exam prep

  • 5 Ways to Support Your College Student During Final Exams

    The end of the semester can be a very challenging time for your college student. They’re already exhausted from a busy term but still have to push through projects and final exams. Although it can be difficult to offer support when your student is far from home, here are five ways you can help them manage final exam stress and finish the semester strong.

    Encourage stress management

    Many college classes have the bulk of their high-value assignments at the end of the term and final exams tend to be weighted heavily. This puts a lot of pressure on students to perform well.  Combine that pressure with ineffective stress management, and you have a recipe for burnout.

    Remind your student that studying effectively and efficiently requires them to take care of their mental and physical health. This means making a plan in advance, which includes not just what they need to study but also the breaks they will take and the self-care activities they’ll participate in to relieve stress.

    To make their plan, encourage your student to review syllabi, class notes, and the university exam schedule, then work backwards to determine how much time they’ll need to devote to each course. They should add these time slots to their planners as well as regular breaks in between. It’s also a good idea to schedule appointments with professors and tutors before finals week since that’s a busy time for everyone on campus.

    Also, encourage your student to continue doing activities they enjoy and to not isolate themselves in their dorm room or apartment.  Getting outside and among their friends are important stress relievers.

    Remind your student of campus resources

    Colleges and universities offer students a huge array of services and resources. Unfortunately, many students are unaware of everything their school offers (or, they know about them but don’t take advantage). Make sure you’re aware of the campus offices that are dedicated to student success, which will be listed on you student’s college website. These offices and centers include resources such as academic tutoring, study skill development, recreation, and mental health counseling.

    Most colleges and universities also host numerous events during final exam week to help students de-stress, which often include free food and fun activities. It’s also common for professors to offer exam review sessions, study guides, and extra office hours. And please don’t forget about the campus counseling center! They often increase their hours during exam week and offer services like peer counseling and support via text messaging.

    So when your student complains about how stressed and overwhelmed they are, encourage them to take advantage of these resources. After all, their tuition helps pay for them!

    Emphasize the importance of sleep

    Many people think all-nighters are a collegiate rite of passage. What they really are is a recipe for ill health. According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, studies of college students have found that lack of sleep, erratic sleep/wake schedules, and poor sleep quality have a negative impact on academic performance and overall mental health.

    More specifically, a growing body of research in neuroscience is demonstrating how important sleep is to learning and memory.  It’s during sleep that our brains organize and prioritize information learned during the day. According to Dr. Matthew Walker, a sleep researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, sleep after learning is essential to save new information into the architecture of the brain. Without sleep, our ability to learn new information can drop by up to 40 percent!  So remind your student that staying awake all night to study is actually doing them more harm than good.

    Five Ways to Support Your College Student During Final Exams The Peaceful Professor helps students and their families have a happier and healthier college experience.

    Listen more, talk less

    When your student calls, upset and overwhelmed, you may feel the urge to swoop in and fix what’s ailing them. Although being supportive is essential, you want to empower them, not enable them. During these conversations, it’s best to let your student do most of the talking. Let them vent then ask questions rather than telling them what to do. For example, ask: “what are you going to do about this situation?” Encourage them to formulate a plan with specific steps to solve their own problems.

    It’s also important to ask your student what they need from you rather than assuming you know what would help them. Perhaps they want a care package with comforting reminders of home, a sounding board for their ideas, or simply someone to listen to them. You won’t know what they need unless you ask!

    Another way to offer support is to send your student encouraging messages, such as texts or emails. This lets them know you’re thinking about them without being too intrusive. If your student doesn’t have time to talk on the phone, or doesn’t respond right away to a text, don’t get upset. Remember that they are busy and give them space.

    Be mindful of your student’s mental health

    Sometimes parents don’t realize just how much pressure students feel to perform well in school. Many students report that a lot of their stress comes from not wanting to disappoint their families. Make sure your student knows that their health and happiness are far more important to you than the grades they earn on their exams.

