Testing, Testing, One Two Three by Camilla

Camillaof State College's entry into Varsity Tutor's December 2017 scholarship contest

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Camilla of State College, PA
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Testing, Testing, One Two Three by Camilla - December 2017 Scholarship Essay

Say your teacher gave you three whole months for you and your classmates to present the history of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in the format of your or your group’s choosing. You might at first think that this will be a cinch, and that you will definitely get started early so you can get it out of your way, but after a week has passed, your teacher has given you more assignments that are due earlier than the large project, so of course it is okay to shift your focus, right? Wrong. Procrastination is not the only thing to overcome when trying to complete a school project successfully; you must start early, learn to trick your mind, and have credible people check your work.

Every child in the world has surely had some form of the phrase, “Don’t procrastinate,” shoved down their throat numerous times, so I invite you to get a head start and plan ahead instead. The second that project is given to you, start using your imagination to brainstorm ideas of what you are going to do, how you are going to do it, and why this is going to be your greatest masterpiece yet. Masterpieces take more than just one minute of rushed thinking, and such rushed thinking can lead to you forgetting an important requirement from the rubric or even lead to grammatical errors. Therefore you should relax and let your mind ponder over the project and ensure that you jot down those brilliant ideas on some notebook paper. If you are in a group, do not forget to share and discuss that information with your peers. Before you know it, you already have an outline or rough draft of what you plan to do and you do not feel like pulling all of your hair out because of the imminent deadline that is just a hair width away from you. However, your mind might wander for too long and before you know it, the deadline is upon you, but there is a way to prevent this from happening: You must learn to trick your mind.

Many people feel too relaxed when a deadline seems farther than the distance between the Earth and the sun, and such a feeling can induce the delay of working on the project. To counter this common occurrence, break up the project into sections so it feels like you have less to do. Then, when you finish one section, you will feel ecstatic that you accomplished a portion of the project instead of feeling like you made a minuscule dent in the enormous truck that is your project. This alone cannot help your overall success in the project, for you must also set earlier deadlines for yourself. A closer deadline will keep you on your toes, especially if you incorporate it with the previous trick in which you ultimately set deadlines for each section of the project. By you taking the initiative to do the project earlier than most, your group members will also be impressed and also work on it. After all, actions speak louder than words. After working leisurely on the project, and all that is left to do is to put on the finishing touches, there is one more thing to do before your brilliant project can become a masterpiece: You must check and recheck your work.

Checking your work, also known as proofreading, is an essential part of producing a project worthy of an “A”. It may seem the best if you check your own work once and that is all, but having your peers in your group will also help. However, sometimes you or your group members will say something is fine, but that part of the project is actually in desperate need of attention, or maybe that part has the potential to be better. For written statements, read the writing aloud so you can hear awkward grammar mistakes and point out weird word choices. Many times, when you proofread the same paper over and over again, you miss some mistakes because your brain auto-corrects it for you. Obtain a fresh pair of eyes – preferably eyes from someone who is not afraid to criticize your work- to look over your project and read what is written as well. After all of this checking and rechecking, there is no doubt that your project will be a success.

Many people have great ideas, but the problem is how to use your time wisely so that you can get those ideas in a physical form. That is called Time Management. These two words are constantly said and written about all over the internet and in schools, but what is needed is a definition, a how-to guide. This essay has been provided to exponentially increase your success in future school projects and can be applied to even more projects outside of school. By practicing these methods, instead of you having the project by the deadline, you will be in the habit of being able to have the project done before you are even assigned the project.

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