Another Start to a Semester | The Reschool'd Podcast

Welcome to the Reschooled Podcast, the show that discusses all the things that schools

may have missed with your hosts, AJ Couttee and Jason Gordon. Hey everybody, welcome back to the show. We are the Reschooled Podcast, the show that

discusses all the things schools may not have prepared you for. As always, I'm AJ and sitting

across from me, Jason. Jason, how are you doing on this lovely 2023 morning? Great, man. It's a

good start to the new year. Dropped my girls back off at school for the first time in 2023 and got

here ready to, I don't know, share a tiny little bit of wisdom with the world. How about you

Tiny, tiny bit of wisdom. So your girls went back to school today? Yeah. Ours started yesterday

Okay. So they've already had one day in, so they're excited to get back

See, I've been sleeping late and all that kind of stuff, but now I'm back in the grind

Getting up early, getting the girls lunch. Not fun. Yeah. Yeah, I know that feeling very well

Well, today we're going to be talking about, we're going to go back to our college strategies

And I figured this is perfect. This would be a perfect topic for the listeners because this is the beginning of their semester, their spring semester

And so we're going to be doing a strategies episode on the start of a new semester

Like what are some things that they can implement strategy wise at the beginning of the semester that could possibly help them out throughout the semester up until the end of the semester

Does that sound good to you? Oh, yeah. I wouldn't even say possibly

doing some of these things will definitely help you at the beginning of the semester

Being a semester is everything. But before we jump in, I remind everybody, visit our website

reschool.com. That's reschool with a D, not an E-D. Check us out on different social media

platforms. And of course, share our stuff from your favorite podcasting app, whatever that may

be. But most of all, shoot us some messages. We want to hear from you. As always, we're looking

for topics to talk about, things that interest you, and the best ones are the ones that you tell

us. So there you go. Absolutely. Well, quick question of the day. What was the start of the

semester like for you when you were in undergrad? Well, early on, I was a huge, huge, huge preparer

I wanted to make sure I had all my ducks in a row, and I guess that's what this episode is going to

be about. But later on, I kind of, you know, you get into a groove, you start to understand what to

expect. You see what professors expect from you. You get an idea of what the curriculum is going to

be like, all those things. So some of the preparation, you know, it subsides. You don't

have to do as much. But it was always a busy, busy undertaking. I would, you know, I do everything

from getting my notebooks organized to making certain I'd, you know, talk to others about

what the professor was like. You know, we didn't have rate my professor and stuff like that back

being. So yeah, it was just a busy time. I don't know. What, what about you? Were you a

preparer for the beginning of the semester? I was definitely not in my undergrad. I mean

I was probably as far away from a preparer as you can humanly get when I was an undergrad, because

I just didn't care. Like I, during that time of my life, I just, I didn't care. I didn't see any

importance in putting any effort into it. And so I just, you know, I was that naive kid

at 20, 21, 22. I was that naive kid that looked back and almost prided myself on flying by the

seat of my pants, taking it one day at a time, not worrying about trying to prepare for anything

I often missed homework, struggled with studying ahead of time because I didn't pay attention to the syllabus, those kind of things

And so I didn't put really any effort. The most thing I put effort into at the beginning semester was all the parties that came at the beginning semester

You know, it's something that's always surprised me. I found when I was in school and, you know, ever since I've been teaching, students really do take more pride

They're more vocal about. They're more, I don't know. And I don't even know if you would call it pride, but they do let other people know that, hey, I don't put much effort into this or I don't try hard or I don't do these types of things

And they say those things readily. the ones who work really really hard are the exact opposite they don't talk about how hard they work

they don't they don't you know that's not something they brag about or anything like that

and oftentimes they try to hide it you know it's funny you bring that up because i i you know as

as i grew older i've done a lot of soul searching and trying to figure stuff out about myself

and I think one of the reasons why because I did that a lot I you know growing up I would I would

brag about not putting a lot of effort into something and it was I started to look back and

it was a lot of the fear of failure to where I was so afraid of failing at something that if I told

somebody that I didn't put enough effort I didn't put a lot of effort into it then if I did fail it

I was like, I just didn't try. I could have done it, but I just didn't try. And it was kind of that preemptive excuse

Like I was almost putting my excuse before the actual failure came just in case it came

because I didn't have a whole lot of confidence in myself. Or if I did succeed, I could be like, I did it and I wouldn't even try

