Congratulations! You have successfully moved in to your first year dorm, and survived your first week of classes. As professors throw out their syllabi and the workload begins to increase, it might begin to get more overwhelming. College is a new chapter to your life, and is a lot different than your high school experience. It is important to maintain good academic habits from early on. This post will focus on a few tips and resources that can guide you to success this school year.
Time Management
Time management is crucial in college. Unlike high school, professors won’t track you down for missing assignments. You have a lot more free time which can give you new found independence but can be a curse at the same time. Create a study schedule for the week around your classes. Also note down the timings of club meetings and other socials. Utilizing a planner system– whether it is an online platform such as Google Keep (a personal favorite) or a physical notebook- has been a game changer in tracking assignments and staying organized.
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Understanding the Syllabus
The syllabus for each of your classes will serve as a roadmap in navigating the course’s expectations. It is important to read it during the first week of college to understand the professor’s grading style. Additionally the syllabus will often provide details on important exam dates or assignments.
Note-Taking and Reading Strategies
Thorough notes and active listening will pay off come exam review day. Make sure to pay close attention to the professor’s small details and jot them down on old-fashioned paper, a laptop, or a tablet. Also, finding a note-taking style that works best for you can amplify your understanding of a subject. Rather than jotting down the entire lecture slide, it may be more beneficial to write down key points from the slides and details the professor says that are an expansion from the given notes. In college, you will discover the extensive amount of readings you will have. To develop a strategized reading technique, quickly skim the reading first to get a sense of what the main points are. Absorbing the information a second time through will be easier. A good practice is to take notes as you read for retention purposes.
Study Groups
My favorite way to study or learn new information is forming study groups with people in my class. Study groups are highly beneficial to complete practice problems with or review for a test. Study groups can provide new perspectives on the material and lead to a deeper understanding of the subject.
Utilizing Campus Resources
You are paying a lot of money to the college you are attending- so take advantage of the resources provided by the college! You have access to a wealth of resources: the library, your professors’ office hours, tutoring centers, and academic advisors.
Finding a Balance Between Social and Academic Life
It is highly important to find a balance between academics and social life; as important as academics are, building relationships with your peers and networking are equally as crucial.
The transition from high school to college is challenging for everyone. Finding ways to make the most of your college experience can make it enjoyable and can help you pursue your intended degree!
Time management in college is much different than in high school. You mentioned using a planner and I could not agree with that more. In high school, I just had to focus on what was due tomorrow (besides the occasional project or essay). In college, there are so many assignments due at different times that it can be hard to keep track of. Also, you cannot put all of your assignments off until the day or day before they are do or else it is easy to stress yourself out or fall behind and all of this makes assignments harder to track. So if I had to suggest just one thing to incoming freshmen, it would be to use a planner.
I totally agree with all of this information, especially because it’s one of the things that I’m straight-up bad at. I’ve been a pretty disorganized student all the way through high school, so going into college I knew I’d need to “get my stuff together” or I’d be drowning in schoolwork right off the bat. I’ve been using a combination of Google Calendar, the Canvas Calendar, and a whiteboard calendar in my room and so far those 3 have worked for me. I’m interested in Google Keeps, though, because I’ve never heard of it and I also leave myself reminders all the time (but the way I go about it is writing them on the back of my hand lol).
This post is so important when it comes to the reality of college! I agree that all these points are very important and a start to having a successful academic life. I like how you highlighted the syllabus and emphasized that you need to read it in order to know how to manage the class! The syllabus is super overlooked and many don’t pay attention to important that it contains. I also like how you highlighted note taking and expressed that you don’t need to record the whole lecture. I do that lol but in the end it helps me understand more, but sometimes I also just write down key points so I get it. This is definitely the blog to be when wanting to know about college 101.
I really appreciated reading this. I have come to realize that time management is super important. In high school, I could always procrastinate and get away with it, but now if I procrastinate I will most likely not get any sleep. I have also been utilizing campus resources a lot. I feel like more people should use these resources because they really help out a lot! This blog is super great and has a lot of great information for new students!