I did it. I am officially a UCLA Extension student. I am taking a class on methodology for teaching single subjects. It starts in a few weeks. I am so excited. I have a new notebook and new gel pens.

But passing that class is only one of the steps I need to do. The other is passing tests that will demonstrate my knowledge of general science, biology, and chemistry. I decided to take the biology one first in the fall then the chemistry test a couple of months later.

Believe it or not, I had it in my mind that I was premed when I started as a freshman at the University of San Francisco. My cousin, who graduated from USF, was going to begin at UCSF’s dentistry school at the same time. I loved biology and chemistry in high school.

But proficiency and even high achievement in high school sadly does not translate the same to a college setting.

There were a bazillion reasons why I couldn’t cut it. I was no longer under the watchful eye of strict Filipino parents. I was discovering the night life of the city (over and over again). Studying for exams in college was just so different and if I could go back and change anything, I would actually meet with my professors every other week and make copies of their past exams. Maybe I would have had a fighting chance.

Then again I wouldn’t be where I am now. I quite like it mostly.

I will be putting aside NaNoWriMo for a bit. I will continue to work on what I have regularly but that will be put on hold for this study guide for part one of the two part general science test.

Here are my notes for the first section: ASTRONOMY. On a side note, whenever I teach, I reference how my mind works (need different colors, definitely need pictures) and show kids different ways of learning. Also, I like to tell kids that I was really lazy in that I’d find patterns and solve problems that way. They really like hearing that coming from a teacher.

“Excuse me. Are you wearing space pants because your butt is out of this world!”