Do you think that's the common rationale why most people do it? From what you've seen from your students, because I mean, you teach accounting

That's an area where students have a lot of problems. if they're not going to dedicate their time to learn it

Yeah, there's no question. I think a vast majority of my students that do that

comes from a lack of confidence somewhere. They're not 100% confident in their abilities somewhere

and so therefore they say, I didn't put a lot of effort into it

That way, if I do fail, I have a fallback excuse if necessary

I don't see much other rationale behind it from my students. And you can tell a lot based on the conversations that you have with students

or the conversations you have with people, the answers that they give. You can tell that there's a lack of confidence there

And I think confidence is a big piece. I mean, it really is. Well, I'm not going to lie

I didn't have a ton of confidence early on going into college either

You know, I looked at everything as being such a huge challenge and this could be something that I don't do well at and blah, blah, blah

But I never covered up the fact I worked my butt off and everybody knew it because, you know, people ask what you've been doing

Well, I sat up for three hours last night studying. Well, there's that. And you bring up a good point

I do think this is another, you know, soul searching part for myself

I do think part of that there's an element of laziness. because I can use the excuse that I didn try and fail versus failing and spending three or four hours I didn have that And I was I was that lazy person especially when it came to school

Like I didn't try. I was the one that stayed up the night before to study and couldn't figure out why I failed the test

It's just kind of one of those things. So I do think there's a there's a level of and I and I say laziness kind of tongue in cheek or, you know

It's probably not all laziness. I think it's just prioritizing, lack of prioritizing or misprioritizing something

I think that's part of it. So it's not just all encompassing laziness

It's lack of time management skills, those kind of things, because not everybody's lazy

It's just they may not have time to do something or they may have prioritized it well enough

Well, that makes sense. I mean, with me, there was certainly no doubt that I wasn't lazy

I was, if anything, I was a little bit obsessive about making certain I was prepared

But again, that came from a lack of confidence. Right. So I think everybody may be in the same boat. People just approach it from different points

I will say this. After a while, the over preparation, at least as the semester moves on, gives you comfort

That is, you've gotten off on the right foot. You know, you've seen everything at least

You know, when I was going through, I guess all the way back from probably starting in middle school on, I hated to miss school because I felt like if I missed school, I was missing something that I needed to know

And I didn't want in lots of times, particularly in middle school, I didn't put a ton of effort into things

And that was because I had a lot of other things going on and I just wasn't motivated to do it

And, but I knew if I went to school and made certain I at least listened up as to what was expected to me, expected of me, that I wouldn't miss assignments, that I wouldn't just be lost on a concept because I at least know that we went over it on this day type scenario

So and I think that carried on. Right. You know, just just making sure I'd seen everything was what was a big deal

And so preparing early in the semester, making certain you know what to expect so nothing jumps out at you

Even if you do miss classes, even if something's very difficult and you didn't understand it and the class keeps going past and well, you still don't understand it

just being aware of what you've gone over gives you so much confidence that, okay, I know exactly

when the test comes or by the end of the semester, I know exactly what I need to know

to successfully pass this class. At least that's the way it was for me

Yeah. I kind of look at it too. You were somebody that, I assume, in high school, college

whatnot, you worked out. You've said many times that in college, you woke up early to go work out

Yeah, I was pretty obsessive about it early on. I got really into it in middle school for some reason, and it kind of carried on

You know, it became more a normal part of life later just doing it

But yeah, I was really obsessive about it when I was younger. So, and that was, I think that's why, that's what came to mind when you were talking is

I think it's very similar to working out. where when you start early, you know, younger and I'm not saying like, you know, infant, but

you know, in high school, even middle school, but high school, when you start to put in that work

early and you start to learn about it and you start to get the structure embedded in your

normal day to day life, it's easier for you to continue on with that as you get to an adult

