How I strategically plan my semester
AND GET SHIT DONE FOR REAL (part 1)
In there you’ll get all the important information: books, assignments, scores, goals, due dates, deadline, you even get a planner. You can’t overlook any of this. Nowadays most syllabi are full of crap, they have more pages than they did a couple of years back, yet students are still confused or don’t even use it. These are the things I look for in the syllabus:
Books. Yeah, you get a list at the beginning of the semester but some courses have readers or make use of articles as materials too. Which you are likely required to download or print yourself. I like to be 101% prepared and that means getting all my reading materials. I download all my books, readers and articles and organize them right away on Google Drive so I don’t have to look for them at the last minute.
Learning objectives. My syllabi have a section dedicated to the objectives of the course. This is a lifehack by Shirou, folks. So listen carefully. If the syllabus says “create a marketing communication plan based on the marketing policy”, YOU 👏 WILL 👏 GET 👏 THAT 👏 SHIT 👏 IN 👏 YOUR 👏 TEST. 👏 NO 👏 ARGUING. You better start looking at what a marketing communication plan consists of. So write the objectives down in your notebook, in a document, somewhere you’re sure to look, so when the professor starts explaining that objective, you’ll paying 200% of your attention. I like to write them down with checkboxes. That way, if I see we’re getting close to exam week and the professor still hasn’t explained that objective, I’ll take the opportunity to ask and not lose any time. The entire course is likely to go around these objectives. So if you understand them, and can explain them, then you’re likely to pass that course. It has worked for me these past 2 years.
Test. What kind of test will I get? Is it a written test, digital, presentation, essay? A combination of these? If it’s written or digital, you know it’ll most likely be individual. If it’s a presentation or essay, chances are high it’s in a group. I have the most difficulty with group works. They give me a hell of a time and I want nothing more than to avoid them. So I take this opportunity to see how hard I will have to work for the subject. And of course, if there are multiple exams within a course, I take a look at the percentage of each one of them so I get to prioritize the most important examination. If I have a presentation that counts for 20% and I have to write a report that counts for 80%, I’ll work my ass off to get a perfect score for that report. Ultimately, that’s what’s going to raise my score faster. So it will be downright stupid to do a mediocre work on the report, hoping the presentation will raise my final score.
Take a good look at the planning. Are there any due dates or deadlines for things you have to deliver before midterms or exam week? Highlight those! In my first semester, I overlooked those in between due dates where your professor gives you feedback. Bad decision, people. I could have had a higher score if I had delivered things as planned and get feedback. But nope. 😥
In the second part, I’ll explain how I make a personal study plan based on the planner you get in the syllabus, and I’ll share my tips on how I stay on track with the planning.
dededos
kianamaiart
izzy806
blakekathryn
