As a chemical engineering student, the need for rigorous study is vital for comprehension of the course work and subsequent success in the examination. Towards the end of my Second year, my cumulative GPA was 2.45/4.00, not the worst but below my potential, and I realized that I needed to do things differently.
Previously, I would scarcely, if ever, peruse the lecture material pre-sent by my professors before class. This obviously had me feeling lost during the lecture, as I would be bombarded with information I had not encountered before, and this often resulted in a cycle of always trying to catch up, which is exhausting.

Furthermore, I previously did my assignments with the aim of just submitting them and would often copy the solutions from online sources when available, hardly trying to solve them independently- a clearly lazy and dishonest approach to my education. This was clearly futile as it defeated the whole point of the homework, which was to gauge one’s level of understanding, and most importantly reinforce the topic of study. In addition to that, I also realized that group discussions were not really helping with my learning. In study groups, I always felt some unseen pressure to quickly grasp the material, to avoid the feeling of lagging behind. The pressure had a reverse effect as I would sometimes lie about my comprehension, and result in me wasting time I would have spent to work on my problem areas. Lastly, I acknowledged that as much as the coursebook was often comprehensive, I needed to employ other tools such as tutorials as they often gave better explanations.

In my third year, I made some changes to my study methods. First, I ensured that I went through a lecture’s material before the class-time, using the coursebook to familiarize myself with the content. This improved the speed with which I was learning, as I was rarely feeling lost during the lectures. I was also able to answer the lecturer’s questions and to seek clarity in a more informed manner whenever needed.
Secondly, I unsubscribed from homework-solving sites and resolved to diligently solving them myself. This massively improved my comprehension as the instructor’s feedback gave an accurate indicator of the areas I needed to work on more. Alongside this, I also started watching tutorials from other institutions on platforms such as You-tube, for a different explanation of what I was not fully comprehending from my instructor’s lectures. The problem-solving sessions especially bettered my own skills as I would rewatch as often as needed. I spent my study time individually and I did a better utilization of my time.

My GPA improved with these new implementations, and I continue to practice them today in my fourth year. My learning has improved, and my previous semester’s GPA was an impressive 3.85/4.00.