Whereas if you've never done it or it wasn't a big part of your life in middle school or in

college, when you get to your 40s, it's going to be hard to start up. I think it's the same thing

when it comes to the way that you attack semesters in colleges. If you go ahead and start with the

structure in your undergrad level, so going ahead and preparing at the beginning of the semester

doing all these kind of things, studying when you need to study, those kind of things

it's easier for you to keep that structure in your life when you're in your career

when you're in your 40s and stuff because you're not making a big transition and so for me i didn't

have that kind of stuff so right now it's it's hard like i still i'm struggling mightily with

a whole bunch of stuff like i still i don't know how to take notes like i have no idea how to take

notes because i've never done it um i don't know how to study i've never studied like i guess a

normal person would study. These are all things that I struggle with now. And because I've set

the goal for myself of fall A's, I'm seeing them play a bigger piece in my life right now of not

having that. So that's why I think it's important for us to go ahead and talk about this so students

can maybe get into that structure early. Go ahead and put it in the life. Yeah. Well, you want to

jump into some, I don't know, some advice or some tips that we want to get from

First, I do have a question. So do you feel like the start of a semester, the way you start your

semester can make or break the semester itself? Oh yeah. No question. I mean, it's like everything

else. It's kind of like a race, right? There's a starting point and there's an ending point

It happens to be time, number of classes, number of assignments, that type of thing for

you know, a college semester or a quarter, whatever you're on. But yeah, I mean, starting

out strong means you don't have to catch up at the end. And sometimes the way things come about

there is no catching up at the end. So with that being said, starting out strong is everything

you know, and that's why I was so adamant about it. And granted, it gets easier and easier the

But the more, I guess, the more accustomed you become to starting the semester in a certain way, the easier each semester gets because you get more proficient at even starting it out

Right. So you start out on the right foot semester after semester

So, yeah, I could easily say the same thing. I mean, it definitely can make it make or break a semester

I mean, if you do it poorly or if you don't do it at all, it can definitely break a semester. It can make it significantly more difficult

But if you go ahead and plan, it can also make it significantly more easy

I mean, it can make it so much easier as you go through the semester

It makes it, let me backtrack a little bit. I won't say it makes it easier because that's neither here nor there

I mean, from a class perspective, easy is a relative thing. It could make it smoother

And that's a big thing. So let's talk about some strategy then because this is a strategies episode

So what are some strategies that students can kind of do or put in place at the beginning of the semester that will help them throughout the semester

Well, to start with, before the semester starts, you're going to have access to things like, you know, the course curriculum, what book is required

You have access to the syllabus. Read the syllabus. Know because that is the starting point for knowing the expectations for the class

any course you take there almost an incomprehensible amount that you could learn about that topic I mean sometimes any given course is a whole sequence like it part of a major right

You could go as deep as you want to. The amount you can learn is infinite

But what you're actually going to go over in that course is finite. There's going to be specific topics that you're going to need to learn

You're going to need to understand. You're going to need to be, I don't know, fluent or conversant in

So start with this syllabus. Read through it. Know exactly what is expected of you

That's your roadmap. That's your guide. That's everything. If you do that, you will be able to plan going forward

You will be able to allocate your time efficiently. You'll be able to do all the things necessary to be successful during the semester

So take the syllabus, read it thoroughly. I mean, and I know a lot of people don't do that because the professor during the very first class period generally takes some time

to go over the syllabus. But if that is the first time you've seen it

and usually the way it's gone over is in a very truncated format, you're not going to take away

everything that you need to know about the syllabus in the semester. You don't have time

during that session to internalize it and say, okay, this is how I'm going to approach this

Read it in advance, have a good idea, show up knowing what you're going to talk about

and then clarify anything. Lots of times what you read on the syllabus, the professor will clarify

things about it. And it will relieve concerns that otherwise you would plan for like, oh, my gosh

how are we going to go over this topic? That's it's way too much. And then the professor tells

you, well, yeah, we're just going to skim the surface on it. We just need to know these concepts

blah, blah, blah. And that's it. Right. And you can ask those questions. But if you haven't read

the syllabus ahead of time, you don't know what questions to ask. You're just I mean, you're

starting out not on the right foot. So there's my first one. Got to read that syllabus. Got to be

ready to go my first one is going to piggyback off of that because i'm i've like i said in the

in the and i'm i'm coming from a place of i'm currently in school so i'm having to do this

these are the things that i've learned now where i and i'm i'm saying this very you know not not

not a direct statement um but i'm more mature now than i was i guess just because of life but i try

not to be. But I have learned some things over the time where I wish I would have done it

differently when I was an undergrad. And the syllabus to me is, has become perhaps the most

important piece of the semester for me in these, in this program. I never learned how important the

syllabus was for a student at the beginning of semester as I have in this program right now

