Preparing for a Class

This is the original image of the book.

Pre-semester class preparation—only a few hours of work – often overlooked for various reasons—can make the difference between an A and an F.

If you are in college or are just about to start college, make sure to approach it with a mature-adult mind. Acting like a child and complaining because things don’t go your way will only make you feel bad about yourself and give others an outlook that you are not ready for adulthood. The chemicals excreted by your body from the anger and stress you allow to happen will literally cause you to do worse in class.

Stressing, having anxiety, getting angry, and or focusing on getting that A instead of understanding the material are harmful solutions. These actions will all cause you to do worse at studying. The very thing you are trying to prevent from happening increases because of these mental obsessions.

It is best to approach science with the mind of a relaxed, easygoing Buddhist. Focus on understanding the material. Obsessing about getting that A does absolutely nothing but take up energy and cause stress. When a person is stressed, they don’t think right. Get it? Just relax. Any G.P.A. above 3.0 is far above average and will get you into grad school with no problem. Of course, I am speaking to engineers, mathematicians, computer scientists, and physicists. If you are premed, you need a 3.9 GPA or higher in most cases.

So, just take it easy. Ask anyone who has graduated if stressing about the G.P.A. was worth it.

i. before the semester starts

Before starting a math-based course such as physics or computer science classes or any STEM course, one should be prepared before the start of the semester.

College is not high school. College is a place to prepare for a professional career where one is expected to be responsible, prepared, self-motivating, and self-sufficient.

A professor is not a teacher, and a lecture is not a class. A lecture is where one goes to have information reiterated to them that they have already been prepped on. Think of a lecture as going to a foreign-language movie without subtitles. You probably would want to at least have an idea of what the story is about, right? If math is a language, you probably want to prep yourself on the language before the show…

Too often in college, I hear students say, “My professor sucks.” “This wasn’t in the study guide.” “What am I paying for if the professor isn’t going to explain things in a way I understand?” … The list goes on and on.