End-of-semester Strategies

Everyone is returning from Thanksgiving break and headed into the end of classes and final exams. Here are some ideas to end the semester well:

• Take a minute to look at the final two or three weeks in general.   What assignments/projects do you have to complete?  What social events to you want to do?  When do you have to be out of the dorm?  Do you have any gifts to buy?
• Look at your final exam schedule.  When are they scheduled?  If there are several in one day, is there a procedure in place to spread them out?  If one professor has several sections of the same class, will he or she allow you to take the exam earlier?
• Is each final cumulative or the does it cover just the last unit in the class?
• Particularly for an exam that is cumulative, begin now to review all of the information.   Look for the large units within the material and start to focus on each of those.
• Look at your grade in each class.  If you are close to a higher grade or near the bottom of a grade, plan to spend extra effort in that class.
• Use the week or two before finals to be sure you have all of the information you need in each class.  If you missed a lecture, get the notes from a fellow student.  (Someone you think will be earning an ‘A’ in the class!)   Take the time to recopy the notes into your own style.

The final blog for this semester will deal specifically with finals week.  Keep studying – a longer break is in sight!

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First Semester Success, 2nd Edition, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available as an eBook and hard copy from amazon.com and a hard copy from wordassociation.com.  Click on the upper right link.