Study Habits

I spend approximately 2-3 hours studying for each class a week. I would say I need to put more time into studying for chemistry and the chemistry lab. I feel as though I do spend a lot of time doing chemistry work, just not studying as much. I study in my room at my desk most of the time or in the study room outside of my dorm. I do not find myself distracted while studying because I turn my phone off and focus on the notes I have written and understanding them. I like to start studying around 12:00 p.m. and I usually study every subject for a little until I feel like I have done enough studying. I do feel focused at 12:00 p.m. because I’ve been up for a few hours at this point so I am not tired or lethargic. 

Learning Style

How successful one of my study methods is depends on the subject at hand. For all of my asynchronous classes such as, chemistry and english, I like to write my notes for the week and add sticky notes for important information I need to remember.  That way when I look back in my notes I can quickly see the important tidbits of information. For sociology, I reread the chapter and do practice quizzes in Connect to study. For algebra, I do review problems in aleks so I am prepared for the test. These are the best techniques I have found for studying each specific subject. I have not tried any new studying techniques yet but I am willing to try to find more helpful techniques.

Transition to College

College has definitely not been what I expected. I thought it would cause me to have to make a lot more changes to my high school routine but it actually did not. Although I have had to change the way I manage my time it has not been difficult. Also with the current situation around the world, I have not been able to make friends like I thought I would. I was surprised that the semester went by this fast and I did not have to change much in my routine. My toughest challenge with moving away to college has been getting home sick. I miss seeing my family and friends back home but I know they are proud of me for being here. The easiest challenge I have had to overcome has been adjusting to my class schedule and learning how to manage my time. In high school I had to manage my time well because I was a cheerleader and a full time student. So I apply the skills I learned from high school to my college schedule now. 

Connecting to Campus

In the beginning of the semester I was having trouble connecting my laptop to the wifi and the air conditioner was broken in my suite. Therefore, I had to go to the Office of Residence Life and put in a work order to have maintenance come and fix everything. My academic advisor has helped me a lot this semester with our recent meeting. We talked about what I need to reach my career goals and she directed me to doctors that are doing what I want to do so I can ask them questions about it. Now, I feel prepared to pick my classes for next semester. I have not attended any interest meetings for a club. I want to get involved but I feel like with the current circumstances, under COVID-19 restrictions, I will not have as much fun in a club.