To plan courses for each term, you will need to use your planning skills (a blend of critical thinking and self-regulation). Coaches will offer you suggestions and advice, but you know yourself and your life better than anyone. Each term, be honest with yourself about the time you have available, your current level of academic skill, and your financial situation. The planning and self-reflection in this third assessment will help you make choices that will make success in college attainable. Before you begin the College Planning Worksheet and eventually the College Planning Reflection, please complete the following steps: Step 1: Familiarize yourself with the requirements for your degree. Take some time to explore the Psychology Program Journey interactive. Then, select the most recent catalog on the University Catalogs web page and read about the degree program you are enrolled in (below) to learn about your degree requirements. General Psychology BS Degree Program. Take notes on the following items: How many general education program points will you need and are there any that are required for your program? What are your core courses? What are your specialization courses and do you have any specialization electives? What other required courses or additional requirements do you need to fulfill? Step 2: Self-assess your current writing and math skills. To assess your writing skills, please complete this quick quiz: Writing Correctly. Once you've completed the quiz, reflect on your experience with it. Did you feel confident of your answers? Did your score match what you expected? This is not an empirically validated tool. The intent is to give you a chance to reach your own conclusion about your writing skills and choose an English course based on where you think you will be most successful. If you are looking for some general guidance: If you got 10 or more right, consider taking ENG-FPX1000: English Composition for your English class. This course focuses on how to improve writing skills at the level of composition (papers). It assumes learners have the basics of sentences and paragraphs mastered. If you got less than 10 correct, consider scheduling some 1:1 sessions with a writing coach at Capella before or alongside taking your English course. You can visit the Writing Center and schedule 1:1 sessions at One-on-One Coaching. A writing coach can help provide a refresher on basic English skills and help with learning the essential components of academic writing. To self-assess your math skills, please complete the Math Skills Self-Assessment. As with the English quiz above, this is a tool for you to help self-assess your math skills and allow you to make better decisions about what math courses to take. It's not a validated assessment of your skills. Reflect on your confidence in answering the questions and how you scored (compared to how you expected to score). If you are looking for some general guidance: If you got 25 or more correct, consider taking MAT-FPX2150: Data Driven Decisions (this is a required course). In this course, you'll be expected to know the basics of equations and using them. Unlike algebra, you won't be solving an equation for x. You will need to know the mathematical notations used in equations and how to complete the required math operations when given the numbers to work with. If you got less than 25 correct, consider taking MAT-FPX1150: Essential Math for Everyday Life before taking MAT-FPX2150. This course covers the essential math operations and basics of equations. If you struggled to remember the basics and don't feel like you'd do so well brushing up on them on your own, you might want to take this course before taking MAT-FPX2150. It will count as 3 of your required 22.5 program points of general education courses. Step 3: Become familiar with the General Education courses you might select. If you click the toggle button by “Show course descriptions” from your degree program portion of the University Catalog, you’ll be able to read what each course is about. Start thinking about which courses might be interesting and which ones will help you reach your career goal. Remember your self-assessment of your writing and math skills. Note: If you have questions about your program, you can contact your Coach. The conversation may be more productive if you complete a first draft using the planning worksheet and then ask the Coach questions based on what you have on your draft. Step 4: Become familiar with where you can get answers to your financial aid questions. Review the information you have on your financial aid and look for answers to the following questions: How many credit hours/program points must I be enrolled in each term to get financial aid? All forms of financial aid require learners to be enrolled in a minimum number of credit hours/program points each term. Different forms of financial aid require a different number of credit hours/program points. Unless you are paying for school out of pocket, you will need to know what that minimum is. What grades and/or GPA do I need to maintain my financial aid? Each form of financial aid has a different requirement for minimal grades and/or GPA. It's important to understand what the minimum is for your specific form of financial aid. If you aren't sure where to find this information, you can use the following resources: Ask Ella. Simply click the chat button in the lower right corner of the courseroom, type your question, and she will find your answer. She can't answer all of your questions, but she often does have the answer. If Ella doesn't know, go to Financial Aid and select one of the live help options. Step 5: Listen Using your reading list, listen to the podcast or read the transcript for the How to Spend Your Time More Wisely audio podcast