 Hello everybody, Andrea Maeski here with Dental Well Tutoring. I am going to talk to you guys about how to have the best semester ever as a student. So it doesn't matter if you are a dental assistant student, a dental hygiene student, pretty much any dental student would be able to take a huge take away from this. Okay, so how to have the best semester ever, even if last semester or the last semesters before this one, you were barely passing classes, you did not do well with your projects, test assignments, that's okay. It is totally possible to start fresh if you follow these tips that I am about to give you. So a little bit of a background info on myself if you don't know me too much yet. So I have been tutoring dental hygiene and dental assisting students through Dental Well Tutoring since 2005, I believe, so it's been a while. I love what I do. I went to dental hygiene school twice. I took the program twice, not because I failed, but because the first school that I went to had gone bankrupt. So it had shut down three weeks before I was supposed to graduate. So if you're in your last semester now, you know, you're almost done. You pretty much know everything. You just kind of have to finish things up and then take your exam, right? So imagine being done, but still having to take the program again. So I have been a dental receptionist and dental assistant, dental hygienist. I became a restorative hygienist four years ago. And now I do own my own dental hygiene practice. So I actually go to people's homes, nursing homes to clean their teeth. So that's just a little bit about me. But in school, I did get very, very good marks. In high school, I had horrible marks. I barely passed all of my classes. Honestly, I was not a very good student. Not because I didn't try, but I just kind of felt like I didn't know what I was doing or I didn't really care. I don't know how to explain it. But when I became a dental assistant in school, that's when I started getting really, really good marks. I maintained a 90 or above average in every single, every single class. I won a couple awards in dental assisting and in dental hygiene schools also. So I kind of know a thing or two about kind of picking it up. But did I get perfect on every single test, every single assignment, every single project? No, I didn't. I'm not that person who can study the night before and then pass everything. That's not me. But let me give you guys some tips on how to have the best semester ever. So the first thing that you need to do is to think positive. I know that may sound silly. It may sound pathetic, but it's true. You need to trick your mind in thinking. School is awesome. I mean, not awesome, but trick your mind in thinking that you are going to do the best you possibly can. Because if you wake up every day and think, Oh, I have to go to school again. This sucks. Teachers hate me. I'm not a good student. I'm taking pharmacology today. I don't know what I'm doing. That is kind of setting yourself up to not do well. It is. It's true. We all have those thoughts. It's completely normal. When I was in school, I felt teachers hated me, basically. They didn't tell me that they hated me, but I felt that they were always harder on me than anybody else, especially when I took school the second time because they expected so much from me. But taking hygiene the second time doesn't make it any less hard. It was still very, very hard. So I had a very, very tough time in school. I do have another video on that. If you would like to see it, let me know where I basically talk about how I cried every day because I just hated school so much. But I still did very, very well. So even if you are at that point where you literally want to cry every day because school is so hard, you can still turn things around and do an amazing job. So think positive. The second thing that I want to talk to you guys about is you need to have a plan. Plans do well. If there's one thing, if you say to yourself, Okay, I'm going to study every day for that pharmacology test because the last one I barely passed. Well, you need to have a plan. You saying that you'll study every day isn't a very good plan. That's a star, but it's not a plan. So you need to say pick actual timelines, like let's say you're in school till 330 on Mondays, it takes you an hour to get home. So let's just say have a have a have a plan, write it down and say from 330 till 430. Well, you're on the bus. You are going to study pharmacology. When you get home at 430, you're going to eat and just take it easy for 45 minutes. So from what did I say from 430 till 515. But then from 515 after you, you know, eat and take a break from 515 till 715, you are going to study for your oral pathology test. And then you know, so do you get the idea? So always pick a plan or sorry, pick timelines of exactly what you're going to do. This will help you plan out your day as if you work at a dental office and you're planning out patients but also plan in times to have lunch to have dinner to just take it easy to because another tip that I like to add is for your tests and for your exams, I want you guys to start studying as soon as you find out about a test or an exam. Yes, as soon as you find out. Hopefully it's at least two weeks before because I tell students to start studying two weeks at least before their test or exam or an exam. And I say this because the week before you will start to sort of put everything together and then you will notice you do not have to study as long meaning so let's say you have an oral pathology test two weeks from now. Every day I want you to study oral pathology for one hour. If you have more time study more if you don't have as much time study less but it just means that you have to study for longer but I do always say study at least two hours a day for something a maximum of six hours a day. So let's say you have Saturdays off. I don't want you to be studying for oral pathology for 10 hours