It seems like everyone these days is making the New Year’s Resolution to lose weight. While being healthy is important, odds are you’re already pretty darn sexy. Now it’s time to raise that GPA to really impress your parents, future employer and yourself.
Here are some tips for making some changes for the new semester.
Syllabi:
During syllabus week, write down due dates in your planner. Since it’s only the first week of classes, odds are that you don’t have many assignments yet. Just take an hour or two to flip through each syllabus, write down and highlight dates of each exam, paper or presentation. You don’t have a planner? MU editions are available at the bookstore, and Barnes and Noble has a variety of cute designs.
And don’t go and lose your syllabi! Get yourself a cute folder (I prefer Hello Kitty) and keep the papers together. You never know when you’ll need to reference a syllabus for a professor’s office hours or reading assignments.
Notes:
Label your notebooks, and mark important things with highlighting and sticky notes. Personally, I prefer composition notebooks. They’re small and cheap, easily found for around fifty cents each. They can also easily be redecorated!
To make your notes really stick, type them after class. Put away your laptop during lectures, focus on what the professor says, and write what is said, rather than just the information on the PowerPoint. After class, type your notes! It’s like being in class twice. While that may sound tedious, it means that you’re reading and recording the material twice, so you’re really absorbing it.
Organization:
Are you a forgetful person? Put together a kit of the necessities for class. These items may include, but are not limited to: pens, pencils, erasers, white out, post-its, highlighters and a USB.
It is always important to back up your documents often. Just imagine that you’re in the middle of midterm week, writing a paper worth 50% of your grade, and your computer crashes. Your files are gone. The panic ensues and you’re crying in the middle of Ellis Library in front of the cute boy, who you were planning to slip your number. Moral of the story: back up your files.
Study Spots:
Everyone studies differently, and should find a study space that caters to their style. Studying at home can be distracting, because of roommates or TV shows. The library is quiet, but only in certain spots. Coffee shops have caffeine and food, but aren’t always quiet.
Shop around different places and learn where is best for you. Aspects of this space to remember may be distractions, distance to caffeine, table size (to spread out study materials), availability of outlets (to charge your laptop) and overall atmosphere.
Plan Ahead:
Rather than lose sleep by pulling an all-nighter, you can plan ahead by studying a few days before the test. When you aren’t panicking about the material, it may be easier to remember.
Save the night before the test for some quick refreshers and quizzing. Have a friend quiz you on key terms for your test, and read over your notes one more time. Get a good night’s sleep and make sure you get up on time. Good luck, girl!
Do you have more study tips for your peers? Tell us in the comments section!
Photo Credits
http://www.justagirlblog.com/travel-journal/