Lyric
Freshman Year Struggles

“Be prepared, work hard, and hope for a little luck,” words said by late journalist Edward Bradley that accurately described my transition into from high school to the university. Coming into my freshman year I assumed that if I continued with the same work ethic as high school then I would have the same amount of success. However, I learned that if you don’t prepare correctly you work twice as hard for half the amount of success. The little amount of luck that I had, that my peers did not, was taking FYS. This course put my grades higher than most incoming freshman and helped get my mindset accustomed to the differences at the university level for studying, time management and skills. In concert with every issue I encountered as a freshman, FYS offered easily available solutions; majority of said solutions included simple preparation.
Initially, one thing that I struggled with was adjusting to the class sizes. I was so accustomed to the intimate class settings of high school that I didn’t know how to be an active listener in a class of over 300. This directly affected my participation, attention and comprehension in the course. As a solution, FYS taught the various ways to become an active listener by preparing prior to class. Skimming the chapters, developing questions, and making an outline to follow were steps that I began to take prior to attending class. In addition, I was taught to sit in the front to avoid distractions and to utilize the available office hours to address any questions that I developed during the class. Another aspect that I struggled with was how to manage the vast amounts of free time that I had when I went from 35 hours of school a week to only 12. There was also the increase in work load where I would have twice the amount of homework to complete in half the amount of time. FYS helped with these issues as the semester progressed by teaching that I needed to study twice as much, if not more, than I ever had in high school. I learned to plan study session during my “free time” to make up the difference for not being in class as often as high school. I also learned how to divide up my work load, to reduce the amount of stress it caused, and the most effective study methods, so that I wasn’t perpetually cramming.
FYS is the most useful course that I have taken thus far. Due to its immediate applicability to my other courses, it has directly impacted the way I have studied and prepared in my first semester. In comparison, many of my peers fell behind because they lacked the knowledge and skills to make a proper adjustment to the University. My GPA is proof of the success that this course has had in aiding my progression as a student at the university. In my first semester, I could not only remember information for tests, but retain what I had learned and apply it to the various course concepts that made the courses more interesting. I got incredibly lucky by taking the FYS course, as it effectively nullified most of my freshman year struggles. Going into the next semester and years to come, I fully intend to continue to practice the various planning, preparing and studying skills that I gained during this past semester.

