Fall Break is over. It gave many of you a chance to go home and let your parents know what you have been up to since this semester started.
Midterms also added some excitement to our lives before heading home for the long weekend. For those of you who are new to Ball State University, last week was a time for you to see just how well - or horribly - you were doing in some of your classes.
By the end of the week, we all had an idea of where we stood in our courses before we went home and told our families how the semester was going.
That 34 percent on your History 150 test probably wasn't something Mom and Dad wanted to hang on the refrigerator.
Luckily, you have the second half of the semester - especially final exams - to redeem yourself without having to explain a pathetic GPA. A 1.0 GPA doesn't mean you're No. 1, so don't waste that excuse on your parents. They're smarter than that.
Many of us who have been at Ball State for a while have, on occasion, found ourselves in unfavorable situations with our grades this time of year.
Here are some ways to turn those grades around before you find yourself dealing with an academic review board:
1. Just because your friends are going to a party on a Tuesday night, that doesn't mean it's a good idea. Come Wednesday, you should be in class, which makes it a terrible day to have a hangover. If you don't have class Wednesday, then you better check to see if you're actually a registered student, because nearly everyone has class that day.
2. Text messages are not notes. Put the cell phone away in class. Your BFFs don't need to know how boring your class is. Tell them later about how your friend next to you made you LOL.
3. Facebook is not your friend - at least not when you're supposed to be writing an English paper. If you're supposed to be essaying about the symbolism of the white whale in "Moby Dick" and you find the answer on Facebook, then you are the grand champion of Internet research. But you're probably not, so stay away from the online social network.
4. You're friends are going out for the next Humans vs. Zombies mission, but you have a statistics test in the morning. Unless the test asks you to estimate the number of students who own a Nerf gun on campus, you better put away your green headband and get out your book. You can play games when you finish your homework.
5. Alcohol is not a study aid. Cracking open an MGD might make studying more of an adventure, but it won't enhance your thinking process. Not to mention if you break the seal, it will take away time from studying with all the bathroom trips.
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