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A story about a first-year student feeling confident about achieving high grades in university, but later realizing that their high school study habits won't cut it in university. <\/p>\n"},"library":"H5P.AdvancedText 1.1","metadata":{"contentType":"Text","license":"U","title":"Untitled Text"},"subContentId":"67def543-3956-4631-aae9-d2288dca2d28"},"title":"Crayola Markers Got Me Through the First Year of University by Julia Coppa"},{"content":{"params":{"text":"

Going into university was definitely an unexpected culture shock. Coming fresh out of high school, I felt on top of the world, eager to finally start this chapter of my life and ready to continue getting high grades and making everyone wonder how someone could be so smart. That was what all four years of my high school were like for me. Not to sound self-absorbed, but I had a natural talent for school. I would rarely study hard, in fact, I was able to quickly read over the notes and get a hundred on virtually everything. I constantly was achieving high nineties and rarely felt challenged. I was that person who currently, I envy. I carried that attitude into university and thought that I was able to just wake up and take a test and achieve almost perfect. <\/p>\n\n

I remember this day as though it was yesterday. Intro to sociology class, we had our first ever university test. This test was worth thirty percent which was equivalent to the whole exam in high school, yet I wasn\u2019t fazed. Hearing the prof explain it was simply 30 multiple choice questions, I just read over the lecture notes once and was ready to take this test. I finished in 20 minutes, everything was great and I felt ready to get my first high ninety at the university level, to prove all the teachers in high school wrong who said university grades are a lot harder to come by. The day I checked blackboard when grades were released and saw a fifty percent, was a day I will never forget. <\/p>\n\n

It may seem dramatic that one test traumatized me so much, but at that moment, I was absolutely defeated. I had never gotten that low in any years prior and it was very discouraging. I kept wondering what went wrong and began to question if I was even good enough for university at all. A few more low grades later and I still had no idea what was going on. Not only was I in a new school, with new people trying to have fun and make new friends, I now was faced with a new problem that I had no idea how to solve. I felt stupid, sad and really lost motivation to do school because I was discouraged. <\/p>\n"},"library":"H5P.AdvancedText 1.1","metadata":{"contentType":"Text","license":"U","title":"Untitled Text"},"subContentId":"1cf6c9a8-65cf-4c20-addf-7c74981d4820"},"title":"The Wicked Problem"},{"content":{"params":{"text":"

Having only completed two full years of university, where one of which was in person and the other was online, I would say I have overcome my wicked problem. I would not consider my online year in this answer, due to the lack of motivation or need to study since the majority of my assessments were open book. However, after a few months in university, I tried talking to fellow classmates that were also experiencing the same thing and achieving lower grades than they were used to. We managed to come up with different strategies to help us hopefully improve. <\/p>\n\n

Firstly, we arranged group study sessions that were super fun and helpful. Having come from the small Trent Durham campus, I was able to find a group of friends whom I am still close with, that are in the exact same program as myself, and thus, have the same classes. During these small study sessions, we would just go around the table and read out our notes to each other. While one person was reading, we were all jotting down things that we missed in our notes. By doing this so many times, we were essentially having the same lecture 2-3 times which really reinforced our learning. It was also fun because we were able to stop and talk about the content at any time, rather than just sitting for three hours straight just listening to a prof. Furthermore, this was very helpful as it made sure our notes were all full of information, which we later posted to a notetaking portal that was run by the school for other students who were unable to take notes during class due to accessibility reasons. <\/p>\n\n

Moreover, I decided that just reading over lecture notes was not enough. I now break my studying into two parts. First, I will make \u201cconcept sheets\u201d where I take big concepts from the material, go through each note that I have on it, condense and compile it on one paper. I use a mixture of colours and small pictures to help solidify the material. These small pictures help me remember better especially since I am so bad at drawing it makes the concept way more memorable because the drawings are so bad it\u2019s comedic. I often share these sheets in my small study sessions and my friends have said they have worked for them as well. The whole process of going through and complaining about my notes and organizing them by concept helps me better understand the material because it is more broken down and manageable. Also, using paper and fun markers helps make the process more enjoyable. This is how I justify the joy it gives me to be spending absurd amounts of money at Walmart on markers and notebooks. The second part of my studying is more boring. I take all of my notes that I know will be on the test, print them and read them twice. The first time I read them, I use a highlighter and highlight important information or content I don\u2019t quite understand. The second time, I take more of an active reading approach and I take jot notes about the content right on the sheets. It is messy but writing down the information and reading it so many times helps really solidify it in my brain and helps me not only remember it but actually understand it. <\/p>\n\n

This whole process is lengthy, but I have learned that in order to achieve better grades, I have to work for them. This study method has indeed increased my grades immensely and I am eager to finally get back into school to continue group studying and help find more ways to tackle this wicked problem and increase my academic success even further. <\/p>\n"},"library":"H5P.AdvancedText 1.1","metadata":{"contentType":"Text","license":"U","title":"Untitled Text"},"subContentId":"68203be4-9a8c-4369-bd08-ae2cc4275f7d"},"title":"Finding a Solution"},{"content":{"params":{"text":"

Starting university has taught me many things, all of which can be summed up by the wise words of Kendrick Lamar circa 2017, \u201cSit down, be humble.\u201d I have learned that high school is nowhere near the same as university, and that taught me to be humble and amplify my work habits. I have learned that you must work for what you want in life, and can truly set your mind to anything you want and complete whatever you desire.<\/p>\n"},"library":"H5P.AdvancedText 1.1","metadata":{"contentType":"Text","license":"U","title":"Untitled Text"},"subContentId":"d28e6cdd-fa28-4106-806d-e325a9ab25e6"},"title":"Final Thoughts"},{"content":{"params":{"text":"

Coppa, J. (2021, October 26). Crayola Markers Got Me Through the First Year of University<\/em>. Liberated Learners. <\/span>https:\/\/wicked.liberatedlearner.ca\/learner\/crayola-markers-got-me-through-the-first-year-of-university\/<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n"},"library":"H5P.AdvancedText 1.1","metadata":{"contentType":"Text","license":"U","title":"Untitled Text"},"subContentId":"7e150b8a-999a-4e9e-9b69-420ff3f9bcc4"},"title":"APA Reference"}],"hTag":"h2"}

Crayola Markers Got Me Through the First Year of University

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Liam Peart