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Student Success Tip #4

“Define Your Primary Focus and

Fit Everything Else Around It”

Some call it “Tunnel Vision”, while I simply call it “narrowing the focus” (I actually got that from the Senior Pastor of North Point Church in Atlanta). Get into the zone my friend, because once you do, you will become the predator and the classwork will become the prey.

First, ask yourself this question before you even register for the class: “How important will I allow this class to become to me?” You see, I have watched students walk into a class and attempt to treat it like their less-than-intensive counterparts. You know what classes I am talking about: those classes in which your grade is reflected by simply showing up to class or regurgitating what you memorized the night before…the classes that we like to call GPA builders. But there are classes that are just not that simple. You have to make that class a…*gasp*…priority.

What does that mean? It means that defeating this class is more important than ___________ (Fill In The Blank). That class will have to become ranked. If not, then it will find itself on the bottom pile of life, just a little higher than your final grade. So what do you do? Step 1 is coming soon…http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Darts_in_a_dartboard.jpg

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Student Success Tip #3

Tip #3: Get Organized

I have much of my life organized. I have filing systems and boxes and flash drives and lock boxes and calendars and all sorts of things that keep my busy life in compartments. As a student, I learned to apply this to every class.

In an intense science course like Anatomy & Physiology, students tend to survive for the first 40-60% of the class but begin to fall prey to the “Class-Withdrawal Predator” like camp counselors in a scary movie. Part of this may be due to the fact that they were unable to integrate the new information with the old information (whether that old information was from a previous class or the previous chapter). Organizing your class information allows you to transform your old notes into reliable reference material*.

When you organize, don’t go for something fancy that you will not use, but use something that you actually like using. Otherwise YOU WILL NOT USE IT. Make sure that your method and tool for organization is something that is located where you work and study–that will grant you easy access. Don’t start expensive, or all you will think about is the cost. Find what you would like to use and, if it is too expensive, create your own by using free and cheap materials. Besides, when you create something with your own hands that you can be proud of, your pride can then be used as a fuel to become persistence in being organized. Use the instructor of the course as a reference tool and find out which chapters are best learned together. Then, organize all of your information accordingly.