Practice Makes Perfect by Vu

Practice Makes Perfect by Vu - November 2016 Scholarship Essay

The titular cliché has a simple meaning: the more one practices something, the more proficient one will become. Attending college has forced me to experience this concept academically and personally. Thanks to this experience of practicing, I have improved my academic skills along with my social skills.

With practices, I have acquired much for my academic skills, particularly, my vocabulary. In my English class, we learn twenty vocabulary words from the contexts of the sentences each week. In addition, we match each word with the words’ official definitions. Afterward, there are three practices to complete. The practices involve filling in the blanks using contexts from the sentences. Two of the three practices are assignments, while the other is optional. I always complete all three practices. These practices help me improving my vocabulary skill and my ability to retain the words longer. Often when I read the news, I run into these vocabulary words and recognize them.

I also run into the following two words that are not from the list of my vocabulary words when I read the news: iterate - to repeat; and eloquent - using words effectively. In contrast to my practicing, I only learn these two words superficially by looking up their definitions. When reading the news on an internet-ready device, it is convenient to look them up since it takes only a few seconds. Looking up the definitions for the sake of continuing the articles, I never practice to truly learn the words. Hence, each time I run into these two words, I do not remember their meanings.

Besides improving my academic skills, practicing has improved my social confidence also. As a shy person, meeting people is something I would try to avoid. However, to overcome this liability, it is crucial that I practice meeting people. Although frightening at first, I do not avoid meeting people like I once was. I even applied to become a math tutor and set my goal to become a math teacher - imagine that. Even though it is not unheard of, this is not something a shy person would usually do. The more I meet with people, the more I gain my social confidence.

Through the concept of practice will make us proficient, I learn not to give up, but to keep practicing until I accomplish my goal, whether it is school or life. Should one give up so easily or only study superficially? If one never practices, one will never perform proficiently. Just remember, practice makes perfect.