The moment that I looked at my writing syllabus and saw that we had an essay exam on just the fourth class meeting, I started to panic. My high school was extremely small and did not focus a lot of its time on writing like it should have which did not allow me a lot of time to practice writing, especially in timed situations. The only times that I had ever experienced timed essay exams were the two ACT writing tests that I took. During our first week of class, we focused a lot on the different types of questions that could possibly show up on our exam on Monday which helped me decide which of the three questions I wanted to write about. I chose the question about the media’s effects both good and bad on the University of Mississippi. I recognized all three possible choices but ultimately felt that I could expand my thoughts more thoroughly on question number three. Last summer I participated in the Trent Lott Leadership Institute for rising seniors and was introduced to the political world. Ever since then I have been fascinated by politics but I have become seriously engaged with the 2016 election. As I read The Education of a Lifetime, I enjoyed the sections on the Presidential Debate of 2008 between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain. I felt that I both knew more about that question and would actually enjoy writing on the subject. After I went through orientation in June, I started reading The Education of a Lifetime and finished later that week. When reading, it did not come to my attention that I would need to read at an in-depth level to be able to answer questions once classes began. Once classes started and I realized that I needed to have a pretty good grasp on the book, I decided that I had to read the book again. My strategies when rereading was to put marks on parts that I felt were important which came in handy during the exam when I didn’t have to try and decipher the crazy order of events in Khayat’s book. I learned many lessons from both the book and the writing process itself. Learning so many interesting stories of Ole Miss and how it has evolved over the years was what made the book so intriguing. Visualizing the strides that Khayat made and wondering how Ole Miss would look today if Robert Khayat had not become Chancellor were also notes that I took away. Reading the book was valuable indeed but I think that our writing unit was just as important if not more. Our writing unit was intimidating to look at on the syllabus especially for the first week of freshman year. I said earlier that I don’t have the greatest writing background when it comes to someone reading and grading my finished product although I do enjoy writing for fun. The first week of assignments made you read the book at a comprehensive level. The discussions in class furthered our knowledge and interpretation of the book while simultaneously breaking down the barriers between the students. Even though I started off the unit panicked and stressed, I learned over the week how to prepare for an essay exam and become familiar with the college writing procedure.