1. Form good relationships with your professors
Your professor is going to be your best resource in whatever
class your take, especially in major courses. Sure, they can help you understand
the material when you are stumped. More importantly, keeping on good terms with
them will have more subtle and longer benefits. Your professor will be more inclined
to help with your studies and perhaps be more lenient when it comes time to
assign grades. And keeping on good terms with a professor can help you in
future courses with the same professor and could possibly be a letter of recommendation
when applying to schools and jobs.
2. Take advantage of teacher’s assistants
TA’s are usually graduate students or upper classmen who
have a good idea of the coursework and are willing to help. Take advantage of
office hours and get to know them too. They will usually have a good idea of
what’s going to be on the test too, and will steer you in the right direction.
3. Work hard now, coast later
Okay you should never coast, but hopefully you can make life
a little easier by putting a bunch of work in up front. I talked with some of
the “smarter” students in my classes, and they all said that by putting in the
work in their lower level courses, their later courses were easier to get
through. So any freshman or sophomore reading this, you don’t really need that
social life, study more chemistry.
There are a thousand other pieces of advice out there, and
this is by no means comprehensive. If you have something that should be added
to the list, let me know. Doing well in school is like losing weight: it takes
consistent effort over a long period of time, and there is no quick fix. Best
of luck!
-Woodward
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