Written by Mason Taylor
As classes got underway in the College of Engineering, and my classes outside of the college such as Calculus III, I soon realized this was much harder than I bargained for. Instead of changing my organization and study habits I continued my current habits but just started increasing the amount of time that I practiced these habits. These habits included sloppy note taking, re-reading of my notes and then reading the notes and trying to memorize certain things before the tests. As my first semester of college came to a close I found that it was very unlikely that I would make all A’s, which frustrated me. I was correct, and I ended up making one B in Calculus III. I knew that this was very good, but I desired to do better.
So the second semester came along and I knew it was time for change if I wanted to improve to all A’s for this semester. I incurred a Sunday night agenda writing policy. Every Sunday night I wrote out all of my activities and all of my assignments for the week so that I could better manage my time. This bode well for me as I started a process of efficiency and productivity unmatched by my previous study and organizational habits. In addition to this agenda-writing policy I also began to file all of my papers and documents alike in an accordion folder. This greatly improved my ability to retain papers and then it saved me time when I went looking for certain papers for studying purposes or if I needed to turn them in or share them with a peer. Finally, specific to my study habits, I began taking very organized and neat notes, which improved my retention. In preparation for my exams instead of working as hard on memorization, I worked harder on skill and my grades improved. As this semester comes to a close I have a great chance to make all A’s and I plan to do just that!
