Hello everyone, I hope that you are all having superb first days of school again! I'm sure that it was not too difficult for you. Mostly syllabus day.
Luckily, I use that word very lightly, I have already been going to school. LAST Monday was my first. So, I would like to think that I'm already smarter than you all. I'm an entire week ahead in my gathering of knowledge.
I am totally kidding.
I just wanted to share with you guys some of my wisdom that I have inquired here from this past week, and hopefully it will help you. I wish someone had told me these things back in high school.
1. I know that this sounds so simple, but it really does help. READ. Read everything you can get your hands on, fiction, nonfiction, science fiction, biographies, how to books, cookbooks, comics.
Read a variety of everything. Read some you like, and some you don't like. Why? Because when you read, you slowly get better at it. In college you MUST read. It isn't optional, so if you are used to it, then picking up information from a textbook isn't as hard to do. I find myself reading the same passage in my text books over and over again just because I don't pay attention that well. When you read all the time, this becomes less of a problem. I promise!
Also, my English professor stresses a lot that reading improves your writing. It's true, of course, and in college you are required to write papers for every single class, not just english. So, if you're in college already, or if you're in high school, start reading. Everything.
I am in the middle of a really great memoir/biography thing. I am normally really into reading fiction books, so I went for nonfiction this time. If you're like me, I'd start at a book store in the biographies section and just find someone you find interesting. (Walt Disney, Marylyn Monroe, Mark Twain, etc) I chose Dick Van Dyke, and another book caught my eye that is called "Where You Left Me," by Jennifer Gardner Trulson. It is about a family that loses a Father/husband in the 9/11 tragedy. I can't put it down!
2. Set up an email, and check it every week, if not daily. I understand that maybe you may never receive an email, but just get in the habit of checking an email account everyday. It's like getting into the habit of always checking your Facebook. It's actually super important. Especially if you're in college. This is how all of your professors get information to you. Sometimes it isn't information they discuss in class. Don't end up like me and decide at 11:30 the night before class starts to finally check your email and see assignments that are already posted for the next day. Yeah, that happened.
3. Get used to post it notes, or writing on a calendar. This really helps to see what all you haven't done, what you need to do, what you need to buy, where you need to go when, so on and so forth. I have a calendar that goes by the week. For the first week, I listed my classes, and now that I kind of know where and when they are, I write down when assignments are due. It's a great way to really stress due dates to yourself, and actually visualize how much you have going on.
4. This one might seem super specific, but I'm having a lot of trouble in my Precal class because I never fully grasped the concept of factoring. If you're in high school and you are learning factoring, pay attention. It will come up again...a lot actually. If you already went through high school and you are good at factoring, you should probably still look up some problems and refresh yourself. I had to go back and look at my notes from high school.
5. Stock up on t-shirts!
Really and honestly, I don't know any more than you guys do, these are just some things that I wish I would have done in high school, to get into the habit of doing. A lot of people tell you that you need to develop good study habits, but I think that's a very stupid thing. If you're like me, I went to a high school that seemed to be super easy. I don't know if I just got everything quickly, or if the teachers had to spend too much time reviewing everything for the lazy kids who didn't try, but, I didn't ever really have to study. I could review or look over notes a few minutes before a test and pass just fine. I wasn't ever really too concerned with "acing" tests or assignments. But, why study material that you don't need to study? If I already knew the structure of a sentence, why would I study it for a test? Do you get what I mean? I don't suggest that you force yourself to "study," I suggest that you find topics that you find interesting, and strive to know more about those topics. Do whatever you can to learn more about things that you actually want to know about. Like, if you are a giant soccer fan, go read books about soccer, go watch soccer films, look up soccer information on the internet. The possibilities are really endless. But, really that's all college is. You want to learn more about something, so you pay to take a class. It just makes sense to me.
I do hope that you all reading this find it to be somewhat helpful, and I really hope everyone has an amazing school year! I'd love to hear fun first day stories!
Stay Excellent!
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