Midterms & Finals - First Year Experience | University of Colorado CO Springs

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First Year Experience

The ABC's of Midterms and Finals

Attitude: Know that you can do it. You will feel prepared and do your best on your exams if you believe you can. When you’re confident in yourself, it gives you the perseverance to do your best work and helps you to enjoy what you’re doing.

Breaks: Take breaks. Make sure you don’t study during all of your waking hours for days straight. You will feel exhausted and won’t retain as much information. It’s healthy and productive to set time aside for relaxations and study breaks. Take a ten minute break for every 45 minutes to an hour that you study. You will come back feeling refreshed and ready to work.

Cramming: Cramming should be avoided at all costs. Plan ahead to make sure you are giving yourself enough time to prepare for your exams. Cramming oftentimes contributes to making you feel more anxious. Make a study schedule and stick to it.

Decisions: It is important to make smart decisions. Making sure that you are taking care of yourself, eating right, getting enough sleep, and studying are just a few behaviors that will help you to be successful on your exams.

Exercise: One of the best ways to relieve stress is by taking part in short workouts such as racquetball, going on a walk, or even playing a game on the Wii. The UCCS Recreation Center is always a good option when it comes to getting exercise.

Food: The food you eat is also very important in helping you prepare for exams. Avoid sugar, caffeine, and alcohol. Make sure to each balanced meals with fruits, vegetables, and protein to feel your best during your exams.

Grades: Grades are important. If you haven’t been doing well on your homework or quizzes, it can be an indicator that you may not clearly understand the material. Talk with your professors about the grades you have received and what you can do to improve your grade. If you do well on your midterms and finals, this can oftentimes boost your grade in the class significantly.

Hyperfocus: Avoid focusing too much on one subject or one topic. It is important to be objective when you are studying and to think about the broad concepts that you will need to know for your exams.

Interactive Workshops: Take advantage of the interactive workshops that are offered by the Office of First Year Experience. They are free and can provide you with the basic academic skills necessary for being successful in your classes.

Jump Start to Finals: The week before finals is filled with extra tutoring sessions, workshops to help you get organized around finals, as well as stress-relieving activities. Take advantage of these additional resources to help you prepare for your finals.

Knowledge: Use your outside knowledge, oftentimes the concepts you learn in one class can be carried over to other courses. Keep this in mind as you continue your college coursework.

Listen: While in class, listen for clues about information that may appear on your exam. Sometimes professors will give verbal cues that will help emphasize what they will be testing you on. Listen hard for these cues and it can help you narrow down the information you should be studying.

Midterm Mind Spa: Midterm Mind Spa is hosted the week before midterms typically start. Midterm Mind Spa is a great event to attend to help you get focused and prepared for your midterms. Utilize events likes these to help get support during these busy times in the semester.

Notes: Good notes are vital to your success in a class. Notes allow you to narrow down the important information you need to know and they also serve as a resource for you when it comes to studying for an exam. If you need tips for taking better notes, please contact the Office of First Year Experience.

Organization: Organization is one of the most important skills you can develop as it can help you in all facets of your life. Organizing your time and your notes will be particularly helpful when it comes to preparing for exams.

Prioritize: Stress can be immediately decreased by laying out the goals needed to be accomplished, creating a time line, and sticking to it as best you can. Doing the most important and most urgent tasks first and then tackling less important tasks later is a great way to be more productive with your time.

Questions: Make sure you ask questions if you are unclear about something. Try to ask them in class as others in the class may have the same question. If you are uncomfortable asking the question in class, visit your professor during office hours to get your questions answered.

Resources: UCCS offers a variety of resources to support you. Take advantage of these resources. The Office of First Year Experience is just one of the many offices here to support you with your academics. If you aren’t sure of what resources we have, please don’t hesitate to contact us at (719) 255-7551.

Study Buddies: For each of your classes, challenge yourself to find at least three to four study buddies. Study buddies are great for asking questions, creating study guides with, and can also be helpful if you ever need to miss a class so that you can get the notes. Exchange phone numbers and emails so that you can contact your study buddy readily.

Time Management: Knowing when your exams are and how much time you need to prepare for your exams is important to a successful exam week. Map out when your classes are, block out time for studying, and add in time to take care of yourself.

Utilize: Utilize your time in between classes. Creating a schedule will help you recognize when you have time in between classes and will help you delegate/complete tasks during those free times.

Visualize: Picture yourself doing well on your exams. What does this look like to you? What steps do you need to take to do well on your exams, just like your visualized? Visualizing what it takes to be successful and knowing that you are able to do this by taking the right steps will help give you confidence that you can do well.

Wait Time: Use your wait time wisely. Always bring notes or reading that you can do when you have time where you are waiting. For example, if you have to wait for the doctor at the doctor’s office, you could use the wait time to review flash cards. Every little bit of studying helps!

eXcellence: Strive for excellence. Set a realistic goal for what grade you would like to achieve in each of your classes and aim one step higher. This will help to keep you motivated because you have a goal you want to accomplish.

You: While studying and doing well on your exams is important, you won’t be able to focus and do well if you don’t take care of yourself first. Every day set aside some time for YOU. Eating healthy, exercising, and getting plenty of rest are the foundation for taking care of yourself.

Zzzzz: Make sure you get enough sleep. Believe it or not, research shows that the average college student should be getting 8 to 9½ hours of sleep each night.

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