End of Semester Blues

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Words like Fun, joy, celebration sit on the tip of your tongue. But remember that it is also a time of stress, final exams, and getting ready to leave friends for winter break. Being a college professor, I can feel the anxiety brewing as finals get closer. So, here are a few final exam study tips that you can pass on to your children:

1. Start early- your brain cannot hold more than seven pieces of new information in the short term, so slow and steady wins the race. Then, make up a schedule to break it all down.
2. Join a study group. You learn as much from teaching with friends as you do from listening to a lecture.
3. Take a break- treat yourself kindly and reward yourself with insanity cookies or whatever your college’s equivalent is.
4. Attend any review sessions given by professors or TA’s- they give out lots of clues about the exams.

I am a huge fan of flashcards. Write all the information, definitions, etc., that you need to remember for the exam. Then, carry them around with you. If you find a few minutes between classes or meetings, shuffle through the cards and challenge yourself. By the end of a week, many of these ideas will seem like common knowledge. Think about it like this. If you want to move information from your short-term memory to your long term, use the information multiple ways. Study, write cards, review cards- three skills that will make the information yours


If you feel overwhelmed and need someone to help you organize, our coaches are here to help, and our tutors in most college classes are awaiting your call #845-582-0017 [email protected]

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