BTS: What I Wish I Knew Before Taking Online Classes

Hey Guys! We have finally entered the month of August which means we are officially in the Back-To-School season! Although I’m a little sad that summer is ending and school is starting again, I’m super excited to go school shopping! I love going back-to-school shopping because they are so many cute stuff to get, everything is new and it's just exciting to start another chapter of school.

In honor of the back-to-school season, I decided to start a mini-series on the blog to get everyone prepared for the upcoming school year! So stay tuned for more blog posts relating to this series.

To kick off the series, I’m giving you guys a few insights on what you should expect when taking an online class. I took my first online class last fall and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I'll be happy to let you know what I did wrong, so you can avoid making the same mistakes. Online classes are usually convenient for students who work and go to school or parents who have other obligations outside of the classroom. Having classes online has its perks, but you also have to be prepared for what comes along with those perks.

I have made some mistakes when taking online classes so you don't have to. Here's what I wish I knew before taking an online class:

It's NOT as easy as you might think

So many people (me included) take online classes because they think it's the easy route. WRONG! If anything, it's one of the more challenging routes to take. The freedom that comes along with online classes is nice to have, but If you don't know how to discipline yourself, then you are in for a treat. By treat I mean hell. Trust me I have been there. 

You should know your learning style?

Some of us learn better when they're in a classroom setting and there's someone lecturing in front of them, while others like having written information instead of lectures. Knowing what your learning style is will dictate whether or not online learning is right for you. I discovered that I would much rather have someone teaching in front of me instead of staring at a screen. This may sound boring to others, to be honest it's sometimes boring to me too but this is why it is important that you know what learning style helps you retain information easily. 

On a scale of I'm doomed to I know how to adult, how bad is your procrastination?

With the flexibility that comes along with online classes, it is quite easy to let yourself go and miss a few... a bunch... or even most of your deadlines. One of the many mistakes I made when I took my first online class was not setting time aside to study. I just didn't treat the course like a typical classroom setting class which was a really bad idea. Online classes require you to spend just as much time studying for them as the classroom setting does. 

You can't just take any class online

This is the one thing I didn't screw up on when taking my online classes. I know there are courses that are more challenging to me than others, so I decided not to take them online. If you know that you tend to struggle a little more with science classes than any other class, it's probably not a good idea to take those classes online. It's harder to get quality one-on-one time with online professors so you might not be able to get much extra help if you are struggling to understand something. 

I hope this was helpful! Stay tuned for more back-to-school blog posts!

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