The transition to semesters hasn’t been the smoothest for some students this fall, leaving a lot of us burnt out and anticipating the next break. As the last stretch approaches, you might find your grades reflecting the pressure of semesters. You might also be wondering what you can do to finish the 15 weeks strong. There are several ways to pick up your grades this far into the game and prep for finals, but it will take some serious re-prioritizing and dedication. Here are some ways to get back on track.
- Re-evaluate your academic goals. Remember how motivated and excited about school you felt in the beginning of the semester? Remember how you told yourself you were going to boost or maintain your rock star GPA? Revisit these feelings and recall the self-set standards that kept you focused in the beginning weeks. This will hopefully remind you why you’re here in the first place: to earn a degree.
- Get on (or back on) a sleep schedule. This far into the semester, you may have encountered more late nights than early mornings, affecting class attendance and study time. While having fun and studying hard is important, getting enough sleep is essential to retaining information and maintaining energy levels, putting you in a more active mood to do well.
- Go to class. This seems simple, but we all have those classes that don’t seem worth the time or the walk to campus. Having perfect attendance is difficult (especially those morning classes), but this is crucial to academic success. Woody Allen said it best: “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” You never know, professors sometimes give valuable information that won’t be found on the slides put up on Carmen, potentially boosting exam grades.
- Limit partying to weekends only. Thursday has become the new Friday and Wednesday is slowly becoming the new Thursday. When will it stop? Let’s keep the Fun-day Sundays, Margarita Mondays, and Trashed Tuesdays away for now and limit partying to the original Friday/Saturday lineup. If you know your roommates or close friends are going out and you have work to do, get to the library early in the evening, avoiding the noise and pressure of excess partying.
- Study. This is a given if you want your grades to improve, but studying is easier said than done. We all know this. To aid in getting enough library time in, write out a schedule. Bind yourself to certain blocks of time where you do nothing but schoolwork. College offers a lot of freedom; just make sure you’re dispersing your time wisely.
Remember, ladies: it’s never too late to improve. If you aren’t happy with your grades and study habits these past few weeks, make some quick changes and dedicate yourself to your goals. Four weeks is a significant amount of time that can potentially make or break your overall success, depending on how many upcoming assignments and exams you have. A quote from W. L. Bateman puts it simply: “If you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep on getting what you’ve always got.” Study hard and hang in there, collegiettes. Winter break is almost here!
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