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| by Thuy Truong, M.A. Ed., TPT Teaching and Coaching, 8/23/2024|
College is an exciting time for many students and families because it means your child is transitioning to the next educational milestone. However, college also means your child will be leaving home for the first time and will need additional skills for independent living. Independence requires tighter organizational and time management skills. The four college skills below are often overlooked in the first college semester and yet mostly needed for neurodivergent students to strike a delicate balance between academic success and social adjustment. Gradually and over time, independence can be achieved with greater daily living implementation in a university setting.
Buy Time
Front-loading is all about freezing up time and effort by offloading trivial, mundane but necessary organizational systems during the early stage (first week of a new semester) way before the semester really picks up. So instead of looking at syllabi every week to catch yourself up, you will use the first week of each semester to load ALL academic deadlines into your calendar making them always automatically at your fingertips anywhere anytime when the semester picks up momentum, you are all ready to go to take care of other major tasks and don't get drained by doing small side tasks like plugging in deadlines here and there. Front-loading is a one-and-done method to take care of any mundane tasks during down time, so you will have premium energy and focus to tackle the more cognitively demanding or time-consuming tasks in the future.
Examples of front-loading (must be done by first week, timing matters because you're essentially buying time):
Buying school supplies once and for all because it will last all academic year.
Plugging all academic and non-academic deadlines for the semester into your calendar.
Buying all textbooks and supplemental materials for the entire semester.
Get gas for the entire week every Sunday (if you drive in college).
Putting all school materials out on your study desk ready to go and maybe replenish materials every month.
Creating digital folders for all your classes during the first week of each semester.
Create Your Own Secret Academic Roadmap
The syllabus is a roadmap to getting that A. Read closely all your syllabi the first week of school and offload deadlines into Google calendar. Besides that, create a cheat sheet that make up of bullet points for each class in four categories:
Basic Info (Instructor's name and class name)
Grading Scale
Class' Structure And Assignments' Frequencies (Quizzes Weekly/Monthly, Weekly Online Discussion Post And Replies To Other Posts-How many to get credit?, Papers, Attendance, And Other Aspects. (Write a short summary about this or bullet it all out).
Any special instructions specific to this class (that's very different from other classes?) For example, you have to do labs for science classes or fine arts classes.
Not reading the syllabus closely is like living in a new country without knowing the language or roads. Reading the syllabus but not creating a cheat sheet is like looking up a password every. single. time. you need it. No one has time for that. That's why the syllabus is a contract for success. However, you won't have time for other important tasks if you have to read the syllabus for each class daily, so that's why you create the cheat sheet in the first week. That way, it's literally at your service whenever and wherever you need to extract some critical information from the document.
Cut Your Study Time In Half (Yes 50%!)
College life is busy with lots of faces and information to process, so you need to learn information as you go (yes, it means memorizing and understanding how a concept actually works. There is a difference between knowing what a car looks like and knowing how to drive a car. Same for learning new content). The most effortless way to get new learning into your long-term memory is to write it out in your own words what you learned that day. Let's say you learned three new concepts in Geography today. You need to write out those three concepts in your own words, give examples, and know how they relate to other concepts in the class or life in general. If you do this every day for every class, you will soon have these concepts under your skin and into your consciousness. When the midterm or final exam arrives, you already have accumulated a solid memory and firm foundation of understanding in your mental system, so you just need 1-2 hour(s) of review by writing the major concepts out again to ensure they are still current and fresh in your mind. Basically, the A is already in your lap, make sure you go to bed early to have the mental energy to handle the exam the next morning. Physical energy and mental stamina are hidden prerequisites for academic success.
Creating Your Own Express Lane On Campus
During the first week of college, make a list of the buildings you need to know and use daily and make sure you know how to travel to and from with great familiarity. In addition to saving time by doing the first three tips above, knowing your campus geography well will save you from exerting additional physical efforts and add convenience to your college life, so you can get things done quickly by moving quickly because you won't be bogged down with the littlest things. Some campus buildings or facilities you probably will need to know immediately:
Nearest restrooms to all your classes
Nearest computer labs to all your classes or dorm
Nearest vending machine to your dorm or classes
Nearest libraries to all your classes and know well what services/resources do they offer similarly and differently among all libraries
How to get to the dining hall from any point on campus?
Any special codes or access information you need to get your hands on the services you need?
By knowing your campus' geography well, you'll walk faster and get what you need faster too, without retracing your steps or waste time getting lost. The reality is, your time is precious, and time is time. Whether we use time wisely by getting something done or not getting it done, time always passes and you will be stuck with the consequences. The more you know the frequently used locations on campus, the more time you will save and the easier your life will be, so the pleasure and convenience of your university experience will heighten by your independent act of front-loading everything during the first week of each semester. Good luck in your college career! Whatever you decide, don't let anyone dim your light. Be your own light.
Thuy Truong, M.A. Ed.
As a Certified ADHD Professional/Coach and Licensed Educator for 19 years, Thuy's holistic approach combines Learning Science with ADHD Science to design brain hack strategies that foster students'/individuals' long-term independence, motivation, and self-management skills. She is diligent in understanding her students and adults on all levels (ADHD, Executive Dysfunction, Autism, Dysgraphia, Anxiety, Depression, Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors-BFRB, Written Expression Disorder, Specific Reading Comprehension Deficit-SRCD, ADHD and Syncope-fainting spells). She listens deeply and spots the missing piece very quickly then she swiftly turns around to personalize tailored strategies to meet her clients' unique needs. She believes in evidence-based practices as well as giving the student/individual the best of all worlds: learning science, cognitive science, and ADHD science. Her favorite part is recognizing the missing puzzle and customizing the "brain hack" in a language that is unique to that individual while meeting all their needs. She especially enjoys helping students/adults translate their challenges into actionable steps and likes letting them know that they are well loved!
Learn more about how Thuy marries a student's processing style with dynamic instructional input here.
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