16ABI They Weren't Kidding When They Said It Goes By Fast!

Move in Day (August 24th,2013)

My first semester has been very successful. Though I was very nervous in the beginning of the semester, I have rid of those nerves finally and have developed into a college student who is capable of success at Southern. This first semester has really taught myself a lot about myself.  I learned that I am very good at being independent. Throughout high school my parents always pushed me to do things more and more on my own but when I got to college I realized how independent I had become. I was doing things on my own time without anyone telling me to, and I loved it. I was able to complete my homework, eat and relax whenever I wanted because I was for the most part independent from my parents, since I was living on campus. Being independent required a lot of self motivation which I have a lot of considering the fact that I wouldn’t be attending college if I didn’t motivate myself to apply to schools using my own money and then taking out private loans to pay for my finances. College has really taught me to be independent and also how to self motivate. Without learning independence and self motivation I would have never been able to have a successful first semester as I had.

My biggest success during this semester was doing extremely well on my only written exams in history and math. I scored a 93 in history and a 94 on my math finals. I was very nervous about my history final exam because I had an 80 in the class days before the final and I needed to do well in order to keep a B and above average grade in the class. In order to prepare for this exam, I attended the review session where the professor went over the entire study guide and basically gave us all the answers to the test. That night I made over 60 note cards and began memorizing them with only a couple days till the exam. To my surprise I was able to memorize all 65 note cards easily. Going to the review session and making note cards really helped me prepare for the exam because I was able to answer many questions easily without hesitation. As for my math exam, the only preparation I did was completing the review packet. Math 095 for me, was very easy and I got A’s on almost every test so I focused more of my energy on studying for history that I did for math, since I had both exams back to back on the first day of finals. I was really happy that I received a 94 on the final because I did not study too much for it. I am glad I did well on my first written finals as a college student. In high school, studying for finals was just completing a fill in the blank study guide which we always received extra credit on if we handed it in complete on the day of our final. I knew, especially for history, I had to put a lot of time and effort into studying for the exam if I wanted a good grade, and all that studying paid off.

There are many goals I have set for myself moving into next semester. First, I want

to keep the same motivation and drive I had in the beginning of this semester and carry it into next semester. I was so nervous about being in college, I put all my time and effort into completing my homework and assignments thoroughly because I wasn’t sure how I was going to be graded, or if my effort was good enough. Now that I am more comfortable with the college workload and how many teachers grade, I hope not to lose this motivation and drive I had in the fall semester. I hope to stay motivated and keep my grades very high next semester. Another goal I have next semester is to keep my grades above B’s. I have picked up some very usefully study tips from peers and from my own experience that I will apply next semester to my classes. Also keeping my grades up is very important to myself because I have to apply to the education building and be accepting into the psychology department. In order to gain easy access into these programs, keeping my grades up will be one less thing I have to worry about when I begin the admission process.

My first semester will be one to remember. I learned a lot and matured in such a short amount of time. Going into the next semester and beyond, I have a lot of hope for my success here at Southern. Many people say that your first semester reflects how the rest of college experience will be like, and if everything stays the same, I should do well as I go through the rest of my semesters in college. I am so glad I have choosen Southern as my school because I have loved every minute I have spent on campus. The friends I have made here have really helped make this transition into college easier than it would have been without them. This is an environment I can feel comfortable in and achieve my dream of becoming a preschool or kindergarten teacher. I can’t wait to see where the rest of my time here at Southern takes me!