Phylicia Ramos

English 250/260

How Managing Worry Can Help You Succeed In College

 

 

 

Reflecting on my past I could honestly say I would never care about my grades. I was pressured by my parents to keep up my grades to at least a passing level, so I did  just a C average and that was good enough for me. Looking back on my high school career, I know I didn't do my best. Coming to college, you don't have any time for slacking off. It is a major wake up call for me, and most students like me. I feel a lot of stress from dealing with this issue and want to find out how to deal with it so I can learn how to do good in school and succeed here at college.

            Becoming a student in college is a lot to take on for yourself. Having to sort out your time for homework, studying for tests, and managing to have a life is not at all easy as it sounds. In his essay I'm hoping to find out how managing worry can help you succeed here in college.  As I became a college student, I quickly became overwhelmed and stressed out, having the stress of keeping good grades and being overwhelmed because of so many class assignments and tests.

            There are many causes of stress for me, such as not having a good study strategy so I can perform well with my homework and tests. If students have the same problem as this one, we would like a solution. Having to worry about not passing a test is the worst worry for me because it would affect my grade greatly. Studying for a test is even harder because I don't have a good strategy for test taking.

 

 

While I attended high school I constantly worried about tests. I was never really taught a good test taking strategy so I quickly read through my notes and tried to cram as much information in my head before tests. When I went to class and saw the test in front of me, I drew a blank. As I read the questions, some answers would come to me, but when I turned my test in I knew I wouldn't get a good grade. My test taking is terrible and one of my biggest worries here at school. Now that I'm here at college I feel constantly stressed out because as soon as I finish an assignment, I have another one pushed in front of me. It affects me greatly because; having to do well on my assignments means I stay up late and work hard on my papers. I lose sleep, and it also affects me emotionally because I will feel sad or mad. My emotions will continue to build up, which also affects my personal life.      

 

 

            Reading books is a major part of a student's life. One book that stood out to me was a book assigned to read for my college English class called Emotional Intelligence, by Daniel Goleman.  It the book there was a chapter about the authors personal experience in his college class. Goleman had to take a calculus test and had not studied for it. The morning he went to take his exam he was overwhelmed with many different emotions. He felt scared. Knowing he would fail and didn't even try to take the test because to him, there was no point. Goleman talked about the “devastating impact of emotional distress on mental clarity” (78). I can connect myself with the feelings the author mentioned because these emotions can interfere with mental life. If students are feeling stressed, angry, sad, or whatever emotion we may feel, it means the student cannot learn.

            Stress and worry affect many students in college. As a part of learning strategies to manage stress, I interviewed a fellow student attending college. My first question to her was how does stress affect you as a student? She answered, "It affects me emotionally because I will get into a bad mood." This of course is not a good thing for a student, because negativeness won't help you at all with your school work. The second question I asked her was, "What sort of problems cause you to worry about your school work?" She answered she was putting off her work until last minute. This is the worst thing you can do for yourself because this will cause you to be in a negative state of mind, and you can end up with a bad grade. The final question I asked was, "What helps you deal with the problems of stress?" She answered, "Just getting the work done little by little when it is assigned, so when the due date is up you don't have to worry about it." I thought this was a good technique because working out time for your work is the best strategy for a good grade. 

 

 

As I came to the end of my research, I realized how any or whatever solution there is to help you is, it has to fit your own capability. What I learned about developing a good studying strategy is not to catch yourself studying last minute. An easy way to improve your test taking skills is to make note cards for yourself and review them daily, even if it's just for ten minutes. This activity can help you greatly and can help you manage your worries into a little confidence. When it comes to class assignments, working with your teachers or classmates is the best strategy you can gain from.         

After I found resources that are available to me and any other student attending college, I felt relieved and now know all I need to do is work hard, ask for help, and pay attention in class instead of talking to friends. This is just a step of many  to help you succeed in college.