College Update and Studying Advice

Hello all!

Sooo… I’ve been away for awhile now ever since school started. School has been pretty busy, but I wanted to take some time to talk about school for those that are looking for ways to study, stay motivated, and to be happy during the stressful college years. A little background info about me: I am a junior in college studying human physiology and psychology. I want to go to physical therapy school after I graduate with my bachelor’s of science degree. I am a peer adviser for the human physiology department, and I am a research assistant in a psychology lab at the school. Junior year is probably the most challenging for the human physiology major because of the anatomy and physiology sequence that lasts all year long. Those classes are basically consuming my life with the constant studying, attending open labs, completing lab reports, and perfecting homework assignments that I have to do daily.

I have two sets of midterms for my anatomy class, anatomy lab, and physiology class, and I have already taken the first set for all three classes. I am glad to say that I successfully passed the first set of midterms with a 94%, 91%, and a 92% respectively. However, the next set of midterms is vastly approaching and will be cumulative which makes me very nervous and stressed, but I am up for the challenge. I have created some tips and ways to study for midterms and tests that will hopefully make you successful!

My Top Tips for Studying:

1. After each lecture, rewrite the notes from your notebook. If your professor uploads his slides, copy his slides too. This is very beneficial because even if you are not completely focusing on what you are writing, certain words will initiate a thought that you have seen it before in your notes or the slides and you will be able to remember the concept or definition better. Also, you have quick access to the notes and can look at them any time without a computer.
2. Start studying a week before the midterm. This will allow you to space out the time to learn the material and you will be able to retain information better if you are focusing on only a small chunk.
3. Within the week of studying, constantly review information you looked over the previous days. This way you won’t forget what you studied the day before.
4. Study with friends that learn the same way as you and study with them a day or two before the midterm. This way you are not completely lost going over the material with your friends and you can teach your friends concepts that they don’t understand. Teaching is probably the best form of learning.
5. Try to make up exam questions if your teacher does not post a practice exam. This helps you think like a professor and your questions most likely will reflect the questions your professor writes on the actual exam.
6. Go to office hours or tutor hours if you do not understand something. If you start going early in the term, you are more likely to get one on one help that is way more beneficial than if you went the day before the midterm and the whole class is there asking questions.
7. Use visuals in explaining concepts whenever possible. Visuals are worth a thousand words and are super fast to make on the side of your test as a reference.
8. If the question is a multiple choice question, do not read the answers. Try to come up with the answer to the question before looking at the options. This will give you confidence in which answer to choose.
9. Review your test before you hand it in. If you use Scrantons, make sure you filled in the correct letters.
10. Smile and breathe after the test! You worked so hard for it and you deserve to be happy no matter what the outcome is! 🙂

Let me know if you guys have any other tips that I missed out or if you have a different way to study. I’ll let you guys know how I do on the next set of midterms. Cross your fingers I do okay!!

xoxo,

Jessica