Read your emails – If
you aren't, start. Especially if you
email someone at WGU, you should receive a response via email as well. Too often I hear students emailing for help
with an issue, and an email response is given, yet the student never checked
their email for the response. Check your email every day
Take Notes – I wish
I was smart enough to memorize everything I've watched or read, but I’m
not. Most people need to go over
material multiple times before they are competent in that subject matter. The act of taking notes is another way to
commit information to memory and should be utilized. If you aren't taking
notes, you aren't studying… you are just reading, or watching videos…. If you aren't taking notes, Start taking
them
Stay organized –
Tips
Emails - Organize
them. Have different folders for different
courses. You get a lot of communication
from WGU, Course Mentors, and your Mentor.
Have places to put these messages and let your INBOX be your to-do list.
Every course should have its own folder and any communication regarding that
course belongs in that folder.
Websites- Create a
Favorites folder for WGU courses. Make
sub-folders for the websites and online resources you may need for each course,
and label those folders with the corresponding course codes or names. Just like your emails, every course should have
its own folder and any online resource regarding that course belongs in that
folder.
Online Distractions –
Make the WGU portal or Google your home page.
I don’t care what search engine you prefer, but Google has very few
distractions on it. If you don’t want to
make a permanent change in search engines, make a shortcut to Google or the WGU
portal on your desktop, that way when you start your studying for the day, you
won’t be tempted to read the latest news story, see personal emails pop up, get
lost in Youtube, or try to access social networking sites…. When you are in
study mode, make it about studying. Simply changing your starting point to
accessing our study material removes big distractions that easily take away
from the time we could be studying. Take easy steps to avoid online
distractions
Set specific goals, be
accountable to them, and make a plan – Without a plan, a goal is just a
wish. You need to know what you want to
accomplish. The large goal is
graduating, and completing each course is part of that process. Don’t hope to complete a course, and you will
take the test when you feel ready… you need to commit to completing a course by
a certain date. Give yourself a deadline
that you won’t be happy with yourself if you miss it. My goal was to complete 1 course every 30
days. If I completed it in 21 days, I had
9 days to reward myself with. If I completed it in 29 days, I took a day
off. The key thing is, my studying was
not optional. If I took time off from
studying, before reaching my goal, it was planned, and my study time the other
days of the week adjusted for that day off. Reaching my goal of completing 1 course every
30 days was not optional. Set your goals
and commit to them.
Work backwards from
goal dates to complete a course – Simple math is incredibly helpful. If you have 3 courses to complete in 6 months,
you have 2 months to complete each course. That’s a simple calculation. If your goal is to complete 1 course every
month, and your course has 4 tasks, you have to complete 1 task every week. We all have different pacing, and WGU lets
students study at their own pace, but that doesn't mean a snail’s pace is
acceptable. I've found that successful
students have a time frame they want to complete a course, and set up a plan of
action to reach that goal. If you leave
a course open-ended and will complete it when the time is right, inevitably
time is wasted, delays are always occurring, and completing all their courses
in a term is very challenging.
Work with Course Mentors - They know the course, they know the test, they know the best tips
and tricks for success with each course.
As much as I try to know each course, there are far too many to have an
expert level understanding of each subject matter. The course mentors do have that expert level
of understanding. They help students every day, that’s what they
are here for. I used them for every
course and am grateful for their help and glad that I did. If you aren't reaching out to Course Mentors, Start.
Don’t procrastinate
and don’t assume there will be enough time…There is never enough time, and
there is always something that is going to compete for your time. Too many times students give themselves too
much pressure at the end of the term because they've waited too long to start
studying. The last month of your term is
not the time to get focused on studying. If that is your plan, change it. Today
is the day to study. The longer you put off
making progress, the longer you are putting off the goal of graduating.
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