Brandon Wright

PREP-1300-10
Jesse Parsons
3/29/2020

My College Experience and Transformation

Starting a new journey can be a daunting and a stressful experience to anyone, especially

in the case of starting college. It is a whole different world than high school or even from my

personal experience night school. Being able to be part of such a massive community where

everyone is their own unique person without the clichés and cliques that can be found in high

schools is a pleasant contrast. Through my journey throughout college up to this point I have had

many helping hands along the way. With the help of SALS online practice courses which

provided a reliable source to sharpen my knowledge on particular subjects, the dedication of

teachers in addition to SALS support helping tutor me when I faced challenges, I found myself

exceeding my own expectations of myself.

Firstly, SALS online practice tool is a hidden gem among the many methods of extra

support, the first couple of weeks I found myself disregarding it as I felt I would not need the

extra help that is provided. However, in hindsight I was totally wrong, once my first big college

test was upcoming, I was uncomfortable with the material that I was expecting to be on the test.

It was the midterm math test which I have always struggled with throughout all of my schooling

since I was first taught the subject, my stress going into the test was quite high knowing that I

had to conquer such a difficult task is when I first seriously considered using the SALS online

practice. I had already completed all of the in class homework that I could possibly do and was
left needing more if I was to achieve the high grade I desired, to my benefit SALS online had a

in depth practice test which was made for the exact test I was preparing for. As soon as I found

the practice test, I printed it out, set a timer to around 90 minutes which is about the same

amount of time I had on the real test, and worked on the test evaluating my knowledge on the

units we had covered in class. Upon completing the practice test I found myself less worried and

much more confident. In addition to the practice test there were practice worksheets for each unit

which I also completed on the side. Once I was fully confident, I had lost all the negative

thoughts I had about myself and my abilities. In reflection of everything that I did leading up to

the test without the SALS practice tool my grades would not be where they are now.

Secondly another massive contributor to my academic success was that of the SALS

tutors specifically Danielle. Although my comfort with chemistry was a lot higher than that of

math, I still decided that extra help from a tutor would greatly benefit me. Starting from around

the first month of college I have been attending SALS tutoring sessions with the chemistry tutor

Danielle, she greatly helped me reinforce my knowledge on the subject and even gave me

specific college advice which I still follow up until now. Having the personal tutoring sessions

helped me learn in my most comfortable environment which is in person either in a classroom or

talking to a tutor. Furthermore, having a tutor who can give feedback and assess strengths and

weaknesses that affect me greatly helped me become more self-aware, and helped me in the long

academically. After a test or quiz being able to look over mistakes and other problems helped me

prevent the same mistakes from happening again and refine my skills to be the best they can be.
 To conclude my college experience has been greatly improved by the help of SALS

online resources in which helped my math skills also SALS tutors greatly helped me self-reflect

and overall improve my academic skills. Going into college I was not very confident in some of

my skills and found myself stressed out at the prospect of having such big tests and quizzes that I

would have to pass on my own. However, with the help of so many great tools and people I

found myself transforming into a better academic version of myself and achieving my potential

that was hidden underneath all of my self-doubts and negative thoughts. Overall the help of these

resources I will forever be grateful for because without them I would not be the same student I

am today.