As we start the new semester, we wish you a renewed sense of hope, a fresh perspective聽and strong focus.聽The A&S聽Academic Advising and Coaching staff look forward to meeting with you throughout the year. We have a few time-tested strategies we would love to share forward to help set you up for success!
To start your semester strong, be sure to create a calendaring system that works for you and includes your due dates, assignments, exams聽and quizzes鈥揳ll in one place. Some students prefer electronic calendars while others prefer to write out information on paper calendars. We recommend a month-by-month calendar view, so you can easily access a full-picture of your due dates to effectively plan throughout the semester.聽
First, carve out time during the first few weeks of classes to calendar all of your syllabi content onto a month-by-month calendar for the entire semester. Some students prefer to start at the end of the semester and plan backwards from there, while others prefer to start at the beginning of the semester and complete the calendar for the entire semester. This takes time, which is well worth the effort, so have fun with it! Set up a Zoom syllabus party with your friends. Use color-coding if that works for you. Include other important dates on the calendar as well, such as family and friends鈥� birthdays and self care days.
Before or during聽the second week of classes, start using聽your monthly calendar to prioritize and plan a detailed to-do list for each day of the week for the next two weeks of the semester.