Um, and it is the basis of everything that I do in the semester

It is the basis of what I do at the start of the semester. Uh, I, I've never been one to read the syllabus, um, until I started going through this program

And I can tell you with 100% of certainty, um, that the syllabus is incredibly important

to students at the beginning of the semester. Um, so my, my strategy is I take that syllabus at the beginning of the semester

So for us, and again, it varies in schools, but every school, there is a date where your learning management system

So usually it's like a desire to learn, blackboard, those kind of things

Whatever your school chooses to use, there is a specific date in which it opens up and students have access

Most of the time I would venture to say it is the first day of class. Sometimes it's a little before so you have access to the syllabus

Sometimes you can email the professor and get the syllabus a little early. but whenever you have access to the syllabus that first day I always sit down with all the

syllabus for my class and I create the checklist and not just for the week I go through the entire

semester and I have week one week two week three week four here are the things that's due here are

the things that I need to be doing these semesters here's the things that I need to be reading here's the the evaluations that I have to be doing so the assessments the tests the quizzes

the homeworks, the stuff. Here are the due dates. You can also prioritize them. You can go through

and granted the first semester I did this because it was a learning experience. It took me about

four hours. I've got it now down to about two hours, but that two hours of just head down

no distractions, hard work to get this schedule for an entire semester. So 15, 16 weeks

depending on where you're at to get a whole schedule of checklist stuff done micro and we've

talked about this in in the past i don't do like read the chapters i put read chapter one read

chapter two um i do it at a very micro scale and that to me has helped me more than anything else

that i've done in any semester uh that i've ever been a student so undergrad masters and now doctor

that is the number one tip strategy whatever you want to call it I can give anybody is just take

that time give yourself two to four hours of not doing any work like you're not doing school work

so if they tell you you know you do a discussion board or you need to do this homework before you get a class but no take four four hours just go ahead and block off four hours and go ahead and

set up your semester that will make your semester it'll make it run smooth it'll make it

You're not flustered. You're not worried. Was this going to come up or is there something

No, this is what it says on the syllabus. Here are everything that I need to get done. That's my that's my biggest strategy

Great advice, particularly the checklist portion, right? Creating a summarized version from the syllabus because syllabus is going to be long, right

Oh, yeah. I mean, just taking those high points out and saying, look, this is what my week's going to look like

I've got these four assignments any given week. Put those on the checklist. They have to be done

Put the due dates out beside them. Yeah. Right. Which brings me to my second point, which is simply

You have to fit whatever you glean from the syllabus, right, whatever you've done, whatever you've outlined there, you have to you have to incorporate that into whatever your life is

So if you got family, if you got work, whatever other classes you have, you got hobby stuff, you play on a team, that kind of stuff

All those things are going to take up your time. You've got to understand what your day looks like, what your schedule looks like. So with that being said, take everything you've gotten from the syllabus, integrate it into the schedule that is your life

Now, now everybody uses electronic schedules, right? It's right there on your phone

If you don't use an electronic schedule, if you don't have a calendar, if you don't, whatever

I mean, even the default calendar on your phones usually is pretty decent

Start using it. OK, and take again that information integrated into whatever your calendar looks like and say, OK, my week

These are the days that I'm going to be attending classes. These are the hours that I'm going to put in preparing for the class

These are the assignments. And when they're due, I know for this day before the exam, I'm going to have to study

Block off a few hours. Block off more time than you need

Everything you assume you know there a simple rule that my wife always says that she got it from her dad that everything takes twice as long as you thought And I always found that to be true

Whatever you think it's going to take, it takes you twice as long. So go ahead and allot that

amount of time. You say, you know, you know, it's only going to take you two hours to study for this exam. Allot yourself four, right? Make sure you've got the time to feel like you're prepared. If

You've got extra time afterwards. Good. Fill it up with something else. I don't know. Maybe rest and relax

I don't know. But regardless, as long as you do a good job of integrating what is required of you with your schedule and the time that you have to do it, that's going to go a long way to get yourself started on the right foot

Yep. Yeah. My next strategy that I like to do that I've learned is kind of what you're talking about

You know, you're integrating it in your life. You've read the syllabus. You've made the plan

You've integrated it. You've come up with some kind of I'm going to try

That's actually one of my my focuses for this semester is that whole the schedule where you plan out your kind of the hourly schedule