because you didn't have a chance to study the week before that will not help you study two hours minimum six hours maximum a day. Always have that in the back of your mind. Write it down and that will help you so much because it does it depends if you work full time. If you work full time plus you're in school it's impossible to study 10 hours sorry it's impossible to study six hours a day even. You wouldn't be able to eat you wouldn't be able to sleep so you kind of have to pick apart that too. So let's just say you work full time and you're in school you might only be able to study an hour before work and after school but then make sure to study one more hour on the way home or before you go to bed so that's at least two hours. So have I lost anybody so far comment below if I've lost you or even feel free to stop the video and take notes okay because these will help you pass these will help you pass and have the best semester ever. Another tip don't feel horrible if you or sorry if you pass don't feel horrible if you fail a test or an exam it happens we've all done it. Yeah it happens we've all done it but you need to pick yourself up after that because if you fail a test or an exam well you don't have a lot of time to make that up right you have to pass the next one or you may not be able to pass that course in school you might have to take it again you might have to take the whole semester again you know which happens too but let's try to stop that before that happens. So if you do not get a good mark or if you don't pass something that's okay but pick yourself up after that don't think about it just put it behind you and just keep moving forward. The biggest mistake I see students make which is only human nature but it's still a mistake. It's thinking about oh well the last exam I didn't pass the last two exams I didn't pass so they get so nervous they can't study properly for the next ones. That's how you don't pass and that's how you have a horrible semester. Also another tip is try to think about how you study the best. Everybody's different so remember how I told you to study at least two weeks before you might be that person that can't do that. You might be that person who studies two weeks before but then you're like I didn't remember anything I studied last week but I remember everything that I studied yesterday. If you're that person I think you're so lucky but you do have to know though if you're that person. If you're that person then you are okay to study two days before or a day before but you need to study everything that you have to study. So don't leave it till the last minute and then go okay I have half an hour to study because I work full-time I was in school all day I'm so tired or life happens you have other things to do. Don't allow yourself only half an hour to study the night before because even if you have this amazing memory the night before that's not enough you need to study everything. So you need to know how you study the best. For me as a student there's no way if I studied the day before I would have not passed anything. I have to study two weeks before and how I study is I read everything over and over and over and over again. I do not write anything down. To me that doesn't help but if you're that person where for you to study you have to write things down that's okay but hopefully by this point you should kind of know how you study the best. If you're in your first semester you're probably still learning that but it takes time it will be worth it when you finally get to that point. Another thing is have a calendar agenda whatever it is write down all of your classes write down when your tests are the projects the the exams write down when you have to have to work write down if you made plans to do something so that you can always look at your schedule. When you're in school there's no I have nothing to do today that's impossible that won't happen. If you're thinking that you're missing something and you should be looking at something. In the rare instance you might not have any tests exams projects anything coming up but I suggest starting a little bit earlier then to study for something else because there's nothing worse than having six exams that week and then going oh I have to study for all six of them. Whereas if you started two weeks ago you might say okay I'm done oral pathology I feel pretty good about that clinical I feel great about that pharmacology I really have to study more so have a plan write it down so then you are completely organized organization is key and if you need help I do have a tutoring course for students who are still in school so if you need help if you need project help exam help test help if you just have questions if you need somebody to talk to sign up I am there you have a full two-year access to everything so it's kind of like having a different program tutor teacher with you all the time online because we know or you know that if you have a question with one of your teachers after hours it's hard to reach them probably right even if you're just looking through your notes trying to study for a topic you might have a question on something and say I just want to talk to a teacher for 10 minutes to just see if what I'm understanding is correct I can help you with that if you're studying for oral pathology but you don't understand the process of inflammation as an example it's a lot harder for you to try to talk to a teacher to take their time to help you well just ask ask me I can help you guys right away plus we do have a private um facebook group as well where you can ask other students network with with other students around everywhere and people love that so if you need help let me know I do hope that these tips helped you guys good luck because it's entirely possible to have the best semester ever even if you haven't done so well in the semesters before okay so good luck let me know if you need anything and i'll see you in the next one