Daniel Morgan, Advertising Manager
Exams always find a way to creep up on you when you least expect it and this is especially true for midterms. Right now you might be thinking, “Oh, I still have a whole month to prepare for those. I’m not going to stress about it.” Then, suddenly, that month has passed, and midterms start in a few days. Does this scenario sound familiar? If it does, try preparing for your midterms now to avoid those late night cram sessions.
It might sound silly to start studying this early in the game because a large portion of the test material has not even been covered yet. However, the whole stigma behind the word “study” might be getting in your way.
According to Google, the noun ‘study’ refers to “the devotion of time and attention to acquiring knowledge on an academic subject, especially by means of books.” If you look at it that way, studying can seem overwhelming, which at times it is. There are ways around the stress of studying that will help you learn the information over time rather than just attempting to learn it the night before.
Right now, you can easily start studying as a gradual process. Set aside a portion of time each day for studying. It does not have to be for very long, maybe just ten minutes per subject. Reading or re-writing your lecture notes is a basic place to start. Depending on the method of which you learn the best, reading, writing, or reciting your notes can help the memorization seem more accessible. Breaking it up into small, day-by-day sections will relax the studying process.
“Don’t just take notes and wait until the night before the test to read them,” junior business major Evan Greco said. “If you review your notes every few days, you should be fine.”
Gather some friends together that are in the same class or classes and form a study group. Some people have problems with studying simply because they have nobody to do it with. By working together in a group environment, it makes preparation more social and accessible. You might even learn some new ways to study from other people.
There are plenty of places on campus to study besides your dorm room. You can go to the Learning and Student Development Center in Main Hall; there you can find plenty of couches to sit on as well as a plethora of resources to help you study. Other study spots include the College of Business Student Lounge in Main Hall, the Commuter Lounge in the Student Union, the Media Arts Center Lounge in the Fine Arts Building, and, of course, the Elbin Library.
Bottom line: don’t wait until the last minute to study for a test or work on an assignment or project. If you work gradually, the work will seem far less excruciating. Also, make sure that you’re not just studying and memorizing. Make sure you LEARN something along the way.
