The transition from high school to college is not easy, especially academic wise. Taking a First Year Experience class has helped me with that transition, but I did have to learn somethings on my own to survive my first year of college. High school is not all like college, yes it is obvious, but many incoming freshmen students come in with the expectation that college is just like high school. And, it is definitely not. There is definitely more freedom, but when you don't know how to have self-control with that freedom, it can effect your grades.

With working more than 40-hours a week and taking 17-credits, these strategies helped me get a 4.0 GPA my first semester in college. If I could get a 4.0 GPA, you can get a 4.0.

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1. Organizing all your assignments from all your syllabi.

Reading this post on Pinterest and taking my transition class has shown me that this actually works. Putting all of your syllabi's together into one big packet, will help you avoid missing any assignments. This packet will be your go-to packet when you forget what may be due that week or the assignments to come. Be sure to remember to cross off any assignments that are done and make sure you keep it updated if any dates are changed. This packet should include, dates, classes, assignments, quizzes, test, midterms, and finals.

2. Try to work ahead.

College is not like high school, where you can cram the night before and still get an A. I've learn this my first semester at college, taking my first psychology test and bombed it. High school did not teach you how to study! It is when you get to college and find out that studying is in fact very important and could get you good grades. Try to use different strategies in studying to see which one is best for you. I found flash cards, and study groups work best for me.

5. My research paper strategy.

This could be you finishing your research paper early! Every college student knows that research papers are due at the end of each semester. So what I do to avoid pulling all nighters' and writing three reasearch papers all at once. I would set aside a week and each day of that week I would write only one page of my research paper. By the end of the week, I would have about seven pages and then
take some time to revise my paper. This strategy helps avoiding cramming and procrastinating. I also find this way more effective, and gives me so much time for other things as well.