by Barbara Guess

Created on: April 18, 2009

The key to most changes in life and going back to school is no exception, is thorough preperation. The reasons for a return to school are varied but by taking a few simple preliminary steps could make the difference between success and failure.

The one major plus on your side is that you will have more life experience so keep this in mind when one of those moments of self doubt arise, to bolster your confidence.

Once you've chosen your course find out the skills that the college will be looking for. If there will be written assignments set, do they have to be typed up for marking. Be honest when you assess your computer skills, are you comfortable with a word processing program and can you type and format the page for easy reading. If not, then quickly get enrolled on a short computer course to get up to speed, writing an essay on screen and being able to correct and amend before printing is a far quicker process than laborious hand written work, with all the crossings out and arrows for the repositioning of paragraphs.

If your course has research assingments what facilities do you have available? The Internet is a valuable source of information, can you afford to sign up for broad band at home or will you need to use the local library or school facilities. Find this out before term starts as it's easier to raise these types of questions early in the term and the other students will perhaps benefit from what you find out.

What is your knowledge of the Internet and are you comfortable with identifying good information from bad? On some web sites the information can be very misleading or biased, the importance is in verification and checking the information source. Another opportunity for getting some training in.

Check the reading requirements, some courses have lots of reading homework. Usually courses list the number of study hours, check that you have plenty of free time to more than cover their basic requirement. Until you get into the swing of things it might take you longer to get things completed than someone who has not had an educational break.

Ask at the school or college if they have a pre-course warm up, usually a home study book that takes you through a few basics, brushing up on maths skills or writing techniques.

Communicate with your course tutor, if you can and find out what your first assignments are likely to be. Familiarise yourself with the text books and any equipment that you will be using and on the first day relax and enjoy the excitement of starting something new and making new friends.

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