Studying in college
is so much different than in high school. Today I had a biology test. I thought
I was prepared for it. I studied and reread the chapters, looked over the
powerpoints and did the crosswords my teacher had provided us. I knew I was
cramming this in but I had so much other homework over the course of the week
and weekend and thought I knew all I needed to know about photosynthesis and
respiration. So after about four straight hours of studying I decided my brain
was done and had every bit of knowledge I could cram into it.
In high school I could
study for a test for an hour at night and about ten minutes the class before
and pull off an A or B. I was good at last minute studying because I paid attention
in class. I have learned that this doesn’t work in college but unfortunately I put
myself in this situation. In the morning I woke up so nervous and went to my
8:30 class. I focused on the lecture but in the back of my mind I was freaking
out about my upcoming test. The thoughts of “I am going to fail this” and “I should
have studied more” were flying through my brain. After my class it was off to
Biology, as I walked and studied I was dreading taking this test. I sat down at
my seat and still studied more trying to memorize as much as I could. Once the professor
said it was time for the test a sudden calm came over me as I realized I could
do nothing about my situation now but try my hardest.
On the first page I knew all the answers, and
the next, and the next, and the next page. It was the last page the stumped me
but as I chose the best answers and wrote them down I felt good about my test. I
might have freaked myself out over nothing, I won’t know until next week. In the
future I need to develop better study habits, future as in this week, but I walked
out of the class feeling good about my photosynthesis and respiration test.

I feel the same way! High School test and College are so much different. When i took my first test last week i was beyond nervous just like you. I loved the way you said, "On the first page I knew all the answers, and the next, and the next, and the next page." The repetitiveness really gave a good sense how you were feeling during the test.
ReplyDeleteI do the same thing! I cram all my studying for a test the night before because I have so much work here in college. Its so different from high school. I like how you talked about what was going through your mind about the test.
ReplyDeleteI think the best line was "future as in this week." That points out how you guys are always so busy that there's almost no time to recalibrate when something doesn't seem to go right. I also thought the bit about the thoughts going through your head in class was very good. I like that you basically already know what you need to do. Good post.
ReplyDeleteI like how you made the comparison of studying here to studying in high school, because it really is so different as you say. And you describe what's going through your head well, I feel like I can picture you feeling calm, then stressed, and repeating over and over again because that's definitely how I feel before tests too!
ReplyDeleteI like how you compared studying in high school to college. I agree I definitely have to study more in college. you really put me in your shoes when you said "I focused on the lecture but in the back of my mind I was freaking out about my upcoming test. The thoughts of "I am going to fail this" and "I should have studied more" were flying through my brain." Just reading this made me nervous. Great detail about how you were feeling. sounds like you did well on the test even though you crammed.
ReplyDelete