Alexis Morris                   Essay 1

1:30-2:45

09/07/2014

I have been working on my study habits for about 6 years now, at one point in time I did not have any study habits.Studying as a college student, is more important than attending the actual classes. All in all, I believe that my study habits need to make a drastic change in time, material, and flexibility.

My time and time schedule are very important but I don’t treat them as if they are important. When I do not want to do something, whether it be the boring or the important stuff, it gradually gets pushed to the side until force is applied. I really need to focus on just getting the important stuff out of the way, so I can have the rest of the day to myself. I feel as if time management will be a problem for the rest of my life, unless it gets fixed right here during the first semester of college. So yes, I plan and anticipate to change my timing of my study habits.

Next is the material and note-taking that I study. One of my hardest battles is knowing the difference between what’s important and what is just a space filler or common knowledge. Daily during class I either write to much or not enough; I have yet to find a happy medium. Usually I just read over my notes or the book and then go on about my business. For college, thats just not enough to make the cut. I not only need to read over the material, but I need to focus on whats important. The problem for me is knowing what’s important because I wrote the whole book in my notes. As I go through this semester, I plan on making changes in the material I study.

I feel this last point is the most important for a successful college career, flexibility. I am anticipating that college will be a bumpy road, and that the professors will be expecting me to find a way to handle whatever they can throw at me. I feel that I will learn that the professors really are trying to help and really do want their student to graduate but they can’t let inattentive and lifeless students make the cut. I know that this is nothing but preparation for the real world. I very much think these study habits that I am trying to form and that will change over this semester will be the basis of my work for the rest of my career. A great example of this from the text, when Eduardo went to college he was more relaxed and went with the flow, but the key is that he was flexible. Eduardo, did not let things upset him or stop him from getting right into the swing of college. I think the most important thing and Eduardo’s key to success was not letting anything stop him or get in the way of his education. Flexibility is exceptionally important for study habits. My flexibility is going to change, and I am going to take control over my study habits and education.

My decision was clearly made throughout, that i am going to change my study habits and get the best education that Old Dominion University could possibly offer. I am stepping up to the plate and own my study habits, my work will be completed on time, and my priorities will be done first. I am doing this and taking on this challenge, of changing my study habits, for myself. I want to get my degree, so I can start a healthy, happy life.

 

 

Alexis Morris                                              Reflective Essay

1:30-2:45

12/01/2014

 

I have grown and learned so much in this first semester of college. I have done little things get involved with my college and I learned that when you are involved everything else sort of falls into place. I became a part of Ebony Impact Gospel Choir and the “Monarch2Monacrh” Program here at Old Dominion. As I continue with the rest of my college career, I hope to grow even more, but for now I will have a small reflection from the first day of college to present day. I will reflect on my study habits, weaknesses, and strengths.

My study habits have grown well over these few months in my time schedule and flexibility. I used to do most of my work the day before it was due, but now if I can help it I try to do my work weeks before they are due; I do this now because it just feels good knowing that I have done all my work and I can just relax. I still think that maybe my work was better when i did it the day before it was due because I was so focused on getting it done. Sometime when I do my work to early i’m not that focused because I know I have time for revision. Most importantly I have learned how to be flexible and go with the flow. I have learned that when school and home get tough and hard to handle, I just need to take a step back and think which needs to be handled first. I have learned that college really is about evaluating what is most important at the time being.

English as a whole is a weakness for me. I struggle with writing papers and memorizing poetry terms. My papers aren’t the best because I write how I talk, and I guess sometimes thats not the best thing to do. Before this UNIV class my biggest issue were comma splices; I had no idea what a comma splice was. A comma splice is combining two sentences together using only a comma; I thought separating a sentence with a comma was perfectly fine. Before this class I had almost never used a semicolon; now I use them all the time. Most of my other writing mistakes are just careless mistakes because I do not read over my work. English is my weakness for now, but I have been working hard on my writing to make it a strength.

Chemistry and Math have been my strengths for quite some time now. Those subjects just come so easy to me because they are concept subjects. My strengths in the english field are reading and understanding the language. I love to talk so reading just comes naturally, and I really understand the material that I read. I understand the language of english because it is my first language. I do not have many strength in english but, they I also don’t have many weaknesses anymore.

I have learned so much this semester , and I have progressed very well in my writing skills. I have also learned that the writing center is a great place and I enjoyed the help that was offered. I thought the UNIV was a waste of time and money but over the semester I realized that it was a much needed course for myself. S i would like to thank all of those who have helped me improve my writing and, I would like to thank myself for working and progressing so well.

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