How to Use Your Syllabus to Ace this Semester

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This post is all about how to use your syllabus.

This first week of school is absolutely dreadful. There are so many things going on it’s hard to stay organize.

The first day of classes consists of your professor going through your syllabus. I am currently a sophomore in college and let me tell you going through your syllabus will save you time.

I know in high school we got them but never really took them seriously. In college, this has everything you need to know about upcoming deadlines. Learn from this procrastinators mistake by using this step by step guide on how to use your syllabus.

How To Use Your Syllabus:

Print off your Syllabus:

One of the first things you want to accomplish is to print your syllabus out. By printing it out, it will help you highlight all of the most critical information.

This includes office hours, grading systems, and essential contact information.

I prefer reading from a hard copy than online because I feel like I retain information better and it’s easier access if you can’t get to your computer.

Find Your Professors Office Hours and Contact:

I can not stress this enough. You would be surprised how many times my emails were not responded because I didn’t take the time to find the correct contact info. This will hurt you if you need a professor immediately.

To prevent this from occurring, take the time to high light it in your syllabus, write it down in your planner, and write it down on a post-it note. Also, find your professor’s office hours so when you need to go you’ll know.

Take advantage of office hours! Your professor took time out of their weeks to help you out. They have it on the syllabus for a reason and you would probably make their day.

Look at the Grading/Attendance Policy:

This is probably one of the most important things you want to look for in your syllabus. The grading and attendance policy is what can make or break you in college.

If you want to get grades look at the grading scale. It’ll mention all of the importance grade requirements that you may be missing out on

My main advice about attendance is to don’t skip. I get that things come up but you may miss out on important information and you will just being wasting your money.

Like trust and believe I had those days, I get lazy but looking at the attendance policy is a nice reminder that it could hurt my grade. Highlight the attendance and grading policy so you can find it easily.

Look For Required Textbooks:

In your syllabus, your professor will mention your required textbooks. Some people suggest purchasing your books immediately, but in my experience, I believe you should wait after the first week of classes to see if you even like the course or if you are going to use the book.

I once had a class that I bought an expensive book for and didn’t even touch it. I was fortunate enough to make money back, but I suggest when searching for books to check out eBay, Amazon, and Chegg before going to your campus

How to Use Your Planner for Your Syllabus:

You have finally reached the gold at the end of the rainbow. I actually created a whole post about how to organize your planner.

Take the most time on this part to organize all fo your important schedule dates, which may include homework assignments, test dates, and other important information.

For each class, choose a specific color and write out all of your assignments and test dates for the semester. Then my advice is to select a specific day of the week like Sunday to plan out your entire week of what you would like to accomplish.