“And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere!
And gie’s a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll tak a right gude-willie waught
For auld lang syne.”
~ Robert Burns
Have you ever wondered why, when the ball drops at midnight, nobody seems to know all the words to the song, other than the pressing question of whether or not the auld acquaintance should be forgot, and that bit about the auld lang syne? Well, now you know. Above is the 5th verse (yes, really, there are five verses) in all of its Scots glory, which now allows you to feel better about New Year’s Eve, and which now allows me to type the phrase “right gude-willie waught” one more time and drive spell check into wiggly red underscore frenzy.
Go ahead: sing the 5th verse. You know the melody. Give it spin. I’ll wait here.
Fun, huh?
Anyway, now that we got the melody looping in your head for the rest of the day, let’s talk Resolutions.
The problem with most resolutions, especially those of the improving-my-academic-performance variety, is that our planning can be overly ambitious. It’s like resolving to whip yourself into shape by adopting a plan where you work out three hours a day, seven days a week and, falling short of the lofty goal, abandon the initial resolution for yet another shameful period of slothful anti-health. It’s supposed to be a resolution, not a guise for self-punishment.
If you’re looking to post better grades and/or learn more, start with small, simple strategies. Let’s get back to basics:
- Review your lecture notes after class within 24 hours. This needn’t require a massive amount of time; 20 to 30 minutes max. Couldn’t get to the notes in 24 hours? Don’t abandon the resolution, adjust the plan and get to them in 48.
- Go to class. Even if you think you don’t get anything out of lecture because A) I hate the professor B) The lecture makes no sense and I just get more confused C) Life is so much better in bed – lecture is still three hours a week with the course material. At the very least, if you’re not replacing missed class time with study time, you’re falling further behind.
- Read more, especially if it seems like you don’t read at all. I’m not saying read everything. Remember the whip yourself into shape thing earlier? Same principle. Start with Power Point slides, or chapter summaries. And don’t just read for the sake of reading, think about what you’re reading.
- Come to Weingarten. Our friendly learning instructors know their way around all kinds of academics-related resolutions. At least one of us knows what a right gude-willie waught is.
Now sing the fifth verse of Auld Lang Syne one more time.
– Pete Kimchuk, Senior Learning Specialist