5 Steps To Turning the Semester Around

School requires a lot of you. Managing assignments, schedules, and priorities…  Everything is important, and it’s all moving at the same time. When all of that inevitably feels overwhelming, it’s easy to throw your hands up and say college isn’t for you, you can’t do this, it’s too much, this is all…. pointless.

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But there’s hope! Just because the semester went astray, doesn’t mean it can’t be turned around. We’ll go over some practical strategies to help you regain control and finish as strongly as you can.

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5 Steps To Get Back On Track

Step One: Accept the situation

“None of us can go back and start a new beginning, but all of us can start a new day and make a new ending.” – Lisa Lieberman-Wang

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No, you don’t have to accept it in a “it is what it is” way, but you have to accept this is the position you’re in. When you allow yourself to drift into thoughts like, “I should have done this,” and “Why didn’t I do that?”, you get stuck feeling sad. There’s nowhere to go in those statements (except in circles).

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Yes, it would have been nice if you did this or didn’t do that; but, that’s what happened. So, now what? Don’t get stuck in the thought spirals. It’s time to move forward and get back on track rather than ruminating over why this is our experience.

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Onwards, my friend!

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Step Two: Assess the damage

“Panic causes tunnel vision. Calm acceptance of danger allows us to more easily assess the situation and see the options.” — Simon Sinek

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You know you’re behind on readings and have two paper extensions looming over you, but we need to make sure we know what we’re going to fall behind on while trying to catch up on those.

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Don’t panic! I know it can be overwhelming to realize the magnitude of what needs to be done, but we don’t have to take action on everything at once. We just need to know what needs to be done. Here are my tips for assessing the situation:

• Create a master list of everything that still needs to be completed and make a note of the due date for each assignment.
• Take a minute to look at what assignments have the most weight. Prioritize assignments that will impact your grade the most. If you absolutely need to skip some assignments, make sure they’re the ones with the lowest weight. (You can use a grade calculator to play with the numbers!)
• Prioritize the important tasks and put them in order of due dates so we can scan quickly what we need to be working on.
• Are there any teachers that might let you make up past assignments? What about extra credit? Now’s the time to find that out, too!

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Step Three: Create a Schedule

“An unplanned day invites both distraction and destruction.” — Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr

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This is where that good ol’ practice of chunking is going to come in. Break up the assignments into manageable chunks and start working BACKWARDS to help you keep a pace.

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For example, let’s break down a writing assignment. If we have a 1-page article reflection paper due Friday, and today is Monday, it might look like this:

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Monday:

• Look at the reflection paper rubric and find the key items needed for a top score. What questions are going to be asked of me? What answers am I looking for?
• Read first page of article & take notes based on above questions

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Tuesday:

• Read second page of article & take notes based on above questions
• Read third page of article & take notes based on above questions

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Wednesday:

• Combine the notes into bullet points of “ideas” or “concepts”
• Organize the bullet points into separate paragraphs (no need to expand yet)

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Thursday:

• Turn the bullet points into paragraphs
• write an intro and conclusion
• Proof read

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Friday:

• Create citations & Submit

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Step Four: Combine the schedules

Next, we want to combine the schedules for multiple assignments so we can look at the day and know what tasks you need to take on. Here’s an example using the above assignment PLUS studying for a final exam on Thursday.

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Monday:

‍Class A:

• Look at the reflection paper rubric and find the key items needed for a top score. What questions are going to be asked of me? What answers am I looking for?
• Read first page of article & take notes based on above questions

Class B:

• Look at the Final Exam Study Guide & go through what answers you feel confident on and which answers you need to look into more.
• Tally up the number of questions you need to go through more, let’s say you had issues on 18 questions out of the 30.
• We need to go through an average of 6 questions a night (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday) to have time to go through it all before the exam.
• Go through 8 questions using the Pomodoro Method to take breaks.

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Tuesday:

‍Class A:

• Read second page of article & take notes based on above questions
• Read third page of article & take notes based on above questions

Class B:

• Go through the next 6 questions using the Pomodoro method to take breaks

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Wednesday:

‍Class A:

• Combine the notes into bullet points of “ideas” or “concepts”
• Organize the bullet points into separate paragraphs (no need to expand yet)

Class B:

• Go through 4 questions study guide questions using the Pomodoro method to take breaks
• Read through the entire study guide again trying to answer the questions on your own, review your notes at the end to make sure you got the ones you struggled with correct
• If you have extra time without sacrificing sleep, go through any last ones you had issues with

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Thursday:

‍Class A:

• Turn the bullet points into paragraphs
• Write an intro and conclusion
• Proof read

Class B:

• Set an alarm for the time you need to leave for the exam
• Double check you have all your items needed to go to the exam (calculator, blue book, #2 pencil, laptop, etc.)
• Read through all your study guide answers as a refresher

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Friday:

‍Class A:

• Create citations & Submit

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Step Five: Battle the Overwhelm

“Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe

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I know the list might feel gross. It might feel this this is too much. We’re going to take it one day at a time. You just have to focus on today’s tasks, because you already broke down the rest of the week. One action step at a time. If you need to pause or take a break from the first one, move onto the second task, and try the first one again later.

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Doing your best might not be perfect, but it’s about taking those little steps to get to the finish line.