvious ones) The first thing you can do is writing down your professors names and mail addresses or saving them on your computer. (I had them saved in outlook, I could just type half their name and go) If you are in smaller class groups it might even be nice if you notify them if you are to be absent because of grounded reason. And that brings me to tip n5 5. make a shared folder for notes If you share your classes with people you know, you can make a shared folder on google drive or one note for all your notes. This is not only easy for when you are absent but also to see if others have noted different information. Every person has a different note taking style however and you need to find yours. I have found that it is easiest for me to take notes in bullets and if we get the course material and/or powerpoints I take notes there. For me powerpoints are my go to as it immediately translates that information from the professor into informations that is clear to me. BLINDLY MARKING THINGS WILL BE OF NO HELP TO YOU IN THE FUTURE. ![]() 6. Take a look at your material before class Now I am guilty of not doing this myself. but for one it is handy to buy your books beforehand or download your materials. Also take a look at the scheduled subjects for the next class and just skim over the material. It has helped me in the past to write down questions beforehand and seeing if they are answered during class. If not, you can ask the teacher at the end of class instead of weeks after the subject was covered. 7. Don't stress You are in college, so of course you have a busy schedule, but don't be afraid to have fun. There is a thin line however between being too stressed and having too much fun. I often see fellow student that party night and day, and these are often the ones that I don't see the year after because they failed their every subject. However I have also seen those that studied day and night, sometimes when it might not have been fully necessary, and that were so burnt out that they quit. So try to find your middle ground. This might be with trial and error but you will find your flow. Which brings me on to 8.Make sure you enjoy what you are doing. Whether it be your choice in college itself or the way you study, try to find what you enjoy most even though it is not the most fun thing to be doing. There are many more tips for college, as it is not an easy journey. But I will get further into it in future posts as I was possibly just being captain obvious in this one.
There is so much more to every one of these tips as well so don't be shy to ask, see me as your practice professor dummy ;) |
A Junior teacher with a love for learning, exploring and sharing the information I have found throughout my journey.
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