Beyond Notetaking: My Strategy for Academic Success by Lyric

Beyond Notetaking: My Strategy for Academic Success by Lyric - September 2026 Scholarship Essay

Growing up in a home with a family of six, there was always something going on. I often experienced constant noise around me. With this kind of background, I needed to learn how to study without getting distracted by the house's noise. I learned Active-note taking and teach-back were the best study methods for me. I always prioritized my academics even from a young age, taking pride in making good grades, but studying was one of the biggest factors in my academic success.
When I was four years old, my preschool teachers encouraged my parents to enroll me in school a year early, as they felt they couldn’t teach me anything else because I had started to teach the class myself. My parents agreed, and so I became the youngest in the room for the next 12 years and started pressuring myself to always try to keep up.
I began picking up study methods from my peers and testing them out for myself. I learned very quickly that what works for others doesn’t mean it will always work for you. I tried recall methods, verbal studying, and highlighting my notes to make them prettier, but nothing stuck with me. It wasn’t until I was working on a project and then I went to my parents and explained to them what it was about that I realized it helped me understand what I was studying. I've always loved teaching, and I used to make my little sisters play school, where I was always the teacher. Taking notes during lectures and presentations, then teaching it to others, helped me absorb the information quickly.
Mastering active note-taking and the teach-back method improved my grades and changed how I learn. This approach helped me to earn my associate's degree with high honors while still in high school and paved the way for my admission to Howard University. As I use these same strategies to graduate early with my bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism, I know this foundation will continue to drive my academic and professional success.