Ways to Stay on Top of your College Classes

Five years down for college, and I am in the middle of my sixth year. I think it is safe for me to give some advice when it comes to overcoming the challenges of college classes. Sure, you will have some very easy ones and also some difficult classes that will have you up late at night or just crying.... But despite it's challenges that I've dealt with for the past 5 years, I've learned some ways/hacks that I've gained along the way to help navigate through the school year that maybe you, a college student or soon to be one, will find useful. Stick around as I give you a few of these VERY USEFUL tips below.

1. Your syllabus is your best friend.

A lot of people tend to ignore the syllabus since professor always go over it during the first day of class. But let me say how important it is to have the syllabus with you constantly for the school year. Not only do you see your grading scale on there, but also the course schedule. On the course schedule you have your topics that will be covered in each class, your exam dates, homework due dates, and final exam dates. These information are very important when it comes to navigating throughout the school year. Sometimes keep all these dates in the top of your mind can be overwhelming therefore, try to have your syllabus at hand so it is physically in front of you rather than in your mind.

2. Find a buddy or group to work with.

Let me just say how important it is to find someone to work with in class. I will say during the first two years in college, I didn't believe this idea, because I was doing G.E. (General Education) classes. But as I got into my core classes that focused mainly on my major, I realize how important it is to find someone to be your study buddy. Not only can it help you be a lot more successful in class. But who knows? Maybe they might be your lifelong friend.

3. If a certain class has a discord server, join it!

This is something new that has not been done before in the past 3 years I was in college. Due to COVID, this has started to become a thing where the class gets together on discord to help one another. If you a person who's not that great a contacting an individual person, joining a discord server for you class is easily the best way to get information from your classmates.

4. Plan, plan, plan....

Procrastinating is something many of us struggle with. I can say so for myself as well. When I was in my G.E.s I procrastinated a lot which led me to a lot of late night studying. It wasn't good for my brain, and led to me not doing really well on a lot of my assignments/exam. But here's the thing, I've learned from these mistakes and took away the idea of needing to plan some time ahead of it's deadline. When I got to my core classes, I've learned how essential it is to plan your work ahead. As most of us tend to work part time during college, we realize that planning your schedule ahead is very essential as we try to find a way to balance school/work life.

5. The 12 A.M. cut off time.

If you would've asked me what time do I stop thinking about school during my first year, the answer would've been around 3 A.M. to just an all nighter. But during my 3rd year till now, I see myself setting a cut off time at 12 A.M. to put the books down and give myself the rest I need. I've learned from my past that anything that I try to memorize or learn past 12 A.M. becomes pointless and forgotten, because my mind hasn't had the appropriate time to process the new information I've fed my brain to. Therefore, if you are trying to read a textbook or study for an exam, make sure to stop doing that by 12 A.M.. I promise you, it makes all the difference in the world!

6. Take advantage of your Professor's office hours.

There's nothing like it when your professor's see you taking advantage of their office hours. From my past experience, professors grade you on two things. One, the score of your assignments/exams. Two, if you're putting any effort in your class. Back then when i took Chemistry during my first year, I really struggled in the class. I remember every week on Mondays and Wednesdays, I would stop by my professor's office hour to get help on homework. I got to the point that she would remember my name out of 50+ people in my class. During the final exam, I vividly remember how bad I did on it and thought I failed the class. But when the letter grade showed up on my transcript, it said that I passed the class. I was really surprised, because I saw my grade for my final exam and it says I have a D on it. The reality is, not only do your grades determine your final score, but also your effort.

7. Have a tablet at hand!

I use to be a notebook person during my first year, but when I took Calculus I during the end of that year, I realize how useful it is to have a tablet on hand. Every class, before it began, I would have to print out my lecture notes to have on hand during class session, but when I was gifted a tablet during the holidays, I realize how convenient it is. Instead of printing out your notes every time and waste paper + ink + money, I just have it printed on my tablet to use my surface pen to write on it. It's easy, more organized, and money saving!

8. Get use to having bad grades at times.

Bad grades, the one thing I truly DO NOT LIKE! It's that feeling when you try so hard to do well on an assignment or exam that you realize the result of it was either a D or a letter F grade. You sit there and contemplate about how this could happen, but then you learn there is more of these moments to come as you continue your college life journey. To sum it up for you, get use to it. I know it sounds a little harsh, but let me tell you this, it's best you learn from your mistakes than try to be a perfectionist all the time. You and I need to remind ourselves that we are human and we can't always be the best of ourselves 24/7. We are bound to slip up and not do well. It's normal. What happens next is what we will do for ourselves in the future rather than trying to fix a past that's already done with. College life is like a 'chimera'. We look at our road map for our classes wondering how we are going to reach the finish line, but along the way, we learn from our mistakes. We face these obstacles, and eventually, as we keep repeating this, we will reach to our goal.