Amber Emery
Argonaut
A new semester is the perfect time for a fresh start.
While attending college alone used to be enough, there is more pressure now to excel in your area of study to get a good job and make money. One way of excelling in college is maintaining good grades.
Whether you’re a freshman beginning your second lap of college or a senior gearing up for spring graduation, these tips are sure to benefit any college student.
Stay organized
While the beginning of the semester might carry a light workload, homework has a way of piling up as months pass. It can be hard to keep all of your assignments in check while still maintaining an active social life, so, take a few minutes each day to keep an up-to-date log of all assignments, papers, exams and study hours.
For those who like writing things down, purchase a planner and write in due dates and allocate time throughout the week to study and get your homework done.
For those glued to their electronic devices — like myself — utilize the reminders and calendar apps on your phone. Just doing this will make you feel organized and subconsciously motivate you to get your assignments and papers done.
Get to know your classmates
Most people think it’s dorky to introduce yourself to random people in your classes at the beginning of the semester. Dorky? Maybe. A good idea? Yes.
Just exchanging phone numbers or emails with peers can put you in a better position to get a good grade in your courses, because it creates a network of people to bounce ideas off of and reach out to when things get difficult.
Make every point count
Most UI instructors use a point system to determine final grades for students, and it’s common for students to rank their commitment to assignments based on the number of points said assignment is worth.
Don’t pay too much attention to points. When you get caught up in calculating how many points you can get from one assignment, you detract time from actually working.
Instead, go into classes thinking each assignment is worth the same — then each assignment will be equally important to you. If you ignore two 10-point assignments because you could “afford” it and unexpectedly bomb an exam, you’re going to wish you had that 10-point safety net to catch you.
Time management
Most successful students do not dedicate their entire lives to academics. People have hobbies, are involved in clubs and organizations, party on the weekends, participate in sports and spend time with their friends and families.
Prioritize your obligations using the ABC method.
Classify something as an A when it’s crucial to complete — homework, paper, job — and when all of your A tasks are complete, you can move to your B tasks. B tasks are obligations that are important to you, but are not critical at the moment. These can be things such as studying, exercising and extracurricular activities.
Once your B tasks are completed, you have the guilt-free discretion to enjoy your C’s, which might include shopping, going to a movie, partying and spending time with family and friends.
This time management technique is meant to get you to do the things you should be doing — even when you don’t want to.
Participate in class
One similarity shared between most classes is a silent audience of students expecting the instructor to teach them everything they need to know, while the students exert little to no effort to retain the information. I’ve witnessed students mindlessly taking notes and not utter a single word in class the entire semester.
What kind of learning is that?
For many, speaking up in class and participating in active learning is key to accessing lecture material in the middle of that test.
Get to know your instructors
Every semester at the end of all my new classes, I wait until the instructor is free and I introduce myself and share something I am excited for in the class after reading the syllabus.
Usually by a few weeks in, the instructor knows my name and is comfortable communicating with me about course material.
Instead of the instructor receiving an email from a faceless student, the instructor recognizes that it’s me and is usually flexible in helping me catch up.
Not only that, but the instructors that I have made good relationships with other years have made me aware of opportunities like internships, scholarships and extracurricular work that would be a good fit for me.
Amber Emery can be reached at [email protected]