“Knowing that the final exam week is both close and still far away, you can do it, you will survive, and you can thrive if you can figure out what your motivation is to keep going,” states Meredith Weber, assistant director at Seton Hill’s Academic Achievement Center. Weber, as well as Lynda Sukolzky, assistant dean of academic enrichment and retention, works with all students from the undergraduate to graduate level with anything academic-related.
As Seton Hill passes from midterms and edges closer towards finals week, Weber shared specific suggestions to keep students on the right track. She stated, “I’m hearing from a lot of students that they’re not leaving their room that often, they’re not having a lot to do that’s taking their time, but the procrastination has definitely set in.”
To combat procrastination, Weber recommends designating specific times to work on specific courses. She explains that if one class meets Monday, Wednesday and Fridays from 10 to 11, or Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12 to 2, students must sit down at those times, “to keep into that routine and that schedule.”
While not every moment of the day needs to be planned out, Weber also suggests keeping a master calendar of due dates, noting that the student body should, “figure out when you’ll be busy, and figure out a designated time period if your classes are fully online and they’re asynchronous.” Weber also suggests analyzing how previous exams went, especially if there were multiple exams taken throughout the semester.
“Faculty may put questions related to more current information on the exam and just a handful of pieces from previous chapters with the intention that just a lot of that is buildup,” said Weber, who suggests working from more current information backward to the start of the semester for cumulative finals. “If you can answer more recent questions then we’re going to have more of those because they’re more complex and they cover more topics.”
Prepping for finals is not the only way the center helps students. Weber states that she and Sukolzky provide a wide variety of resources, such as, “how to talk to faculty members, how to manage test anxiety or test-taking strategies for studying, how to do time management to get everything completed, reviewing canvas and how to navigate canvas with how each individual faculty member utilizes canvas and where they place everything.”
“There’s no one study strategy that will work with every single class or with every single individual. If [the student] is struggling with studying,” Weber said, “and they meet with Lynda or myself, we’re going to focus on what that student, in specific, wants to do for that class.”
While the Academic Achievement Center is available for walk-in appointments, Weber suggests sending either her or Sukokzky an email to confirm someone will be in the office and not already in a zoom appointment. Weber can be reached at mweber@setonhill.edu, and Sukolzky can be reached at sukolzky@setonhill.edu for further information regarding the services offered at the Academic Achievement Center and their availability.
Published by: Mikaela Fitzpatrick