Honestly, I don’t know how I’m making the time for this. Midterms are this week for my classes, which means panicking and late night studying. By the time you’re reading this, I’ll have finished all my exams, so let me talk about how it’s been going so far and what I expect to come.
Firstly, the biggest difference I’ve been feeling are the no notes while taking tests. Throughout high school, I’ve been allowed to take open book exams or use a cheat sheet; definitely aren’t getting those privileges now (I was warned when I picked my major, but here I am feeling it). This has forced me to spend a ton of time memorizing things— yesterday I brought my flash cards to work and memorized 37 new Italian words. How fun.
Anyway, on another note, one positive change I’ve made since coming here is not procrastinating— as soon as an assignment opens, I like to at least begin it. Besides the Francis and Clare presentation that I finished yesterday morning (a few hours before sharing it), I’ve been pretty good at sticking to this rule of mine. It just helps me not feel overwhelmed by the time it’s due.
A checklist has been one of my essentials lately, as well. When we began the school year, the staff gave us these SBU checklist notepads, and I’ve been making great use of mine. I also use a planner, but that holds most of my extracurricular activities- not so much the smaller tasks, like finishing a math problem by next class to go over it. In high school I had a similar strategy (but with fewer assignments on it), so I’m glad it’s something I can continue using to my advantage.
Note taking has also been extremely beneficial to me. I like to divide my notebooks in half, one half for notes and the other half for assignments and practice problems. I also write down questions I may have for my professors and ask when I can. Even if I don’t get to it during class, there is usually time right after or just before that works just fine.
Finally, I cannot stress this enough: visiting my professors’ office hours has been SO beneficial. It gives me the time to ask about things that take too long to explain during a lecture, or simply have them around while completing my homework (shoutout to my calculus professor). It also shows that I care about my work and am working hard to achieve success.
All that being said, I feel pretty prepared for this week. So, what’s to come next? More studying, testing, and receiving my grades back. After all this, I’m really looking forward to our fall break.