final blog

Dear incoming college freshmen’s,

Here are some suggestions for you to become a better student in college.  One important suggestion is that you should take responsibility in learning course material, because it only affects you and nobody else if you don’t.  What this means is that you cannot expect your professor’s to make sure you understand everything and have everything completed in a timely manner.  This is your responsibility.  If you get confused or don’t understand the course material, it is your task to get help.  You can go to your professor and ask questions, or you can go to the ARC center and request for a tutor for that specific class.  Teachers are not baby sitters, so it is not their responsibility to remind you when things are due.  They will give you a due date, but then it is up to you to remember to get it completed and turned in on time.

You are the one who will be utilizing what you have learned and no body else.  If you do not try to understand your material or cheat just to get through the classes, it will not help you in the future.  One example is your composition courses, it is easy to ask someone else to write your papers for you or even copy and paste from the Internet, but doing this will cause many problems for you in the future.  If you do not understand the principles in writing essays or papers, it will cause you problems when you go on to others courses or even when it is time to look for a job.  Your resume probably would be badly written, which in turn leads you to not getting hired.  You would be filled with regret, because you paid thousands of dollars and spends many years in school to learn and accomplish nothing. Don’t let your future go down the drain; start off the new semester with the determination to do well in college.  This will lead to great opportunities and a successful future.

Last but not least, here are some ways to getting better grades in your college courses.

1.  Always ask questions and get help when you do not understand something.  Professors and the ARC center are always there to help students when they are in need of help. 

2. Take really good notes in class.  Do not just sit there and listen, because you will eventually forget what was said and not have anything written down to remind you.

3. Flash cards are good to help test yourself before an exam.  Memorizing the information when it is in front of you does not mean you actually can answer it during an exam.  The only way you will really know if you understand the information for the test is to put the question on a flash card with the answer on the back.  Then answer the question before you flip the flash card to see if you got it right.

4. Always read what you are required to read and not just the summary of the chapter or book, because it will affect your grade on a test.  If the professor goes into detail about something that was not in the summary, you would not know how to answer the question.

In conclusion, it is best to take responsibility and do your own work.  Learn as much as you can, and get help when you don’t understand.