I don't know what those kind of calendars are called, but you know, you have the whole, like an hour dedicated to this, and then you have an hour for this and 30 minutes for that

You kind of plan it out within, you know, flexible reasoning. But as you go through that, I think it's really important to, at the beginning of the semester, go ahead and set up goals

Set up goals for yourself, academically, personally, with their career. you know, have these things that you, almost these checkpoints as you go through to make sure you're

keeping up with the standard that you're setting with yourself. So if grades are really high for

you know, as a standard for you, like if you want all A's, set up checkpoints as you go through the

semester. So that way you don't get to the end of the semester and go, holy crap, I'm at a C and I

thought I was going to make an A. What am I going to do? Because at the end of the semester

there's not a whole lot of hope. But if you figure this out kind of as you go through

then you have the ability at some point, to some degree, you have the ability to make a change

where it's necessary. Don't rely on the, if you're talking about LMS, so again

learning management system, whatever your school uses, Blackboard, Canvas, Desire to Learn, any of

those kinds of things. Or if your school has their own, um, a lot of times they have grade books

on the LMS. Do not rely on those grade books. Sometimes the teacher doesn't even have the

the continuous, like continual running average. Sometimes they just put the grades up and that's

it. I always have a spreadsheet with the grades that we get, the percentages that come from the

the syllabus. So that way I'm keeping up with it myself. I'm not relying on them and it helps me

with my goal. So if I'm running a little low on a grade on this one class, then I can take some

of the focus off of another class and put it towards that one, try to increase it. But getting

back to my original strategy, set yourself goals, set yourself, I'm going to do this. And like

I'll use the example. You said you're, if you're going to say two hours of studying

then set it for four hours and it doesn't have to be four hours in one sitting don't do that that's

you're not going to learn you're actually going to have an adverse effect but if you do four one

hour days of study that's four hours and give yourself as you go through these and you meet

these goals reward yourself it doesn't have to be an extravagant reward it doesn't have to be a

monetary reward it doesn't have to really i mean it's just whatever would make you smile whatever's

going to make you happy that you're going to work towards to try to accomplish, give yourself that

reward. It may be just going to go get ice cream. It may be going to a concert. It may be, you know

whatever it is. And, and this is the, probably the most important one. If you don't hit your goal

don't get it. I've, I have talked to students and they were like, well, I told myself if I was

if I passed this test, I was going to, I was going to go to this concert and they failed the test

And I was like, did you go to the concert? And like, yeah, it was I just don't know

You have to hold yourself accountable. If you do that, you're more likely to succeed going forward

So set the goals, give yourself some rewards and stick to them. That would be my strategy

Great advice. Probably the last one I've got is meet the other people in your class

The reasons behind that, right? One, study groups. Two, if you miss class, you need information on assignments, things like that, having their contact information

Three, support and camaraderie, right? Just having somebody to talk to about how the class is proceeding and stuff

You know, like most things, success is the product of diligent effort, right

Putting in diligent effort means you've got to stay motivated. Some people are intrinsically motivated

Some people are scared of failing. Some people are, I don't know, right? Whatever the motivation point, a lot of people need that community around them. They need to feel like they're going through it together. I have lots of students and, you know, I talk about this in class. Finding out what motivates you is a big aspect of choosing a career or type of career path

because again, it's the environment that needs to meet internal needs. And if that happens, you are going to put, you are going to remain engaged

And that level of engagement is the key, right? So in the class, remaining engaged means for a lot of people

having that community around them of people that they can talk to, the idea that we're going through all this together

It's kind of that team-based mentality. If you're that type of person, make sure it's in place

So talk to people. The other non other student you can talk to is the professor, right? If you have any questions, any concerns, if you believe there are going to be issues, if you don't understand things, make certain you talk to the professor

When I first got to college, I was scared to death by calculus because I saw how, you know, taking the course, I saw how difficult it could be

Now, generally, it was, you know, it was a middle level calculus class

It wasn't the basic one. Right. But I knew how difficult it could be because when you're doing the problems in the book, the first part of the problems were easy

The end problems were very hard. I mean, some of them got extremely difficult, extremely complicated

And because it gave me such anxiety to realize that, yeah, I could do the easy problem

But when you actually got to the more integrated one, which is probably what more how it appear in life, if you're ever going to use it, that I didn't understand how to do them and stuff

