Homework and College

There’s a lot about college that is new and different from high school. It’s a whole new environment that you have to get used to, and it involves a lot more than getting used to living in a dorm room. One of the things that may not have crossed your mind is homework in college. Yes, there is going to be homework. No, it won’t be the same as what you did in high school. And unfortunately, there will be a lot of it. Remember groaning in high school when your teacher said you had homework for next class and it ended up being only a worksheet? Even with this small amount of homework you probably groaned, dreaded it, and put it off until the last minute. In college, the days you don’t have homework are going to be few and far between. Having to read a hundred or more pages for either the next class in the same week or week after is going to be a normal occurrence. So how do you get through all of that homework for 5 or more classes?

Time management is key. If you have time in between classes whether it is 15 minutes or 2 hours, use that time to work on your homework. If you have a light week of homework, use the extra time to get a little bit ahead if you know your homework load is going to be heavy the next week. How will you know? Use the syllabus that your professor provided you with at the beginning of the semester. Your homework for the most part will be laid out in the syllabus so you know what to expect each day and week of the class.

You’ll want to invest in study supplies. A lot of them. Trust me. It’s not unrealistic to go through a whole pack of highlighters and a few pads of sticky notes in one semester. You’re going to want a variety of sticky notes. Make sure you have the normal medium sized squares and also make sure you have the small sticky notes that you can place near an important line in a book. These will be your life saver when you’re putting together a 10 page essay and need to reference a quote or when you’re studying a certain concept. Also invest in note cards. College exams are big deals. You need to do well throughout a whole class and especially on the exams in order to not retake the class next semester (which you don’t want to do because it will be a hassle and you only get a few tries at taking a class. Plus you need a certain grade in order for the class to count). Index note cards are great cheap study supplies that are essential whether you’re studying with friends or on your own.

Possibly the most important thing to do is not wait until last minute to do a large essay, thesis, or project for the completion of your program. You may dread writing 10 pages about a certain book or theme, but it will be so much worse if you wait until the week it is due. Ten pages is a lot to write. You have to research, put together a Work Cited page, and make sure it is perfect with no errors and everything you referenced is accounted for. Waiting until the last minute to do all those things will only put a lot of stress on you on top of the other essays and exams you may have to do in the same week. The only thing you should be leaving for the week that the essay is due is a quick re-read of the essay to make sure it is error free and nothing needs fixed.