Work Hard. It will pay off.
.I knew going into Autumn Quarter 2017 that I was going to work hard. I wasn't a freshman anymore, I didn't have any more room to take exploratory classes, and I had to figure something out. I set my heart on Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. Knowing this I decided to take the Honors Organic Chemistry sequence to really challenge myself and see if I could truly do what I told myself I wanted to.
I have spent more time in the last 3 months on this than anything else, it seems even more than sleep. To put it in context during the 3 days before the final I think I spent a collective 24 hours in the library. Luckily, all this time I put in was worth it.
The two tests below are probably what I am most proud of academically thus far in my college career. The picture on the left is the first midterm, which I thought I would do well on because it was mostly review of what I already knew from general chemistry, but ended up getting below average. The picture on the right is the third midterm, on which I received the highest marks in the class. After receiving the first test I completely changed the way I thought about what I was learning and how much effort it really took to succeed. Putting in hours will work, doing a little extra than what you think you should will always help, and really taking the time to understand a concept rather than just memorizing it is the way to really learn and really understand.
I have spent more time in the last 3 months on this than anything else, it seems even more than sleep. To put it in context during the 3 days before the final I think I spent a collective 24 hours in the library. Luckily, all this time I put in was worth it.
The two tests below are probably what I am most proud of academically thus far in my college career. The picture on the left is the first midterm, which I thought I would do well on because it was mostly review of what I already knew from general chemistry, but ended up getting below average. The picture on the right is the third midterm, on which I received the highest marks in the class. After receiving the first test I completely changed the way I thought about what I was learning and how much effort it really took to succeed. Putting in hours will work, doing a little extra than what you think you should will always help, and really taking the time to understand a concept rather than just memorizing it is the way to really learn and really understand.