I’m coming up on the end of my sixth semester here at Virginia Tech, meaning today marks the beginning of my sixth finals season. From days with stacked exams, failing grades and lots of caffeine, I’ve pretty much seen it all at this point. My most important resolution that I made for myself at the beginning of this year was to average a 4.0 GPA this semester, which is going a lot stronger than some of the other resolutions I set for myself. Here’s how I plan to keep this alive and actually obtain the best grades possible.
- Start preparing early
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Most of the time, you are still learning new content in your class up until just a few days before your big exam. Despite this, there is still a lot of information that you learned throughout the semester that will also be on your exam. I would say the biggest thing that helped succeed on my finals in the fall was looking through my old assignments for about an hour a day a week before my exam to remember how I did them and revisit concepts I didn’t understand as much. This is why I always find it super important to save your work on your own end! For one of my accounting classes, we do our homework on McGraw Hill. I have all of my homework saved on one excel file so I am able to go back and review my work before our exam.
- Ask questions
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While studying, you will definitely come across a few concepts that you are confused about, especially in academically-challenging classes. Whether it be your professor, teaching assistant or classmate, there are a lot of resources you are able to use to support yourself. As a TA myself, I’ve noticed a lot of students don’t utilize office hours as much as they should. Remember, your faculty is there to support you! There is nothing wrong with asking for help.
- Be involved in your major
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I just mentioned that your classmates are an amazing resource for when you have questions about course content, which brings me to my next point. Being involved in your major is super important because it helps you have many people as a resource. For reference, I am an accounting major, and an active member on the executive board of the Accounting Society at Virginia Tech. Meeting people through ASVT has helped me build connections of people I can ask for help and advice whenever I need it. My classes are a lot more enjoyable as well when I can walk into a room full of familiar faces!
- Allow yourself to take breaks
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A lot of the time when studying, I find myself going for hours on end and getting extremely burnt out. To combat this, I like to set timers for myself when studying for long periods of time. I’ve found that an hour on and fifteen minutes off is the perfect strategy for me to use, but everyone is different so use what works best for you!
- Remember your worth
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During last spring’s finals, I was going through a lot within my personal life and ended up not doing so great on one of my exams. While I felt pretty defeated, I look back on that and know how far I’ve come in college and how I had the opportunity to improve and took it by the throat. Coming from someone who puts a lot of pressure on herself to do well in school, remembering that whatever score ends up on your exam does not define you or your abilities as a student is the most essential thing. At the end of the day, the only thing you can do is work hard and be proud of the effort you put in not only to get to a school as phenomenal as Virginia Tech, but to make the most of it while you’re still here.