Who started classes this week?

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I started on Monday, and while it is wonderful to be in class again, my Calculus class is going painfully slow, and Chemistry isn't much better. (Do we honestly need to spend two days reviewing linear functions?)

The corridors are crowded, narrow, loud, and lit with these terrible fluorescent overheads. None of the windows open in the classrooms ("to keep us from jumping out," said the guy behind me when I mentioned it). Walking between classes is often near-impossible, but I picture myself a salmon (alive, not made into a tasty burger) and I swim swim swim.

Socially, have made some progress. There is a guy behind me in Chemistry who seems nice (and we're both mechanical engineering majors), although the only thing we have talked about so far is the ridiculous layout of the parking lot. (Terribly inefficient, and so much space is wasted. I could have designed much better.) I like to pretend that this is only temporary, and one day I will be in a room of people and we can talk about the Science Times section every Tuesday. Hopeful for club expo next week, might look for a club or two to check out.

I have found some secret hiding places where I can go and study between classes. I eat lunch there too, because I tried to eat in the cafe on the first day and nearly had a breakdown. In high school, I would eat during class and get a pass to go to the library during lunch period. Or I'd eat in the bathroom. Or sometimes I'd just go to the nurse and take a nap.


How has school been for you guys? What is your favorite class? Do you have a favorite spot on campus? What are some coping strategies you use?

I did, finally. 1st year of college. Anyone know how to take open book tests? I've always been bad w/ them but any test where to have to memorize the answers, pick them out through matching or multiple choice I'm pretty good with.

If you're allowed to use your textbook, highlight the important bits when you do your reading. You can also use different colors, like blue for headings, pink for examples, green for proofs, and yellow for equations & important constants (science example; would be different for history, etc.). Also making notes in the margins can be helpful for if you wanted to keep track of additional information. Make sure you know the layout of your book, and use the index to make searching for information quicker.

If you're only allowed to use your notes, make those notes as easy to navigate as possible. I've been using an adapted version of the Cornell system for note-taking--there's plenty of stuff online about it if you want to check it out. It makes it a lot easier to use my notes as a study tool instead of just a record of the lecture. A lot of my professors have used Powerpoint for lecture, and then they make those notes available ahead of class. Some people like to have those on hand so that they already have a record of the lecture and can pay attention better. Me, if I have the notes ahead of time, I find that I kind of 'zone out' during lecture until it's nearly over, so instead I have taken to forcing myself to take notes.

Sometimes they'll let you take an index card or a sheet of notes with you (they let us for my polisci class because of the structure of the exam). Make sure you talk to your professor about what will be provided on the test for you (e.g., formulas, constants, periodic table) so that you don't waste valuable space writing down a piece of information your prof will give you in the exam.

Also, if you are allowed, bring post-its or sticky tabs into the exam--helpful for marking your place when you are flipping through the book and looking for information to support your arguments. Plus if you write quotes or information on the post-its, you can arrange them on your desk to literally build an argument and help with making seamless transitions between paragraphs (I always get docked points because of that!).

Chances are, if it's open-book, they will be expecting an essay (or several), because they want you to be able to use/analyse the information that you're given in your text/notes. Anticipate potential questions that could be asked of you (usually the prof will say something like "this is very important" or whatever when the subject is likely to be on the exam), and try and come up with a handful of arguments. Also, skim all the essay questions first, especially if you can choose one of several questions to answer. Pick out an easy one to do first to build your confidence, and then move on to more difficult questions.

I started last week.

I started school on Wednesday, and I'm already sick of high school orientations and of having near death experiences from high school students driving SUVs as I ride through the parking lot on my bike.

I started last week also but since all my classes are all online, it's rather nice to not wait in traffic while heading there. >.>

BTW, this is my final semester of college.

I drive to school, and it's terrifying. I am a terrific driver (even if my little car likes to think it's a Ferrari), but I have such a hard time anticipating what OTHER drivers are going to do. I've been in about seven near-accidents. Drivers are crazy! Especially the ones at my brother's school (I drop him off), because I'm like, "I am sorry that you have to pull all the way up the loop and now your 'special snowflake' will have to walk all of ten feet to the front door..." and then I take out the world's smallest violin and play the world's saddest song.

I biked regularly for a long time, though, and I can understand that. We haven't got bike lanes now, and our town is traversed with small, busy highways, so we can't bike anymore.


And congrats, Tim_Tex on your last semester! Good luck!

Thanks!

I started school today. So far, I'm liking it a lot more than last year. It helps that I had good lessons today (double English literature, triple history).

I started wednesday 2nd (owwww) but on the good side I have chosen all my subjects so should be a relatively enjoyable year. Also i have got double as much maths as I have ever had before so even better.

I started Wednesday too, after a five years away from school.. Funny how when I was working full time I wished I was in school, and now that I'm in school, I wish I was working.

I'm starting my third year at community college on Wednesday.

It is my second year of college and I start classes tomorrow

I start tomorrow, Wednesday the 9th. Even though I have been hanging around the college for a week to get used to the atmosphere, I official start classes tomorrow. My first class is Human Anatomy.I am going for an associate's to become a Histology Technician.
This is actually my first year, but the 3rd time I am actually going to school. I am going back after 10 years(my first year I went was 1997, the second was in 1998).

I'm into my third week of college now. I can't believe it's only been three weeks, it feels like it just started yesterday and I've been here forever. I'm still adjusting to it to put it mildly. I've never been around so many people before, so it's still sorta like @-@.

I spend a lot of time in my dorm room. It's where I eat, study, sleep and hide. I tried to eat in the Cafe my first day too and I had the same problem. It's so noisy and just argh! I don't like it. It terrifies me. But, I still have to go in there to find food at least once a day. Bugger having to eat to live.

My favorite class has to be my drawing basics and 2D design class because everybody in there is really nice. They make jokes all the time, and it's just generally a fun time. Plus, one of our teachers feeds us and food is always a bonus.

Socially it's intense, but it's good for me I guess. I made a lot of 'instafriends' because my roomie loves to drag me places (she's a junior so she knows everybody) and they're all really nice people so it's pretty awesome. I also made a friend in my art class who lives on the floor above me, and people have taken to dragging me off on their wanderings to get food or go places, so I guess I could say I've made a lot of friends.^^