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Belmont Technical College, OH
I was a first-year student and enjoying college, but I was having a hard time in my electronics class. The teacher lectured about things like current, watts, volts, and resistance, and even though I read the book, took notes in class, and asked questions, I still wasn’t understanding what I needed to.
When I got back my first test, I didn’t fail but I did pretty badly. I was scared because, if this is what the first test was like, how hard would the rest of them be? This was a new experience for me because I never had to study much to do well in school. I knew that I had to try something different if I was going to pass electronics.
In my Student Learning and Success class, I read about the 32-day commitment, and I decided to give it a try. I decided to read one section from my electronics book twice every day for 32 days. I figured that if I read the section twice, maybe I would understand it better the second time around.
However, as the semester went on, I still wasn’t doing so hot. At times I felt like quitting my commitment because, even though I was reading every section twice, I still wasn’t getting it. By midterm, I was ahead of the class in the book, and when the instructor taught the section, it was all review for me.
Then one day he was putting examples on the board, and I realized, “Hey, I know this stuff.” Since I already understood most of the material, I had time to focus on the things that I didn’t understand. Everything that was still blurry to me he made clear. On the next chapter test, I got a 93, and in the end I passed the class with a B.
It’s amazing what doing one little thing for 32 days can do for you. I never would have thought committing 32 days to reading a section from my book twice would help so much. Before, I’d say, “Yeah, I read it,” but I was only skimming. When I read it a second time, I picked up things that I missed the first time through and I really understood what I was reading.
In the end, the 32-day commitment was able to help me pass my electronics class, but even more important, this experience gave me a lot more confidence. Now I know that I can pass all of the challenging classes on the way to my degree.