It gave me such anxiety. I would go to the professor's office every week just to talk to someone to make sure I was at least getting the concepts that were necessary

necessary for me to be successful in the course. So, you know, and I would ask him like, hey

I don't understand how to do all these problems. Why? Why don't I understand? I mean, they're in

this chapter and he's like, oh, that's kind of a higher degree of incorporation. What you're doing

is, and it would basically be scenarios where you, you had to deduce from, you know, a larger

you know, problem or a more detailed problem, you'd have to get down to where you could actually

apply the concepts you were learning that week. And a lot of those were outside of basically what

you would learn that in that chapter that week, there was some kind of assumption there in place

that you already understood these other concepts. And most of the time I didn't. And so that being

said, talking to the professor put my mind at ease. I didn't have to do it throughout the entire

semester just at the very beginning, getting an understanding of what, in this case, it

was a he, his expectation was, you know, allowed me to settle down and be successful in the

class because, you know, my understandings were set. It kind of goes back similarly to that read the syllabus type thing

Syllabus can't tell you everything, particularly when it comes to the nature of what you're

learning and the extent of understanding that is expected for the course

But the professor can certainly tell you that, right? Because they're the ones coming up with the assessment

They're the ones coming up with the grading. They're the ones coming up with whatever reports or essays or whatever you have to do in the class

So there you go. Get to know the other people in the class. Talk to the professor

Get to know them. That will help you a ton. Okay. So there you go

I think my last one, and I'll make it kind of quick. So we have one more question, too, I wanted to get to

Take a moment. Just like what I was talking about with the syllabus, take four hours or whatever you need to be able to schedule out for the semester

Before the semester begins, so before you get the syllabus, when you have downtime

take a minute and understand what drives you. That's probably one that we don't think about much because we're just trying to get

we're trying to check the boxes, trying to get through the semester, check the boxes. But if you learn what motivates you, it'll drive you through the semester and potentially help you out to get through the semester smoother

So for me, I've learned about myself in this. I'm somebody, I like to have fun

We've said this many times. And I like games. I like competition

Competition is fun for me. It's something that drives me. And it's just a healthy competition

I not talking about it it it not a ridiculous competition where it make or break my year it just make me dive into depression it just a healthy competition where it just propels me a little bit further It makes me try harder If that you then figure out ways to gamify stuff

I'm somebody like if I have a streak going on, it's like, you know, Apple watches have those things where you have the streak

So you've done this so many days. You filled your circle so many days in a row

I had one of those going on and I didn't realize at the beginning I had it going on

but then all of a sudden I was like oh this is pretty cool I got I got the street going on see

how far I can take it and it got to the point where I would get you know get ready for bed and

I'm like one thing short like crap I gotta go walk around the neighborhood real quick because it

drove me it it motivated me to to get the next one I wanted to get that next one you can do the

same thing with school you can use that gamify it in some way whether it be gamify it internally

or possibly gamify it with, you know, you said talk with other students. I mean, you could find that commonality with another student

and figure out ways to do it. A lot of people do this when they talk about, like, losing weight

It's an accountability kind of thing, but it's also this gamify. And it really does help

Like, I was shocked to find that side of me. I'm also somebody that likes to help people

And that's something that I told myself I was going to work on and work with

but your point about the camaraderie, the meeting with other students, getting that kind of

relationship to where you're going to help each other. I can tell you with 100% certainty

that I would not be in where I am in this program that I'm at without the people around me. Like

it's just, it wouldn't be close if it wasn't for us working with each other, working together

making sure and again it's not necessarily working on schoolwork it is just simply

you know getting a text from somebody saying hey i hope your day's going well i hope things are

going well for you because it just gives you that extra oomph that you may need that little pep that

you need to get through something that's that's hard um like you said going through things going

through hard things with somebody else um and getting out on the other side can bring you closer

and it you know what's that old saying you know multiple hands make light work I think yeah many hands many hands make light work I'm a firm believer of that now that does

not mean cheat I'm not saying that in that way but you can help as a group you can help each other

understand things better you can help each other study better you can help each other

schedule things better you can help you know everybody has their strengths and their deficiencies

figure out what your strength is figure out somebody that that quality is their deficiency

and help them. So last question. What are some things that students should stay away from

that could potentially break their semester? Well avoid missing classes Oh yeah Right Up front avoid missing classes You not going to know what to expect You going to fall behind from the beginning and catching up is the worst OK Also if you miss classes the professor is going to have very little sympathy for you

