How To Be Successful In College Tip #4: Make a Plan

One of the most important steps to achieving academic success or any kind of success is to identify what needs to be done and make a plan to do it. For example, let’s say you’re not doing well in your calculus class. You first want to figure out why you are not doing well. So you go through some old quizzes and other graded assignments to find out what you are struggling with the most. Let’s say you find that you missed nearly every question on the last quiz that dealt with partial derivatives. Now that you know what the issue is you can create a plan of attack. Below is an example of how a plan to solve this particular issue would look.

1)      Re-read the chapter on partial derivatives

2)      Read articles online about partial derivatives to see if those articles can explain it in a way that the book could not.

3)      Email or call your professor and set up a time that you can go by her/his office hours to review the concept.

4)      If the teacher is not available to meet with you then ask her/him to recommend one of their colleagues, who may have a more open schedule, to help you.

5)      If she does not respond to your emails or phone calls then visit the math department at your university and ask them to recommend a math teacher to help you

6)      After receiving help, practice the concept by doing 20 different problems dealing with partial derivatives and then check them for correctness.

7)      If you are still having trouble, reach out to a student that is excelling in the class and ask them for additional help

If you make a thorough plan and stick to it, you will be able to overcome any obstacle that stands between you and academic excellence.