The Road Less Traveled by Jaylee

The Road Less Traveled by Jaylee - May 2016 Scholarship Essay

I feel I have learned the hard way to get the most out of life’s lessons.
By the hard way, I mean I have learned from my mistakes. This statement is
true in most avenues of life. I have learned more from my mistakes
firsthand than through any other method, specifically when it comes to my
study habits for final exams. Up to this point in my life, school has
dominated the majority of my time and I have come to realize the
importance of learning and good grades.

In the past, no matter how many times teachers, classmates, parents,
siblings, colleagues, etc. told me I should start early to study for the
end-of-the-year tests, end-of-the-semester tests, or just tests in
general, I always seemed to procrastinate studying until I absolutely had
to. This always led to cramming the material in the night before the final
or test including anything from multi-step math problems, to complex
chemistry equations, to memorizing scientific and historical dates and
events. Sometimes these habits of procrastination even leaked over into my
day to day activities and events, limiting what I could do. Sometimes this
would even conflict with another class and make it virtually impossible to
cram for two classes at once.

Not to mention not being prepared for my final exam, this procrastination
led to stress before, during, and after the exam because I never felt I
was putting my best foot forward nor coming close to reaching my full
potential. The biggest stress or worry was during the test that I wouldn’t
be able to recall the facts I had crammed in the night before.

The first time I realized the importance of prioritizing regular study
habits was my first semester of college. It involved an accounting class.
To be honest, it definitely was not one of my favorite classes. As a
result, I had a tendency to procrastinate my class workload. For example,
I started out by not finishing my assignments until just before they were
due. This led to waiting until the last minute to study for tests and
finally my final exam. Ultimately, I was trying to finish assignments
before I could even study for my tests and this snowballed throughout the
semester. This was extremely stressful because I went from doing sloppy
assignments to cramming for a test and ultimately trying to cram it all in
to take my final exam. I didn't feel prepared even after all the study
hours the night before the final exam. I realized that my stress level
never subsided and I didn’t want that to happen again. Not only that, but
I knew I did not learn the material as well as I should have.

As my college classes grew more difficult, I started to realize I could
retain my course information and do better on my final exams if I made a
daily, weekly, and monthly effort to schedule and organize my course
requirements. In order to do this, I realized it was best to make a
schedule, study, organize my notes, do my assignments, and keep up on
class reading each and every day. In order to do this, I had to organize
my time and set priorities. Once I created a schedule and organized my
assignments in preparation for my finals, I found I could remember more
information and ultimately did better on my finals, not to mention the
tests that led up to those finals.

One class that reaped the rewards of these improvements was when I took a
college statistics class. This particular class was satellite broadcasted
only once per week. I realized the majority of my grade came from four
tests that were scheduled throughout the semester. I calculated that if I
failed one of those tests, I would fail the class. This put a lot of
pressure on me. I realized I couldn’t afford not to make and continue
organized daily study habits. There were many things that made this
imperative for this class. First off, I knew I wouldn’t be in that class
every day and not even every other day. Most college classes are only two
to three times per week, but once per week really made me start to panic.
Secondly, I knew my grade depended on doing well on those few tests.

There were two things I did to insure a good grade in that class. First, I
know I did well because I made a study schedule and made it a priority to
study thirty to sixty minutes every day and even more on some days. The
second thing that helped me learn the material even better is that I made
time to help and tutor others in the class. I found out when I had to
teach the material, I had to understand and comprehend the material on a
much deeper level so that I could explain it to someone so that they could
understand it.

Throughout these class experiences, I realized I can take the easy road
and look for something bigger, better, or even a quick fix to get good
grades. However, I have learned it’s usually the little things that make
the big difference, specifically prioritizing, scheduling and studying a
little bit every day and then making time to share and teach others that
are struggling as well.