    For some students, the pressure of final exams can become overwhelming and contribute to the development or exacerbation of mental health conditions like depression and anxiety. Thus, it’s critical to be mindful of your student’s mental health.

    Mood swings are not unusual during exams, but if your student has exhibited any of the following signs, it’s time to get more involved and have your student make an appointment with the campus counseling center:

    • Persistent feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and worthlessness
    • Angry outbursts, irritability or frustration, even over small matters
    • Unexplained physical problems, such as back pain or headaches
    • Loss of interest in most or all day-to-day activities, including a loss of pleasure in activities they once enjoyed.
    • Unusual sleep disturbances, including insomnia or sleeping too much
    • Extreme changes in appetite
    • Slowed speaking or body movements
    • Trouble concentrating, making decisions, and remembering things
    • Frequent or recurrent thoughts of death, suicidal thoughts, and suicide attempts

    Thinking about these things can be scary, but it’s important for parents to pay close attention to their student’s behavior in order to notice these warning signs. Getting your student help early can prevent conditions from worsening.

    If you suspect that your student may be struggling with their mental health, ask them directly how they are currently feeling and encourage them to make an appointment with the campus counseling center. If you’re alarmed by changes in your student’s behavior, you can also communicate directly with the college’s counseling office or student affairs office.

    Final exam week is a very challenging time for students, both emotionally and intellectually.  Having a support network and an understanding of stress management strategies are essential to effectively managing this hectic time. Ultimately, your student’s success is up to them, but employing these five strategies will help you support your student no matter how far away they are.

    Looking for advice to share with your college student about how to perform well on their final exams while maintaining their sanity?  Send them the link to this blog post: The Top Five Mistakes College Students Make During Finals Week

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  • Top 5 Mistakes College Students Make During Finals Week

    There’s no more stressful, panic-inducing time for college students than finals week. During this time, students are often seen dragging themselves across campus, double-fisting energy drinks and spontaneously sobbing (Seriously. Some universities have created “cry closets” for students!).

    But finals week doesn’t have to be the worst time of the year! It’s absolutely possible to do well on your final exams and keep your stress in check by avoiding these five common mistakes.

    First, let me emphasize that stress is not necessarily an enemy.  Rather, it’s a normal part of life and it serves to both protect us and motivate us. When we experience a small spike in stress, it can push us to do our best.  But when we experience chronic stress, it can paralyze us.

    Stress is like the check engine light that pops up on your car dashboard warning you that maintenance is needed. Rather than continuing to drive around thinking “eh, it’ll be okay,” you need to pull over and reassess your study habits, starting with these five:

    Not having a plan

    One of the biggest mistakes students make is not creating a study plan in advance. Make your study schedule now! Organize your notes. Meet with professors to ask questions and get help. Schedule appointments for tutoring. Don’t wait until finals week to do this.

    To make your plan, review syllabi, class notes, and the university exam schedule, then work backwards to determine how much time you’ll need to devote to each course. Add those time slots to your planner or calendar. If you start early enough, you’ll be able to schedule study time in manageable chunks that will reduce stress and help you process the material more effectively.

    This is known as “spaced practice” and involves dividing studying into installments, allowing time to elapse in between. One of the best ways to employ this technique is to study your notes and quiz yourself each week (not after every class or waiting until finals week).

    Research indicates that allowing yourself a little time to “forget” is a good thing because it then requires extra effort to retrieve the piece of information from memory. Each time we recall information, we strengthen the neural pathways that move the information from our long-term memories to our working memories. This is key. The more times we retrieve the information, the better. But the only way you’ll be able to implement spaced practice is by starting early and making a plan!

    Rereading your notes

    The typical advice given to students is focused repetition, reflecting the belief that if we expose ourselves to something enough, we can burn it into memory. This is called “massed practice” by cognitive scientists and “cramming” by students. Given how frequently this advice is offered, it should come as no surprise that college students’ most commonly reported study habits are to re-read their textbook and “go over” their notes. Unfortunately, these are some of the least-effective ways to learn.

