Dissecting Your First Syllabus

The very first thing that you want to do upon getting your syllabus is read it all of the way through at least twice.  Do not make the mistake of putting it away and not checking until the night before you think you have an exam only to have your worst fears confirmed.  It is important to look over your syllabus just to initially familiarize yourself with it.  After that, pick a time in the near future to look into your syllabus in-depth for a few different reasons: first, you want to sync your syllabus with your calendar. Second, you want to examine the requirements and expectations and third, you will want to compare this syllabus with any others you have.

Three Fold Planning

The reason that you will want to sync your syllabus with your calendar is so that you are not caught off guard by any exams or papers or projects.  Chances are you will check your calendar much more frequently than you would your syllabus.  By keeping your syllabus assignments in your calendar, you are much less likely to forget about an assignment or project.  Having your syllabus on your calendar will also help you plan your week around any particularly time consuming assignments.  Having your assignments in front of you may also help you have a better idea of how to shuffle things around if need be.

The reason you want to take time to look at your syllabus in-depth aside from just adding the assignment due dates to your calendar is because there will undoubtedly be details and requirements as well as late policies and other class policies that you will not want sprung on you the night before a big project is due.  I made the mistake early on in my studies of skimming over project requirements and missing something like “all sources must be peer reviewed.” It may sound like a small detail but it changed all of the sources in one of my projects which is a nightmare when the library is closed and the project is due the next day.  Paying close attention to details can save you a lot of trouble.  Also, your syllabus will contain things like late policies and requirements surrounding test taking and possibly helpful hints that the professor has added. Also, if you have any questions concerning requirements for projects or class policies or any confusion at all, it is better to deal with it earlier than later.

Since this is the first syllabus you have received and entered into your calendar, you will want to compare it to other syllabi you have received.  Going through the first syllabus will help you learn what to look for in the next syllabus.  Also, one course may have a very difficult project one week and the other the week after so you may need to re-shuffle your calendar. 

What Makes the Difference?

Keep in mind, the difference between an A and a B may be following all of the details versus missing a few. Thoroughly dissecting your first syllabus can be a major help.

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