How to Win at School

As midterms start to creep up on week 4, it’s easy to get stressed out and overwhelmed with school work and other obligations. Here are a couple helpful tips to help you win the day, and win at school at the same time. 

 

 

Probably every single professor or instructor has told you this before, but it’s easy to get caught up in Syllabus week and get caught behind in your 18-credit class schedule. The key to doing well and staying organized in school is planning ahead. If you are organized and always are a step ahead of what’s coming next, your stress levels and mental state of mind will feel a whole lot less overwhelmed. 

 

 

Regardless of what major, how many classes you are taking or what club/extracurricular activities you have on your plate for the year, get into a routine and it will make all those 

obligations just feel like a regular day. I know its hard, but wake up and do the same thing every morning. It will turn into muscle memory, and your academics will follow. Take each day as it comes, and conquer your obligations one step at a time. 

 

 

You don’t need to strive to make the Dean’s list or get the internship of your dreams, but by setting small, approachable goals you will be surprised with yourself by how much you can truly do.  Whether it’s making your bed every morning or not missing a single 8:00 a.m. class, trust me it will help to have something to look forward to accomplishing. 

 

 

If there is any thing you can take out of this article, it is this: if you don’t go to class, you will not get the grade. Yes, some lectures are extremely boring but at the end of the day that information is valuable and you are being taught it for a reason. If you go to class and take notes, you will be surprised by how much you already know once the midterm rolls around. No, do not just go to the library and copy the lecture notes online and assume you didn’t miss anything. Tuition is expensive, and education is important regardless of how much of a pain it is to get up early sometimes. 

 

 

Yes, this is only four years of your life, but the major you choose will dictate your entire career path for the rest of your life. If you are studying something because you will get a good job or because your mom or dad is a professional in that field, but you hate the thought of it, drop it. Go talk to a career counselor and change your major. Students learn better and retain more information when they are learning about things that they enjoy doing. Don’t make yourself go through a mid-life crisis to please your parents; it’s simply not worth it. 

 

 

The one thing that you will never have access to when you graduate is the endless amounts of resources that are offered on campus. Whether it’s the library research engine to get credible sources for a paper or the teaching and learning center that provides group tutoring and writing workshops for free drop-ins. The staff at the University is there to help you succeed. Seek advising; ask for help from your teachers. They could be the ones getting you job opportunities in the future. Connect with the other kids in your class, they ultimately are struggling just as much as you are and could probably use another study buddy as it is. 

 

 

If there’s one thing college is it is stressful. There is not one person walking through the hall that hasn’t been stressed out in the last week over something. At the end of the day, 

your mental and physical health should overcome your schoolwork any day. You will do better in school if you are both happy and healthy. Get a C- on a paper because you were sick and needed to go to sleep? There will be other papers. There will be other tests. There is so much more to your grade than one assignment. You are the most important; 

so don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s four years, if you have a lot going on and your grades slip for a term, make yourself feel better and get back on top of it and kill it the next term. Life goes on. 

 

 

Sure you may go to college out of state or you may be moving into an apartment all by yourself this year, but you are by no means on your in this journey of life or college. Humans are meant to interact, and you’ll be surprised by how many interesting and diverse people you can meet during these four years. Everyone is going through something; everyone’s got that one subject they just could never understand. Reach out to a friend, get a classmates phone number, or hire a tutor. Do anything you need to feel 

confident and comfortable within this large University.