Hey, what’s up everybody!
Life has pretty much returned to normal here in the tri-state area since the “hurricane” hit. I’m pretty sure everyone has their power back now, although I did hear that some people just got it back TODAY, a week and two days after the storm! That would be terrible! There still is some visible damage to some of the houses around town. My prayers are still with those people.
On a different note, college is truckin on and most people are just taking or getting grades back from their first exams of the semester. Let me use this time to offer up some advice to potential college students, and this doesn’t just apply to Mount St. Joseph’s students:
DON’T
FREAK
OUT!
A lot of students usually flip out when they are preparing for their first exams. There hasn’t been a lot of time to get to know your professors and identify their teaching style, let alone their assessment style. True every class is different in the way exams are administered and the types of tests given, but usually students overanalyze the information being tested. The most important thing to do is ask the professor how the test will be made up. If that doesn’t help, first off, just breathe and then start with studying the broad topics of the information being tested (this especially helps if you fall behind in your readings). Then if you still have the motivation and time to study, focus on the more in-depth concepts being assessed.
Just remember that you can only do as much as you can do. That makes a lot of sense, right? But it’s true! If you try to push yourself too hard, you will get stressed and forget half the stuff you studied, and that is just pointless. So when taking your first exams, relax, take breaks when studying (and often: this keeps you focused), and just do as much as you can. And worst case scenario, if you do terrible on the exam, you have the rest of the semester to work hard and bring up the grade, because you’ll know what to expect on the next exam!
Life’s too short to stress out over an exam!
>Eric M.