Aislinn has just started her second semester of her freshman year. She performed poorly in her classes her first semester, and she’s looking to improve her grades. Aislinn goes to visit her academic counselor, Mrs. Dembeck, for advice on how to proceed.

Mrs. Dembeck first suggests that they put together a schedule to organize Aislinn’s time. They arrange Aislinn’s schedule around class times and her work. While her work schedule isn’t the same from week to week, she works approximately the same number of hours. Mrs. Dembeck suggests that Aislinn creates a custom study schedule every time she gets her new work schedule so she can keep the amount of time she studies consistent—even if studying at the same time every day isn’t possible.

As the semester goes on, Aislinn notices that organizing her time helps her make it to class every day. She also finds that she’s completing more of her homework than she did her first semester: as she creates her custom schedules, she looks at upcoming assignments to make sure that she has all her work completed before it’s due. Aislinn also tries a few different learning strategies as she studies for her classes. Looking up supplemental videos and online simulations is really helpful for her learning in biology, and creating information webs helps her in her literature class.

At the end of her second semester, Aislinn finds she was far more successful in her classes than she was in her first semester. She decides to sign up for an on-campus mentoring program where she can help other students organize their own learning habits and skills.