School Supplies

Slight deviation! I know I said I would talk about study habits, but my last post got me thinking: You need to know what school supplies to get!

Of course, after your first day, you will probably need to go out and buy other things that your professor requires, but this list should be good for general items!

• Paper! (Notebooks, unbound papers, whatever kind of paper you prefer, just buy it! You will ALWAYS need paper! Notes, quizzes, class work, doodling, you name it! (I prefer the unbound paper, just plain old lined paper. It is cheaper and you don't get what my high school science teacher called "crud" when you rip pages out!)
• Binder(s) or folders (see previous post)
• Pens & pencils (I really like Sharpie pens, but it's your call. Oh, and I really enjoy mechanical pencils. I get really annoyed when people get up to use those loud wall manual pencil sharpeneners.)
• A planner! (Again, I will push the UVU student planner, available in the campus bookstore!)
• Backpack (If you have a lot of textbooks, this will be handy!)
• Stapler (You can get a little tiny mini stapler for really cheap)
• 3x5 notecards (If you don't need them for class, they are great for studying!)

If you can afford it, a laptop is always great! If you get really bored while waiting for your next class, YouTube is always great! Some teachers will even allow a laptop in class so you can take notes (and yes, I have seen many people actually on Facebook or other fun sites like that during class). UVU even has wireless printers on campus if you need to print things off (you can go here for more information on wireless printing)

Staying Organized

As August approaches, you will notice that many stores have their major school supplies sales now! I know it is stressful to start thinking about school when you have the summer to enjoy!

One major key to surviving college is staying organized! Being organized will help you to keep track of everything that you need to turn in, everything that you have already done, and help keep you from being too overwhelmed with papers/projects/assignments when midterms and finals roll around.

There isn't a specific way that is best to stay organized, you just have to know what is best for you!

First off, I recommend getting a 3-ring binder or folders for each class. It is important to keep all of your class work separate.
When using a binder, you can use dividers to keep your classes separate (if you are trying to save money, I have even used a blank piece of paper with a post-it note glued on as a tab). If you opt for using a different folder for each class, you always have to remember to bring them on specific days! Binders are nice because you have everything in one place, but sometimes they start to fall apart when it becomes too full/heavy. Also, sometimes the papers rip out of the rings which can get pretty annoying. Folders can be great too, but papers can slip out and you may forget to bring a specific folder to class since your schedule is different every day.

Whether you are using a binder or folder, always keep your class syllabus and calendar in one place. You never know when you will need to e-mail a teacher or when your class calendar will be changed. You need to bring these to class every day! I always punch holes in them and put them and put them at the top of the class pile.

[For the record, I prefer binders. I have a very specific way of putting together a binder so I know exactly where everything is:

1. Blank papers (you can get packets of 70 unbound papers for really cheap at Target when they have all of the school supplies on sale. I usually buy two packets & that gets me through the semester. I always have roughly 25 blank pages in my binder at all times for notes, quizzes, etc.
2. Class Divider
1. Class Syllabus & Calendar
2. Homework Assignments
3. Class Handouts
4. Quizzes
5. Practice Tests
6. Tests
3. Next class divider w/1-6 from first example 
4. Next class divider w/1-6 from first example 
5. Next class divider w/1-6 from first example 

Find a system that works for you. Trust me, it is best to stay organized!]

You will want to keep all of your graded homework assignments, projects, papers, quizzes, tests, etc. Usually, a teacher does not pass out a progress report (though I'm sure if you are worried, your teacher will give you one upon request). Sometimes, you won't know how you are doing until a final grade is posted once the semester has ended. If something is wrong with your grade (at any point in the semester, not just after finals) you will want to have proof that you did assignments or that you had a different score.

Countless times I have completed an assignment, had it passed back with a score, and then I get a progress report saying I didn't do it. I would just show the assignment to my professor and all would be fixed. I even had an instance when my final grade showed up as a D-. I did some calculations and figured that my grade should be over a B...which it was. My teacher was happy to fix it for me! Don't feel embarrassed to correct your teacher, this is your grade at stake!

Staying organized will also help you keep on top of assignments. I always keep a planner so I can write down homework assignments that are coming up. If I see that I have a day where there are several assignments or tests, I can plan ahead and work on some things early.

Use your planner to plan out how you are going to work through major assignments! Say you have a major paper due. Give yourself set deadlines to finish little bits of the paper. You don't want to be sitting up the night before it is due trying to type out several pages!

I start by sitting down and looking at an assignment then figuring out how long it will take me to do it. It doesn't need to be done in one night! As an English major, I have had to write many papers! They average about 8 pages so I'll use that as an example.

• My first day would be sitting down and figuring out exactly what I need to do. Brainstorming and setting an idea.
• The next day or two would be research.
• The third day, I would write about a page (my introduction).
• Days 4, 5, 6, I would write about two pages a day.
• Day 7 would be my conclusion and proof reading. I don't want to miss any errors!

Of course, I might not spend a week on it, it might drag out over two weeks with me working when I can.

Your homework can get overwhelming at times! If you stay organized and know when things are due, you can prevent having too much work in one day!

Staying organized is especially helpful during midterms and finals. Midterms may not be that stressful because different professors choose to have their midterm at different times (some don't even have midterms). But every class at UVU is required to have a final. You might have a final project, paper, test, presentation, or a combination of any of those (Yes, I have had classes that have all 4)

Mapping out your finals week early will help you when they actually come! And don't forget to schedule study time! The two weeks before finals are always very mapped out for me. I know exactly what I am doing each day. If I start to fall behind, I keep re-writing my plan of action so I can get everything done.

