College Starter Tips - The New Semester

Preparing yourself for the start of a new semester is tougher than it sounds. You must prepare all of the needed materials for your classes but you also must prepare your lifestyle. There are billions of tips and tricks for preparing properly for the start of a new semester, with multiple semesters completed I hope that I can give some good insight into the tips and tricks that I personally use to prepare for a new semester.

The first and most obvious preparation is the supplies that are needed. You do need to get a good mix of materials but buying every single supply will also not help. Another important fact that I have learned is that the amount something costs has no effect on its quality. The obvious supplies are the notebooks, paper, pens, pencils, and math tools. When it comes to notebooks and paper I no longer use any spiral bound notebooks or pads. I simply buy a descent quality binder and some separators, this allows me to remove or add paper when I like. Not only does it allow me to custom tailor the way my notes are laid out but it also allows me to repeat the use of the binder with a cheap refill pack of paper.

Pens and pencils are actually very important, since you will write many notes it is important to get the right writing utensil. For use in graphical math classes or the use of a ruler you may want a nice slim tip for the ruler straight edge. On the other hand for long writing or non- drawing pencils or pens you should go with what fits your hand differently, there are as many different styles of pens and pencils as there are types of people.

Now comes the math tools, obviously a calculator is needed, and I highly recommend getting a non graphing calculator. Many institutions do not allow the use of graphing calculators during tests, so its better to learn how to do the math with a non graphing calculator than leaning too heavily on the graphing calculators functions and missing it when the test rolls around. Personally I always liked the Casio key layout, but once again that is purely personal and what type you first learned on is the one you usually stick with. That and the Texas Instruments are way too much money for my shallow pockets.