One of my go-to books when I was in school was Cal Newport's, "How to Win at College." I can't say that I took every single piece of his advice to heart, but there were a few critical ones that helped me through - including the tip to spend a lot of time at my professor's office hours. My meetings with Duncan Watt at Berklee were absolutely pivotal to my introduction to the games industry.
Another tip I got was to take one assignment every year and give it 110%. At this point, I think that point has slipped into my subconscious. Somehow, there's always at least one piece of music on a soundtrack where I let myself get a little carried away. Maybe our contract said it'd be 1.5 minutes of music.. but I wrote 4 minutes instead. because the spirit hit me.
Waltz of the Faye was that piece for the Calico soundtrack. For some reason I got it into my head that I'd try to write in 5+5+2 (which the astute of us will note adds up to a big 12, but hey who's counting) - but of course I opened the piece in 7. It's also far longer than I'd maybe planned for (hey again who's counting)
I don't know if it sounds quite like 5+5+2, but I think the melody's much more interesting for me having made the attempt.
hope you like <3