First Night of College

So last night I started my first evening of college.

I am doing AS Human Biology. Even though I already have my A-Levels and have been to university, I couldn't find anything to do with my degree though luckily I got a job in a pharmacy which I now love. I have completed the counter, stockcheck and dispensing training in pharmacy and the next course to do would be the technician course. One of my colleagues is already doing this at work and it's gone up a step in terms of effort and knowledge. I really want to complete it though, so I am putting myself through college again, one night a week, to learn a subject I think will significantly aid me in a career in pharmacy. I was going to do chemistry as well but I didn't want to take on too much, and after looking at my colleague's workbooks, which is very biology orientated, I thought this the better option.

Even though I have gone through the learning process, I was still incredibly nervous. What hadn't helped was going through the text book the night before and panicking that I didn't understand anything. (Though to be honest, the book isn't very user-friendly, it just assumes you know what it's talking about, which I obviously don't after seven years of no science, and just moves on to the next section. I turned to Google to help me understand, always helps.) 

So I sat through the first hour, enrolled and got back to the class to find everyone looking through microscopes. Again, haven't touched one of these in seven years. The classmates sat at the back with me were really helpful though, they showed me where everything was and how to work the microscope (they've been updated since I was last at school so I had no idea).

Still, I felt nervous and out of my depth. The class went on, slideshow went up and we began to learn about blood and what's in it. 

I am now really glad I went through my book the night before. 

The little bit of knowledge I learnt in just a few pages helped me understand what the tutor was talking about and I could actually work out  the answer to the questions she was asking. Next step is actually getting the confidence to speak up, I am very shy in class even when I know the answer.

I now feel confident about this class and am excited to learn more. It was fascinating, especially when I finally found the blood cells in the microscope and was able to identify them. I can't wait to learn more. 

So my top tips for evening classes:

1 - RESEARCH - Get the textbook early and go through it! Be prepared, especially if you haven't done the subject recently. I'd rather have questions on a subject when we're learning it in class, than the next week when we've moved on. I only have three hours a week in college, I don't want to waste them.

2 - BE CONFIDENT - Anything is within your potential if you feel positive about it, you can do this! Just remember why you are doing it and what you want out of it and believe in yourself.

3 - BE ORGANISED - Get the textbook, get a pencil case and fill it up: pens, pencils, eraser, sharpener, ruler, highlighter, colour pencils, calculator, whatever else you need. It doesn't look good if you keep having to ask for basic equipment. Also, get there early, make time for traffic and adjust what time you leave. As I said before, limited learning hours, you don't want to miss a second, especially if you're paying for it yourself!

4 - MAKE FRIENDS - It's always easier when you have someone to help. Get to know your classmates, help each other out with tasks or if they get confused, you could even car share if they live near you.

5 - SPEAK UP - If you know an answer or have a question then just say it. I definitely need to improve on this. If you don't ask, you won't understand, and as they say, there's always someone else who is thinking the same thing. If you know the answer then say it, it will give you a boost to be correct, and if it's wrong, you then learn from it. I watched Meet the Robinsons last night where they celebrated failure. They said there's always something you can learn from failing but not much from succeeding, which is actually very true.

So good luck if you're starting a class too! Hope this has helped =)