But more on finals week later!

Click here to see my post on general school supplies you will need!

Next post: Study habits!

First Day

I know it has been a while since my last blog post, so I apologize, but life has been fairly busy for me lately!

I know that it is still the beginning of July, and really, the last thing a student wants to be thinking about in early July is school, but I'm going to give you some info on what your first day will be like!

The first day of school at UVU is an interesting thing. You will never see as many people on campus as you do the first week of a new semester. (Truth be told, usually by midterms, a lot of people aren't even coming to class anymore).

Your first day can be really scary as an incoming freshman. You don't realize how big a school can be until you are wandering around trying to find your first classroom. So here are some things that you should do/have with you before your first day:

• Log into UVLink and print off your weekly schedule. You'll want to have your class name, section number, time, teacher, and classroom number.
• I recommend that sometime before your first day of class, you go to UVU and walk around to find each of your classrooms. This will save you a lot of time on your first day! There will be a lot of people crowding the halls and if you have a class on the other side of campus, you'll want to know ahead of time.
• For most classes, you probably won't need your textbook for the very first day. But you will want to bring a notebook and pen or pencil.
• Show up early on the first day of school! There will be a lot of people trying to get on campus so the freeway and roads to the school will have heavy traffic. There will be a lot of people on campus and trying to find parking can be horrible. I recommend showing up at least half an hour before your first class begins (and factor in an additional 10-20 minutes of traffic)! If you have an early class (7 or 8 am), chances are you won't have as much traffic, but classes 9am or later will be very busy.

For an incoming freshman, I recommend buying one of the UVU student planners in the bookstore. However, you will probably receive one for free at freshman orientation (which is usually the day before school starts---this would be a good day to wander around campus to find all of your classrooms). If you don't get one at orientation (or you are simply a sophomore, junior, or senior that wants one), you can buy one in the bookstore.

The UVU student planners are helpful for several reasons. The planner contains a student handbook with e-mail addresses and phone numbers for individual departments at UVU; business hours for the library, testing center, etc.; and other important info for students. Probably the most handy thing for a freshman is the map of the school. It has all of the building names and abbreviations. (You'll most likely become familiar with all of the buildings after your first semester; it makes it easier that most people refer to each building with their abbreviation).

When looking at your schedule, your classroom number will be in this format:

LA 001

LA refers to the building that the class is in. In this case, it is the LA building, the abbreviation for Liberal Arts. 001 is the room number in the LA building. Room numbers will always be 3 digits long. The first digit is the floor that you are on- (0 is the basement in the LA building, 1 is the main floor, and 2 is upstairs; in the CS building, 4 is the main level, 5 upstairs, 6 upstairs, and 7 top floor; you'll see that every building is different but all you have to do is look at a room number to figure out which floor you are on). The 2nd and 3rd digits in the room number are the room on that floor. There are signs on each floor that direct you in the direction of the classrooms.

If you have any problem at all trying to find a classroom, there are always UVU employees by each entrance the first week of school that are happy to help you (they also have free maps if you don't want to buy a planner). Don't be afraid to ask for help! They know that UVU can be pretty confusing and they are happy to help!

In my experience, the first day of classes isn't really that stressful. I had this terrible fear that it would be like Legally Blonde and I would walk into my first class and everyone would have read several chapters from a textbook and I would just sit there saying "I wasn't aware we had reading." It's not like that at all!

The first day of classes is used for going over your class syllabus and getting to know your classmates. A syllabus is a paper that your professor gives you that has all of their contact information, office hours, any required and/or optional textbooks you will need, any additional items you may need for class, the objective of what you will learn, the attendance and participation policy, a grading rubric, etc.

A lot of students and professors will refer to the class calendar as a syllabus as well. The calendar outlines every homework assignment, test, quiz, etc that you will have for each day. Your teacher will explain to you what it is that they mean. If you are confused, make sure you ask the teacher to clarify, because there is sure to be another student that is confused as well.

(For example: as an English major, my class syllabus would have a reading assignment next to a date. Each professor has a different idea what that means. It could mean we have to have read the specific reading assignment by that certain date or that was our homework for that night. It is always best to ask rather than come to class unprepared!)

Unfortunately, there are many professors that like to make everyone introduce themselves to the class. It feels very high school, but sometimes it is good to at least know a few people. I was always shy so I hated it and would dread the first day. Things that I have done in college as a "getting to know you" exercise:

• Introduce yourself with a unique fact. If someone in the class has that unique fact , it wasn't unique enough and you have to pick something else.
• Spend time talking to your neighbor and then you introduce them.
• Everyone says their name and then everyone before them (It is just as awful as it was in high school!)
• Introduce yourself with your name, major, and where you are from.

Not that it is super important that you know those getting to know you games, I just thought it would be interesting to see that sometimes, college is still like high school!

As you go through your first day, you may have breaks inbetween classes. Take this time to walk around and get to know the campus! Find the library, go search for Jamba Juice, find all of the restrooms, go read a newspaper (which are free! UVU has several newspapers that are offered to students for free each day! UVU Review (UVU's paper, pretty sure it is weekly), Deseret News (which is a local paper in case you are from out of state), USA Today, and New York Times---occasionally, we have the Daily Herald, another local paper).

The first day of school also marks the beginning of the semester- a chance to be organized! Organization is key to being successful in college. Another reason why I love to have the UVU student planner, it helps to keep things on track!

Next post: Organization