When beginning my freshman year at Loyola, I thought I had it all figured out. High school had come so naturally to me; classes were a breeze, my professors were extremely lenient, and I never truly had to study for exams. I remember a good friend of mine making a To Do list every day, frantically trying to finish every homework assignment and always studying for the next big test. She glared at me when I received the same or higher marks she did; I didn’t deserve it. My ego was inflated and my attitude was quite carefree my first semester. After the first week of classes, meeting new people, and enjoying college life, I couldn’t believe why I often heard my cousins always whining and complaining about all the work they had in their college years. Three weeks in, my biology lab practical snuck up on me. I glossed over a few pages and arrogantly assumed I would be fine. A week later, the instructor explained that the highest score was a 95% and the lowest was a 42%. As she passed my exam back, I turned beet red as I realized I had the class low. Rarely had I had a score lower than average, but never had I had the lowest score. My embarrassment shook me to reality. I quickly shaped up and buckled down. Instead of retreating to my room after class and watching Netflix, I allowed myself 15 minutes after my last class to relax but then forced myself to work for 50 minutes straight followed by a 10 minute break. Efficiently, I made daily, weekly, and monthly To Do lists and marked my calendar with so many colors it looked like a children’s book. Phones were to be turned off during study time. At first I cringed when I asked my roommate to disable Facebook for the first week, but I slowly weaned off of my internet addiction. The silent third floor of the IC became my new best friend as I went straight there as to avoid other distractions. The books became hard to process, so I was directed to the tutoring center, where I was placed in two small group tutoring sections. At these sessions, we revisited difficult material and broke it down into layman’s terms. Towards the end of the semester, I became a more organized and more directed. I finally comprehended that the aspirations I had for my future could not just be handed to me; I must pour my blood, sweat and tears into my work if I really wanted results. With the help of these resources and the effort I put in, I was able to pull my grade up to an A- in my biology lab, proving to myself that that the work was worth the effort.