My first year at Hopkins was a huge adjustment, one I didn’t expect to take a whole year. Over the summer, I took the time to think through what worked, what didn’t, what I enjoyed doing, and what I didn’t, etc. It was my way of preparing myself for sophomore year. I wanted to do more, but more importantly, I wanted to be better. As of writing this, we are officially five weeks into the year, and I’ve been implementing my new strategies to adapt fully to the college lifestyle.
1. Preparing before lectures
One major change I made was actually preparing before lectures. If you read before the lecture, you can get ahead since the lectures act as a review, and you save yourself so much time after all your classes are done to dedicate to homework or whatever else you must do. It seemed so obvious to me now, but I can’t think of a single moment last year when I opened up one of my textbooks for my classes. Turns out, the textbook is an irreplaceable resource when it comes to understanding course content—and depending on the class, can even make the lectures become kind of obsolete (but you should still go, you never know what announcements the professor might make).
2. Going to group tutoring sessions
PILOT is a peer-led, group study program that’s a great way to gain additional study material outside of class. When you join a PILOT group, you get worksheets and answer keys. Those worksheets were super helpful while I was studying for my midterms, and one of the PILOT questions even found its way into my exams.
3. Using online reader tools
There are so many things to help improve your performance in a class, like TA sessions, office hours, or even online tools like Microsoft Edge’s Read Aloud functionality. I found new resources like NotebookLM by Google, which has been a Godsend when it comes to helping me do my reading faster. I can also ask it direct questions, and it sources answers from the readings I provide, helping me better comprehend the topics. Last year, readings would suck up my time as a slow reader. Getting through very detailed textbook pages and writing every detail I read by hand wasn’t making the process any faster or improving my comprehension. Using tools like NotebookLM and Read Aloud helps me get through my readings faster and understand the textbook.
4. Getting assignments done earlier (still a work in progress)
Lastly, I am trying to do my work early instead of just on time. I’m sad to report that there have been coding assignments where I’ve had to use late days (a fixed number of days/hours you are allowed to turn in assignments past the due date). And most of my professors get my homework 10 minutes before the deadline. This has been the hardest change for me since it’s so easy to let things slip. I’ve been in more than one scenario where I’m doing work for a class, and then I forget that I need to finish up work I already started for another class. I always end up getting hungry and eating while watching TV for an hour or so, and forgetting what I was working on, and start working on something else. This has been my everyday since week 1, and all the more proof I need to sharpen my time management blade and dedicate a weekend to catching up and getting very ahead.
If you feel the way I felt my first year, like you are just keeping pace, you’ll realize that self-assessing what is and isn’t working, looking out for tools to help optimize your routine, and building great habits will give you all the gear you need to become a frontrunner.
