posted
This is more of a rant than anything, so please forgive me if this sounds more like wining, because that's not what it's meant to be. As some of you know I'm a freshman in college and right now I'm really stuck in a rut. I've never really been a highly motivated person, and this aspect of my personality has taken it's toll on my grades, obviously. It causes me to miss classes and to forget about assignments. I'm a big time procrastinator, and this usually leaves me stressed out, trying to get things done at the last minute. Right now I'm very worried about my grades and am too afraid/ashamed to let my parents know about my situation, so I tell them everything's fine when they ask. This is partially true though, since three of my classes are going well. It's the other three that I'm struggling with. So anyways sorry for the rant Any advice would be great!
posted
Get thee to a counsellor or the student help center and ask for help with scheduling and the like. Your problem is a common one. Learn how to budget your time, and learn how to stick to it. It's difficult, I know, but you need to do it. (I'm also a big-time procrastinator. Eep!)
posted
I'm writing this post at 3am, as I take a short break from the physics lab report I've been working on for about six hours. Once I finish that, I've got another one just like it also due tomorrow, if I have time before my 9 am class I'll crack my book to study for the first time for my 12 pm class, and in my hour lunch break I'll study for my 2pm test. After that, there's only one short research paper due on friday, and a few physics problems then I'm done for the week (sorry I felt like whining too ). So, you should keep in mind that my advice may be more theoretical than practical.
In all seriousness, though, the greatest thing is a good motivator. If you have a genuine fear for your future you will find yourself going to extraordinary measures to complete school work. In the day-to-day, one of my biggest helps is shutting my computer down. If it's on, it's a distraction, but if it's shut down, and I have to wait for it boot, rather than just jostle the keyboard, I'll have time to rethink surfing the web or chatting with friends, plus it saves energy. By shutting down, I mean turn it off completely when you go to class or to bed, or are otherwise going to be away. That way when you return to your room, you can read some of the class assignments, and work on non-computer required work. Going to class is the single most important thing to do. I've certainly felt like staying home some days, but there's never been a day I went, that I regretted it.
As for this semester, it kind of depends, a lot of classes put a great deal of weight on the final, so if you put in the effort now, and talk with your professors or TA's you might pull decent grades, not great ones, but decent ones, for the semester. Hopefully the new-found study habits will transfer over to next semester. If nothing else commit to going to class everyday for the rest of the semester. Even if you don't get much studying time in, you'll be at least aware of what's going on, and have a huge advantage on test. Anyway, I've work to do, but good luck .
Posts: 349 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
A lot of college is learning about how to be self-motivated. Some people are born like that, sadly, I was not one of them. I was just like you; procrastinated everything.
I had to learn that if I was gonna wait till the last minute I had to leave myself enough time to get everything done. So I still procrastinated, but I did the things I needed to get done first. And I deal well with pressure.
Posts: 5462 | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
It also sounds like you need to get a good student planner, and stick with using it. Writing things down is a huge help for me.
Posts: 2711 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
I know that at least at my college they offered a seminar about stress reduction and proper time management skills. I think if you went to one of those, you might be able to avoid doing everything at the last minute. Other recommendations: a good planner or calendar. Write every assignment/test/whatever that is due down on it, and then look at it everyday. Sometimes it helps to get a visual idea of how much time there is between things and how long you have to work. At least it helps me some (it's also good for showing you how much you've accomplished already as the semester winds down).
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
First of all - come clean with your parents. They are going to find out eventually, and they would much rather here it from you ahead of time.
Tell them your problems and tell them that you want to do better. "Mom, Dad - I need to tell you about my grades. They're not good. I'm having trouble with scheduling and with procrastinating on assignments. I know you're disappointed, but I hope you'll help me try to find a way to learn to organize and motivate myself. I'm sorry I lied to you, I just knew you'd be upset and I didn't want to face it right then."
Then, buckle down and do what you need to do. Talk to your professors and tell them - I need to do better in this class, what can you suggest? Sometimes they'll allow you to do extra credit assignments or to allow you to turn something in late. You may get a jerk that won't help you, if so then just deal with it and resolve to pull your GPA up later. ONe semester with bad grades doesn't doom your whole college career, I ought to know. But, if you continue in this pattern it will doom your career, so get it fixed. And get your parents on board, like I said, if you wait until the semester is over to tell them, it will be worse.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
Your problem is a common one -- and it's a common cause of flunking out. As others said: your college almost certainly has support services for helping you get your life in gear. Make use of them!
(And tell my advisees to do the same!)
Posts: 1877 | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
Do you keep a planner or something to help you organize? That could help out a lot. And what others have said, talk to the professors, ask for help where you need it. They'll see that you're trying and you'll hopefully end up with better grades.
Posts: 153 | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
As a fellow procrastinator (as a matter of fact I'm procrastinating a memo right now that is 80% of my final grade and due monday) I empathise. I could give you all of the same advice that other's have given but the one that gets me is when people tell me to set intermediate deadlines. I find this to be the equivalent of telling an addict not to take another hit or an alcoholic not to drink alcohol.
The suggestion of keeping some sort of record of what you have to do is very important. I find that if I know something is coming up I make sure to have enough last minutes to at least get it done well enough. I've always said that I don't really work best at the last minute, it's just the only way I work. But if I miss a deadline then I end up procrastinating all over again and I get behind and digging yourself out is pretty rough. I guess I'm not being very encouraging(sp) so the last advice:
posted
I had this problem my first term. The resulting grades, while above average, made my father go mm-mm. Not really angry, you understand, just not quite gruntled. That motivated me to get cracking.
Anyway, think of it this way : At least you don't have to put up with the excreta from high school anymore. If you could get high school assignments done, you can do anything, right? If you're like me, you got into these habits because, in high school, you really could surf on native talent and score A's on stuff done at the last minute the day before. Time to stop that and get cracking.
Posts: 10645 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Any advice would be great!
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). So, you should keep in mind that my advice may be more theoretical than practical. ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
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