Mid-Semester Reflection

  1. Study Habits:
    1. I find myself taking about two to four hours to study each night. The classes that I end up spending more time on, i do have higher grades. I need to spend more time studying for my Chemistry class. I have already began spending more time on Chemistry work, however I haven’t seen much of an increase in my scores. 
    2. I study in the Webb center, i enjoy having the background noise and comfortable seating. The only time i get distracted is if I am interrupted by a friend coming up to talk to me. A way to fix that issue would be to study in the library, but I am uncomfortable studying there. And if i study at home then I have my family distracting me. So I tend to sit back in the corners so i am not disturbed. 
    3. I enjoy studying in the afternoons and evenings. Things in motion tend to stay in motion. After going through my day I will review my notes and find answers to any questions that I have. I’ll usually eat as well, and to be honest, it helps to motivate me to finish. 
  2. Learning style:
    1. I haven’t tried any new techniques, I find the ones that I use now are working fine for me. Instead I have tweaked how long my periods of studying are and i have incorporated a checklist of exact assignments that need to be finished and I incorporate my studying in that time span as well. 
    2. Doing flash cards for history and sociology is best for me, because of all the terminology that you need to know. And doing practice questions and application questions for chemistry, math and practice prompts for english are the techniques that work for me. 
  3. Transition to college: 
    1. College has been better than I expected. Definitely more work, which I knew would happen, but the fact that everything is up to you and no one is going to go through and explain everything to you has been an adjustment. There have been classes that I have taken in the past that I found very difficult and couldn’t quite grasp the concepts, but now that im here i find similar classes to be very easy.
    2. My favorite thing about campus is the people that i have met. I have met people that i see myself keeping for a very long time and even meeting new people that I may not ever see again, hearing everyone’s different experiences and different places that they are from. The toughest challenge for me is commuting, it is difficult to relate sometimes, and still living at home i have restrictions on what I can do and at what times i can do them. So trying to go out and have fun or even to come here and study at night is difficult. 
  4. Connecting to campus 
    1. When I received my refund check I was very confused as to if I was supposed to save this money for next semester or if i would be receiving another one next semester, so I talked to the financial aid office and she confirmed with me that the payments will be by semester and depending on my schedule I would most likely be receiving another one. 
    2. My friend Alison, I met her at FSI, she is a sophomore and she has been a very helpful guide around campus and in giving me advice. 
    3. I decided to not get involved this semester, just because of my work load as well as having a job off campus, as well as my family obligations. I do plan on getting involved in the Spring semester.