The Sooner the Better by Joselyn

The Sooner the Better by Joselyn - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

“You can’t leave all things for last minute if you want to succeed.” As a high school senior, I was busy with other classes and procrastinating on things like college applications. I have always been one to leave things last minute, and it always seemed to work out. Most of the time, procrastinating would turn out fine, but on the other hand, a lot of the times procrastinating would make things worse. Rushing certain essays never turned out better than if I would’ve done them in advance.
This past school year, I learned the most important lesson from my AP Calculus teacher. He gave us a syllabus at the beginning of the school year, with all the homework, assignments, and tests all labeled with a due date. I, like most students, waited until the day before or even waited for a class period before starting my homework. Homework is supposed to be practice, and rushing it especially in AP Calc could never be helpful. On test days, the smartest kids practiced days in advance, meanwhile, I would study the night before. Having AP Calc tests with multiple chapters and endless pages of examples could have never be mastered in a few hours. Not surprisingly, I wasn’t getting the grades I desired. I talked to my teacher and he gave me the most important lesson I have ever gotten from a teacher. He told me I couldn't leave everything last minute if I wanted to do good on them. Sure, small things with no effort could be done last minute, but everything worth couldn't be done in a rush.
If I wanted to succeed, I needed to put more time into my work. I then started doing my homework 2 days in advance; the first day I would do all the problems I understood and the next day I would go in and ask him for assistance on problems I couldn’t solve. On test days, I would do the same thing. I would work and try to figure out as many problems as I could and then I would ask him for assistance. Not procrastinating on homework in AP Calc was probably the biggest change. Homework would lead to me having extra practice before getting to the test. Tests seemed easier; I would constantly remember doing certain steps from my homework. Homework is truly the best practice for your bigger assignments. At the end of the year, I ended with an A in the class. This lesson I acquired from my AP Calc teacher, not only changed the way I worked in his class, but it also changed the way I worked on my other classes, and outside of school. All things can’t be left until last minute if you want to do good on them.