Post-Secondary Ramblings

I noticed that there is a shortage of posts recently, and that’s understandable. It’s midterm season yay! A friend once told me that the time to take a break is when you don’t have time for it. I thought it was really true, and it has stuck with me ever since. Here I am, taking a break from studying for my Chem121 midterm in approximately 3 hours to write up this blog entry. I guess the most logical thing for me to talk about right now would be study tips, so here are a few that I have discovered!

Things that I found really useful while studying:

1. Make a cheat sheet for every exam whether you’re allowed to use it or not. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one out there who isn’t caught up with readings. What I found was that making the cheat sheet forced me to actually go through the material, or at least skim it. It was really good review and I picked out a lot of facts that I missed, which coincidentally happened to be on the midterm.

2. If you’re not good at focusing, head into a library where everyone else is studying. Chances are, when you see other people around you working hard, you’d start working hard too. If you like to study in a group, know which friends you will be productive with and resist the temptation to meet up with those who distract you. Those who know me will know that I am very easily distracted.  However, just by merely sitting in the Bookstacks and noticing that everyone was busy studying, I felt compelled to study too, and ended up studying for 5 hours at times.

3. Just because you’re not a Sauder student doesn’t mean you can’t study in their building. One of my favourite places to study is ironically the BCom lounge at the back of the Henry Angus. In fact, I’m actually sitting there right now. Those who like to work with laptops and find trouble finding an outlet need to worry no more! There are plugs galore in the lounge and I’ve always been able to find a seat here. Sure, I had a few weird looks when I took out my Science notes, but that’s about it. Sauder students are paying $500 each for this building, you can experience it for free.

And finally,

4. Take time to get out and have fun! Yes, I have two midterms this week and homework and other stuff in my life, but that didn’t stop me from playing Ultimate and attending not one, but two Thanksgiving dinners. Chances are, if you’re just going to do nothing but study, you’re going to burn out, and even if you aren’t, your studying won’t be as efficient. Take that much needed break and come back to your studying feeling all refreshed. You’ll thank yourself for it.

Good luck with midterms everyone!