When March, a month of a new beginnings comes, the blooming campus greets students. As they come back to school, excited, but also frustrated by the fact that the vacation is over, students try to make the new year even more successful than the year before. In March, time flies without you noticing it with all the excitement and nervousness. Dates for all the orientations and welcoming parties fill your schedule, and the first month of your new campus life passes like an arrow, especially for freshmen.

Trying to fit in to a new society, many freshmen often tend to idle away their time during their first year. If you ask graduates what is the biggest regret in their university life, you will hear the two most common answers: they either say that they regret not enjoying their youth more or they say they are regretful of spending their first year fruitlessly. No matter what your answer would be, it’s important not to let your time slip away. Enjoying youth and freedom is great, but as an adult, you should know that you are responsible for your actions. You should be able to balance your life between studying and your social life. Becoming obsessed with just one side could make you struggle when you go into the real world. Countless hours of partying all night and drinking could leave you with a low overall GPA. Hence, Review has brought you several valuable tips to help you make your time more meaningful. Balancing your life is not always possible, but what matters is that you try.

The first tip you should keep in mind is: “follow the basics”. Things go by so fast especially during the first month, and by simply following some basic rules of studying, i.e. making sure that you preview and overview the chapters, you can avoid cramming all the information from the books when the midterm is close. Lectures for the first year students are not that challenging if, and only if, you concentrate on your lectures. You might wonder what you will face when you get the first midterm papers, and you also might be worried about how you’ll do on your first midterms. But don’t worry too much. Basics are the answer for all. If you do them, you won’t have to miss hang-outs with your friends in order to prepare for the midterms.

However, if you think following the basics is too much for you, here is another tip Review can give you: “sit in the front.” This is very important if you do not want to spend extra hours of studying. If you sit in the front, you can easily concentrate on the lectures. Knowing that the professor can see what you are doing, you will not be distracted or tempted to talk to your classmate sitting right next to you. Therefore, by sitting in the front, you can focus on the lecture. By doing that, you are more likely to listen to the professor during the lectures. That will help you to get extra points on your midterms because you can ‘flash back’ your memory when you are taking the exams, as hints for the exams are normally given during the lectures.

The third tip from Review is: “don’t ever miss the class right before the exam.” Professors give out hints right before the exam, and if you miss that class, it’s like throwing away your last chance of increasing your grade. The professor is your best chance of getting a good grade on the midterm. Pay full attention to your professor. After all, your professor is the one who sets your midterm paper.

If you stick to these three simple tips, you won’t have to worry too much about your midterm grade. Doing your best is fundamentally important, and following our tips is your choice. As a famous American writer Carl Sandburg said, “Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.” Make your time meaningful. Youth comes only once in a lifetime.