Selecting Your Courses

Part 2

The following subjects and classes are standard fare for success in high school and beyond, whether you plan to attend a four-year or two-year college.

English (Language Arts)

Take English every year. Traditional courses, such as American and English literature, help you improve your writing skills, Reading comprehension and vocabulary.

Math

You need algebra and geometry to succeed on college entrance exams and in college math classes- and in many careers. Take them early on. That way, you’ll be able to enroll in advanced science and math in high school, and show colleges you’re ready for higher-level work.

Most colleges look for students who have taken three years of math in high school. The more competitive ones require or recommend four years. Each school has its own program, but some of the courses typically offered are:

·      Algebra 1

·      Algebra 2

·      Geometry

·      Trigonometry

·      Calculus

Successful Students

10

10. Successful students are good time managers. Successful students do not procrastinate. They have learned that time control is life control and have consciously chosen to be in control of their life.

An elemental truth: you will either control time or be controlled by it! It’s your choice: you can lead or be led, establish control or relinquish control, steer your own course or follow others. Failure to take control of their own time is probably the no. 1 study skills problem for college students. It ultimately causes many students to be non-students! Procrastinators are good excuse-makers. Don’t make academic harder on yourself than it has to be. Stop procrastinating. And don’t wait until tomorrow to do it!

The 10 items listed above are paraphrased from an article by Larry M Ludewig called Ten Commandments for Effective Study Skills which appeared in The Teaching Professor, December, 1992.

“Learning Technologies and Online Education”