It’s already October and it feels as if I just started college around a month ago. Time is seemingly flying by and this semester has been quite challenging for me so far. One main thing that I have noticed is that it has been quite hard for me to keep up with all

of my assignments and that I need to work on my time management and organizational skills. To get a better idea of how I should handle my workload in the future, I would like to reflect on what I have done so far, so that I can improve my technique. 

One of the most important skills in college is making sure that you are able to study effectively and efficiently. I usually study for each of my classes for only about an hour, besides history, chemistry and sociology which I have to spend a few hours on because I need to process a larger amount of information. Taking a look at my grades, I definitely feel as though they accurately reflect the amount of time I study because I am doing very well in some classes and not so well in others. The classes that I feel as though I need to put more time into studying for would be math, chemistry lab and history. 

A main factor that affects how effective you are able to process information is the setting you choose to study in. I frequently attempt to study in my bedroom at night because I feel as though it is when I am most productive, but this has not been very successful. I also get distracted very easily by my phone and other things around me such as people talking to me. In order to remove these distractions I usually try to isolate myself so that I am studying in a quiet place and then I set my phone to “do not disturb”. 

To continue, I would like to address my learning style. I have not tried any new learning techniques so far because I have not felt very motivated and I feel as though it is something that I should look into considering my previous technique has not proven to be very successful. I believe that the learning technique that works best for me in all of my classes is using flash cards and writing cornell notes with questions and going over them with someone. Although, this does vary for math because it is more practical, therefore for math it is just vital that I practice very often. 

Another huge determiner of how successful I have been is how well I have been able to adapt to college life. College has not at all been what I expected and that has had an overall negative impact on my success. I have not been able to make very many friends and I felt pretty alone being on campus especially with the Covid policies taking away the social aspect of being a college student. One thing that definitely surprised me was how much I didn’t like staying on campus and how the experience of living in a dorm was extremely overrated and it became something that I did not enjoy, so I am now back home. One of the toughest things was trying to navigate everything on my own and forcing myself to step out of my comfort zone. Although one of my favorite things was being able to go to the library and having access to so many resources on campus. 

Lastly, a huge part of what determines your college experience is how well connected you feel to your school. One problem that I encountered this semester was that I was having trouble with my math and chemistry classes. One resource that I could use is the math and science center which I am looking forward to experiencing very soon. Another great resource is having a friend that you can call on for help or study with. I am grateful to have my friend Destini to help me with math and my cousin Tylia to help me with chemistry. In addition , a great way to get involved on campus and connect with people that can help you is to get involved on campus. I personally did not wish to get involved the first semester because I wanted to get the hang of things before I engage in more time consuming activities but I am excited to get more involved in the future. 

In conclusion, there are a lot of things that I can improve upon but all in all, college has been a huge learning experience. I am grateful to have experienced the good as well as the bad because it has prepared me to do better in the future.