Grading systems are different and depending on the school you attend the challenge of classes will vary. However, one thing that seems to be standard across most schools is the ability to work towards your success in classes over the course of the semester rather than at the end. What does that mean exactly? The era of having the final exam be 70% or 100% of your grade is over. This could be good or bad for different people depending on your classroom goals. For me, this was a big bummer because , in the past, I could’ve gotten away with being able to commit a lot of my time to basketball and push most of my school work load catch up to the weeks around the final exam. This plan could no longer work. Yet we still have the requirements of success in the classroom either for personal development or for expanding the opportunities available to you in basketball.
This leads me to my ext nuget, not everytime WORK HARD, sometimes WORK SMART. This took me particularly a while to get to in the classroom, probably not until my 2nd or 3rd year of college.
When you first arrive in a new school, the expectations are different and if you’re lucky, your school will make accomodations for the difference in school systems. Use that to your advantage reach out to teachers for extra support, ask them fornfeedback constantly so you’re not stuck in your head trying to live upnto an imaginary standard.
Here are my top tips for succeeding in the classroom:
- Read the syllabus end to end at the start of the semester
- Make notes of the values and percentages of each assessment
- Exploit office hours and professors time (This isn’t always possible especially in college)
- Make friends in your classroom that are not athletes (This one is a general rule imo as an athlete but it does come in handy a lot when school work comes into play)
- If tutors are available at your school, exploit them as well
- Find people who have taken the class in the past and ask them how best to succeed*(I’m staring this to note that this one can be tricky because whilst you want someone to give you tips, sometimes they can skew your perception of the class before hand and make it harder than it should be. I try to refrain from this as a result but it can be helpful in some ways)
- Don’t hesitate to ask for help if you’re struggling. You can be helped so much better if you reach out earlier than waiting to last minute
African Athlete Abroad 