How I started changing my way of thinking. by Briauna

How I started changing my way of thinking. by Briauna - December 2024 Scholarship Essay

A time I felt as if I needed to change my way of thinking was when I thought I'd fail. Often when I would take a test, quiz, or something that requires pre-preparation, I would convince myself that I'd fail. When I started college I was presented with my first exam and I didn't know how to study, hence, I wasn't taught any methods during high school. The week of the test I started to cram all the knowledge day of trying to retain the information not knowing that it takes a process. I wasn't ready, but I felt prepared, as soon as the test was presented in front of me everything I reviewed suddenly went away, and I kept telling myself I was going to fail; even though I didn't do so well this mindset was not something I wanted to bring into my first year and it's not going to help me to keep pushing through harder assignments to come. After this exam, I spoke to a Peer Academic Coach and she assisted me with methods to help me study effectively, and actively, and help me retain knowledge like the "Pomodoro method". I would go to her every week so we could discuss how I could prepare for more upcoming assignments, and exams and some ways I could quiz myself to become more confident in testing. The most challenging part was keeping up the schedule to study, I'm not a person to stays on the same schedule, I have to switch some things up like my environment, when I study, and how I study. Since I never studied it was hard for me to create a habit of making sure I spent my time wisely but with the daily appointments it started to be engraved in my schedule. In the end, it was all worth it because on my finals I knew the allotted time I had to prepare, and what to study, declined all activities that could interfere with my study time, and made sure I took effective breaks that prevented my brain from being drained and eventually I ended up doing very well on each of my final exams ending with high results boosting my GPA.