How to Succeed in Paramedic Class
Success Recommendations
1. Plan to Work Hard, Meet Deadlines, and Succeed. Understand you have to be willing to put in the time and effort to master academic skills, complete your assignments and earn good grades. In order to meet your college work obligations you need to act with integrity and behave in a responsible manner. Through hard work you will develop self-confidence and succeed.
2. Schedule your Time. Are you able to manage your time effectively? Do you complete tasks by their due date? Do you arrive on time for class or work? Assign school work a high priority. Learn to say “No” when people ask you to engage in activities that interfere with your school work. Success in paramedic class comes from planning your week on Sundays, fulfilling your plan and succeeding one week at a time, one month at a time and one year at a time.
3. Identify Your Highest Priority Life Goals. Identify what values and accomplishments are important o you and work towards those goals. Identify where you time is being wasted. You will have to say “No” to some people and tasks. Success comes from putting your family health and paramedic class first.
Break Complex Tasks into Manageable Chunks of Work. There is a famous question, “How do you eat an elephant?” “The answer is, “one bite at a time.” Break up your training and education. Change complex assignments into a clearly stated list of tasks, then define the sequence in which these tasks must be accomplished. We often perform better when we reduce a task or assignment to a “Checklist” of activities to follow. In paramedic education the same checklist can be used for each medical topic for repeated success, the same way a pattern is used to mill a metal part for a car in a factory.
5. Reward Yourself for Completing Your Assignment. Be sure to plan time for yourself after an accomplishment or deadline to avoid becoming “burned out”. What activities do you like that do not have to do with work of school? Try activities with friends that are outside, like hiking, rollerblading or paintball for example. The physical release will help you study better and stay focused.
Adapted from 110 Strategies for Success in College and Life. Dr. Mary Zahm,
Available from Authorhouse.com
