Leavey Ambassadors Program Blogs

I’m the type of student who completely forgets everything after taking a class. Once I walk out of the room after a final, my mind is completely erased of all the knowledge I had worked so hard to absorb for the last 10 weeks. I’ve always questioned what the point of school is if everything we learn is forgotten anyway, but I’ve learned that the only way to make information stick is to actively use it. Being a tutor at the Drahmann Center this past quarter is something that has forced me to dig up and use my seemingly lost knowledge.

I was very excited to become a Drahmann Center Tutor starting my Junior year at SCU until I realized just how much course material I had forgotten. I mainly tutored students who were taking introductory economics courses, so I thought it would be easy. As such, I went into my first few sessions doing very minimal review of the material. This was a big mistake, as I found myself attempting to make up answers on the fly, frantically searching through my notes, or desperately copy-pasting students' questions into google (luckily tutoring sessions were online). Learning from my first few sessions, I decided to dedicate time to thoroughly reviewing material before meeting with the students. I spent at least an hour studying the relevant content before every tutoring session, and this helped immensely. Not only was I able to answer questions with much more confidence, it felt good knowing that I was actually helping the students understand the material they were having trouble with. 

Tutoring at the Drahmann Center has forced me to refresh my memory on old material, and it's been more rewarding than expected! Through reviewing old material for tutoring sessions, I’ve found that I’ve gained a deeper understanding of the material in my upper-division economics classes. Since I’m not diligent enough to go through my old notes and assignments that I’ve kept from classes in my free time, tutoring at the Drahmann Center has become the perfect excuse to go back to the basics. Introductory courses and prerequisites exist for a reason, and finding a way to review that material, whether it be through tutoring or reaching out to old professors, never hurts!