Making History (7B)

In previous years history class was a joke to me. I didn’t care enough, to do well in class. I passed my high school history classes by doing the absolute minimum. When the class was asked to read for the following class, I wouldn’t even touch the book. When we were asked to do a project, I wouldn’t start until the last few days. When we were asked to study for a test, I wouldn’t even look over anything. I was not trying to be a bad student. I simply did not understand history in the slightest bit!

 Now in college, it’s a whole new game. Professors expect a lot more work compared to high school. Being so lost, and not even trying to work in my history class, how was I going to survive in this college history course? I was terrified, and frustrated because in history each year you build upon what you learn in previous year. I didn’t understand anything at all; therefore I had no recollection of what I was taught. 

I began to take large leaps because my work ethic in class was not where it should have been. In class I took so many notes, I forced myself to pay attention. I copied down every single word on the PowerPoint slides, and tried to write down everything the professor was saying. It was so hard to understand what I was writing down. I went home and would look over my notes and I still couldn’t comprehend it. My professor gives chapter quizzes every week. I thought that paying attention would allow me to do well on the quizzes. I was so wrong about that. I bombed my first 2 quizzes.

The third quiz was coming up soon, and I was so mad that I was failing these quizzes. They would impact my grade heavily, so I decided to turn my studying skills up a notch. I wasn’t doing the readings because I thought he went over the chapter in his lectures. That was my second mistake. I looked on the syllabus and saw that Chapter 3 was supposed to be read for the upcoming week. I sat down and began reading the chapter. After 3 long hours, and countless sticky notes popping out of the textbook a feeling of accomplishment rushed through my whole body. Finally, I understood the chapter! I jumped into my notes and re-read what I had written down and it all clicked. I was so excited and loved the feeling that took over me. The following class I had a quiz on chapter 3. The professor passed out the quiz and I looked at mine and knew mostly all the questions! There was one or two I wasn’t too sure about but the rest of the questions I was knew off the top of my head.

My professor grades the quizzes that same day and posts them on BlackBoard. I was so anxious to see how I did on it. I knew that I had put hard work into preparing for that test, and hoped for a better grade than a 50 or a 60. The time came when my phone went off with a notification saying that my history quiz grade was posted. My heart dropped and I opened it up. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I had received an 8/10. I was overwhelmed with joy.

I saw how much of a difference effort can make. I was so excited to see improvement just in changing my studying and work habits in and outside of class. Reading the chapter and making sense of the events really made a huge difference for me. Once I saw how bad I had done on my first 2 quizzes I knew I needed to do better.  This feeing of getting a good grade on my quizzes has motivated me to keep on working hard. It makes me feel so accomplished and in the end it will pay off with a good grade in the class.