OK, because, you know, their job is very simple. They offer a product in the form of an educational experience you don't take advantage of or tend that educational experience

And, you know, try to try to in some way catch up

Right. It it's in a way disrespectful to the work that they're putting in

And most of the time they're going to feel that way. I felt that way so many times with students who who didn't show up and didn't put in the effort and then wanted to catch up the same way

And I'm less sympathetic to their cause. So with that being said, avoid number one, avoid missing classes

What about you? I would say avoid complacency. What you did one semester is not going to work always another semester

don't think every semester is going to be the same. You know, take every semester is completely different

Now, there are certain things that you can bring over from the past semesters, but I don't have this template of me just plugging and playing the scheduling for each semester

Like I go through and I individually create things for the entire semester for each semester

That's why it takes, you know, three hours, two hours, whatever, at the beginning of each semester is because they're always different

You have different teachers. You're going to have different requirements. You're going to have different expectations

You're going to have different assessments, different timeframes. So don't, don't get complacent

Kind of keep, keep yourself on your toes. And in your head, always try to get better

You don't, you don't want to not just the status quo. You don't want to be, you don't want to stay there

Do you have any other ones? Yeah, I guess don't overload your wagon, right

Yeah, that's a good one. It's very easy to do. Once you figured out what the expectations are, there may be things in life that you have to cut out. And if there are things that you absolutely can't cut out, work, family, other things that you have going on, then that means you're going to have to reduce some things like potentially class load

Right. Extracurricular activities. Now, you know, only so many things fit, but I see it all the time, particularly with, I don't know, students who, like you say, are a little more complacent at the beginning

They allow things to come to pile up on them and then there's no there's no digging out of it

And ultimately, it'll mean you won't be successful, won't be successful to the extent you want to be in all the things you're doing

Right You hear about people saying that they multitask well Well you know I I hugely anti multitasking because that just means you do a lot of things not that well Marginally Marginally Yeah You know and so usually it is better to focus on a few things do them well and then move on to the next things

Ultimately, you'll get more done that way. Right. Because, right, you may finish more projects, but the lower quality will, you know, it's a zero sum game there

Right. So anyway, you'll do more things at a higher level and you'll get better at doing the things you're doing

So, yeah. I think my last one, it kind of sparked up when you were talking about that

And this is a little bit prior to the new semester, the start of a new semester. So this is when you're going, I guess, going in to a new semester when you're registering for classes

And then also when you get there, because there's that period when the semester starts where you can kind of you can change classes too

But understand why you're choosing the class. if you always go for the EZA

you're not really challenging yourself and you need to understand what classes you need to challenge yourself in

and what classes can you rely on the EZA and even in that situation

if somebody tells you it's an EZA that's a relative term it's easy to them

it may not be easy to you I can tell you 100% for sure

for me again the way my personality worked in undergrad there was a class that everybody said

you need to take this class it's an EZA and I took that to the extreme. It was an easy A assuming you did the work

but I took it as it was an easy, I didn't have to do anything and I did not make an A

So just be careful with that. Understand what you're trying to get out of the class

especially if it's your major. Like for accounting, I never understood like people who's like

accounting is my major. Then why are you taking this class? Because I heard it was an easy A

Well, you're not learning anything. You're just trying to get through it. And that's not what

you want to go through college with that mentality. So, um, yeah, any other ones or

No, that's it. Um, I think, I think that's a good set of advice. You follow those things

you will get your semester started well and, you know, hopefully be successful, right? Uh

success is never guaranteed, but doing certain things will increase the likelihood

Absolutely. Well, you have any, uh, parting words before we hit up? Yep. Just remind everybody, check us out on the website, hit us up on the social media

and give us all those likes or stars or whatever on your favorite podcasting app

But most importantly, whichever one you do, whichever way you connect with us

send us those messages, let us know what you want to hear about, and like I say, we'll address it to the best of our ability

Awesome. Well, we hope you enjoyed the show. We hope to see you next time. Until then, goodbye

Take care. Thanks for listening to the Reschooled Podcast. Be sure to head over to Reschooled.com for news and other information on things we're getting into