My study habits vary from course to course and are based upon how I understand the material and my grade. In courses that I struggle with; right now that being Chemistry and History I would say I spend an addition hour on each subject to help me understand the material better and improve my grades for those courses. For some of my less rigorous classes: Sociology & Chemistry Lab,  I spend roughly 2 hours per class a week looking over notes and reviewing. My Lab does not require much review outside of class minus the 45 mins to an hour it would take to write a lab report (done post lab) or the 15 minutes to read the prelab before class. Sociology is a course that requires review and reading outside of class but I find the class interesting so I pick up the material easier and requires less studying for me personally. The classes that require an hour or less of my study time are my Health Professions  and my Dance and its Audience classes both classes are not strenuous at all they are both enjoyable and have typically simple assignments that do not require a huge amount of time,focus, or effort. On the other hand my History and Chemistry classes require a large amount of my time and attention due to the difficulty and course work. I spend roughly 3 hours a week studying the material per each course to help improve my grade. I currently have pretty decent grades and are passing all of my classes for chem I wished I was doing better but I am slowly improving my grade. I think I need to change how I study for chemistry and sociology, due to courses being more memorization and then application. I typically study in a quiet place in the library or at home on my desk and I stopped listening to music while I studied to try to help improve my focus. I also use a focus app (forest) on my phone that sets goals and grows a tree for every 30 minutes you aren’t on your phone.   Overall I find myself needing to study with a friend,a group, or a tutor for chemistry because I always have a lot of questions. I find myself studying during the middle of the day when I am most awake, now a days im so tired after work or school at night I typically fall asleep right away. 

This semester has been very busy and full of things to do 24/7 I have yet to go to chemistry tutoring due to overload of work and being a commuter but I have been able to use quizlets to help me review and memorize vocabulary. I know flashcards help me memorize a great amount as well as just overall practice in general. I also know that I am a hands on learner and do good with one on one help I just need to make the time in my schedule to get to tutoring and get the help I need.  I would say overall I study the same more or less for each of my classes minus that chemistry is more application and practice problems compared to just memorization.

College has been a very interesting experience so far, the course work I knew was going to be difficult and require a lot of attention but I did not know it would require this much and be so much work all the time. I also think my own personal life issues have caused enough stress so drowning in work does not always help that stress especially with in the first few weeks of school. But now I am less stressed and learning to balance my social life and school life a little bit better. Before coming to college I was told my general education courses would be easy and like a “refresher” yeah.. NO. I was also told high school prepares you for college also a NO. College is way different and challenging personally I find nothing about college to be easy, I always have work to do or always have something to study for, free time hardly exist. This semester has been challenging but I am now feeling much more comfortable that I changed my major for the spring semester. I thought nursing is what I wanted to do but my heart continued to call education and I know that I will excel in that field whereas nursing seemed a little much for me. I love going to school at ODU the campus is beautiful, the people are nice and tuition is reasonable. I would say the hardest part about going to ODU is being a commuter, I waste roughly 5 hours a week driving back and forth to school every week. It also stinks when all my friends meet up at the library to study and I am already home and far away unable to meet up. All in all, I am making the best experience I can out of school and I love it. 

As a commuter, it has been difficult to connect to campus but I have had moments that I can thank ODU. II have faced being sick this semester and thanks to the student health center I have gotten the help I need. There are people I know I can talk to if I need help or advice, although she is not my advisor anymore due to my major change brittani is someone I know I can talk to in a time of need. I am also happy to say I now have sisters I can talk to because I joined a sorority on campus! I love the girls in Pi Beta Phi, they all make me feel so at home and help me know I always have someone there for me. I also plan on getting involved in student government next semester and I can wait!