    A more effective strategy is to employ practice testing or what scholars call “active recall.” This involves actively stimulating your memory by quizzing yourself. Each time we recall information from our long-term memory, we are strengthening neural pathways and strong pathways mean you are more likely to remember the information during your exam. Try the Leitner flashcard system, ask a friend to quiz you, and take numerous practice quizzes that your professor provides, you create, or you find on sites like Quizlet.

    Unfortunately, despite its effectiveness, self-quizzing is often disliked by students because it requires more effort than simply rereading the textbook or copying notes over and over. But remember: the greater the effort, the deeper the learning.

    Pulling all-nighters

    Many people think all-nighters are a collegiate rite of passage. What they really are is a recipe for disaster. As I mentioned, the best way to learn is through spaced practice and effortful retrieval. You can’t do this in a few hours or when you’re mentally overwhelmed and physically exhausted.

    Furthermore, a growing body of research in neuroscience is demonstrating how important sleep is to learning and memory.  It’s during sleep that your brain organizes and prioritizes information you learned during the day. According to Dr. Matthew Walker, a sleep researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, sleep after learning is essential to save new information into the architecture of the brain. So think twice before pulling an all-nighter: If you don’t sleep, your ability to learn new information could drop by up to 40 percent!

    The Top 5 Mistakes College Students Make During Finals Week. Finals week doesn’t have to be the worst time of the year! It’s absolutely possible to do well on your final exams and keep your stress in check by avoiding these five common mistakes. The Peaceful Professor helps students and their families have a happier and healthier college experience.

    Relying on flashcards

    In addition to rereading notes, using flashcards is one of the most commonly reported study strategies. Flashcards can be an excellent tool for self-quizzing, but many students don’t use them effectively. For example, students will make flashcards for every piece of content that could possibly show up on an exam even if they already know some of it. If you already understand it, don’t waste precious time making a flashcard for it!

    A more efficient way to use flashcards is to review them at increasing intervals. As you become more confident about the content on a particular card, you can wait longer before you review that card again.

    For example, let’s say you’re quizzing yourself and you’ve correctly recalled the information on a card three times in a row. You don’t need to keep reviewing it in that same study session. Instead, set it aside in a separate “to review” pile and return to it later (preferably after several days. Remember the importance of spaced practice!).  When you review that card later, if you still recall it, you can wait even longer before looking at it again. If you forget the content, return it to the “to study” pile of cards. Also, make sure you’re shuffling your flashcards each time you review them, rather than always keeping them in the same order.

    Finally, don’t rely on flashcards as your only study strategy.  It’s important to employ multiple methods, known as “varied practice.” Neuroimaging studies suggest that different types of practice engage different parts of the brain. By using a variety of techniques, you are broadening your understanding of the concepts and the relationships between them, which strengthens those all-important neural pathways.

    Trying to do it alone

    Studying for exams can feel very isolating. But participating in finals week events on campus can help you feel less alone and less stressed (misery loves company, right?). Students at Illinois State University shake off their stress with a huge dance party known as Club Milner.  At Carleton College in Minnesota, the night before exams start, students collectively engage in a “primal scream.” At Longwood University in Virginia, faculty and staff serve pancakes to students at Late Night Breakfast while College of Charleston students in South Carolina snuggle with puppies.

    Taking advantage of campus resources also includes help your individual professors may offer such as exam review sessions, study guides, and extra office hours. And don’t forget about your campus counseling center! They often increase their hours during exam week and offer services like peer counseling and support via text messaging. These folks understand what it’s like to be a student and can help you build a toolkit of skills to take care of your mental health.

    Finally, please remember that although you are a college student, you are more than your grades.  Your mental and physical health are far more important than what you earn on your exams. Please make time for self-care and seek support if you’re feeling overwhelmed. Go for a walk with a friend; take a nap; write out your worries; drink more water. You got this!

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