1. My personal writing process is to first do a combination of freewriting and brainstorming. I find several resources to skim/read and use the information I find to write my ideas about what I have read. When I am ready to begin writing, I make a somewhat vague outline. I use roman numerals and “A)” subsections to write a few words to help keep my ideas in order to keep my ideas in order and somewhat structured.

2. I have, for the most part, enjoyed my academic challenges so far. The only thing I think I really need to work on is how nervous and worked up I get waiting on my grades. Even the things that are not that big of a part of my overall grade I get stressed out over. I begin working on all of my assignments (DB’s, projects, etc…) as soon as the term begins. I end up having all of my work done by midterm and then I revise and tweak everything a dozen times or more until I turn them in worrying about whether or not I will get a good grade on them. Then in turn when I finally do turn them in I go half crazy waiting on the grades to see if all my effort and work showed through and that I can get as close to perfect score as possible. I am hoping by the time I finished at Kaplan I will have calmed down enough to not have a nervous breakdown waiting on my final grades.

3. So far school has gotten me back into the habit of thinking and talking like an adult. Having 2 small children and 2 slightly older children at home has slowly caused my mental and verbal skills to regress. Having the opportunity to interact frequently with other adults helps a lot. Also being required to analyze, dissect, and explain everything I write or read has been a big boost to regaining the analytical and reasoning portions of my brain.