Here we go again. Another go at the lectures and more new stuff to learn. Are you excited or are you already marking the holidays and vacations for the coming months? Being a good student is not just about being all eager for homework. More importantly, it’s about being disciplined and hardworking, even if you’d rather be doing other things.

Students can be among the most responsible people in the world. It’s crazy when you look at it. Not every one of them enjoys what they’re doing, but they still keep up with it even amidst all the other things that they’re concerned with (in college, that’d be parties, partners, and booze). So for this semester, you might be thinking of ways how you can be a better student than you were last time around.

Manage your time well. Your studies require all your concentration and a lot of sacrifice. Get a planner and list down your activities and draft it in a notebook which you will always consult  with regard to spending your time. One day seems short if you had a lot of studying to do but if it’s properly managed, you can actually accomplish more things than you think possible in a day. The key is not to hop from one task to another. By working by the minute, you will be more efficient because you know you will work on the next task once you finish the first one. Knowing consciously that everything is according to time will give you more focus on the task you’re doing.

Revise your papers when you have the time. Even the best writers go through their masterpiece over and over again just to make sure that it’s perfect. There will always be room for improvement in your reflection paper, book review, and most especially your thesis. Complacency kills.

Listen intently in class. You can’t recreate the learning process that happens when your teacher is lecturing.  So instead of copying every word he writes which you plan to re-read after class, why not actually participate in the discussion and just listen so there’s immediate comprehension?