Can you believe that its already back to school season!!? Its Crazy how time goes buy so fast. I personally only had fifteen days off for summer, because I had my pediatric rotation and classes. But I’m not complaining, because I learned so much and had some interesting cases. But that’s not the point of this post. Let me know if you guys want me to write a post about my medical rotations.
Back to back to school… to many of us students a new semester is a new beginning in our academic journey, another opportunity to start better and fresh. To reach our goals we need to have an action plan. well, I’m a big fan of preparing a head of time and there are a few things that I always do to get ready for a new semester. It’s like having a “todo before the semester list”.
- Clean and organize your study space. Sometimes I go to the university library, but I also study at home too. So if your planning to study at home this semester make sure you have a clean and organized desk area that is free of distractions, because that’s where you’ll be studying. Picking your study spot before the beginning of the semester will save you time and everything will be ready if you decide to start studying on day one. Tip: Get a comfortable chair, or get a pillow to make it comfortable because that’s where you’ll be spending most of your days.
- Set your goals for the semester. These should be what you expect to accomplish, what you’ll be prioritizing this semester, how many hours will you be dedicating to study every day. How long you’d like workout every week, or any other goals you want to reach. I recently started setting more specific academic goals for the semester. And the way I do this is by listing all the class Ill have and predict what grade I’m aiming for depending on how difficult they are. I know we all want to score 100% for every single class, but that’s not always possible, so set realistic goals.
- Ask questions. To me this is the most important step. Asking questions, not to your professors but to a student who’s already taken the class and whom you know scored high. How did they study? What resources do they recommend? What are the professor’s expectations? I know it seems like your asking questions that should be answered in your syllabus, but that’s not always the case and you want to know these answers before the semester starts. There’s always a secrete to successfully passing each class, so ask for it to better prepare.
- Create a detailed action plan. Now that you’ve set your goals, and know how to achieve them, your action plan is the steps you’ll take to reach these goals. How long do you need to study for each class? How will you study? What method will you be using? Will you be working out in the morning or at night? Whens your free time? What will a typical day look like? All these things are important to plan in advance because we often feel overwhelmed in the beginning due to the fact that it’s a different schedule.
- Get your supplies. I don’t have much to say about that. You know the basics . Purchase and gather all your resources, your favorite stationaries, everything you’ll need for that semester. Try to have everything ready before class starts.
- Read in advance. Although class hasn’t started, but I always like to start reading, not in the form of studying but just to have a general idea about each class. As a bonus you get to make a good first impression once the professors ask about it.
All of the above sounds like there’s a lot to do before class actually starts. But the most important thing is to Take care of your self and relax. Absorb as much energy that you can before tackling the semester. I might be exaggerating, but this might be the last chance you have for a relaxing alone time without thinking about how your going to get back on track.
Hope you guys had a wonderful summer break and wish you all the best for this upcoming semester.
