“Remember, the exam will be held a week from today in lecture. Make sure to bring a no. 2 pencil.”
Say WHAT? That sentence can cause a wave of panic to sweep across a 200-person lecture hall in no time flat. But it’ll be OK, friends. Keep calm and carry a big stick, right? Isn’t that the saying?
Anyhow, as we enter the first set of midterms, I offer five tips for making it through round one. Here they are:
Go to the review session
The review session will invariably be held at the most inopportune time at some obscure building I’ve never heard of before. I will go to it. It’s well worth trekking through the snow out to the basement of the Soils building on Saturday morning if for no other reason than to reap the benefits of Mr. Shameless Question Asker. He probably hasn’t looked at the syllabus and can’t tell you what color the textbook is. You want him to be there because he will get you the information you need.
You didn’t read the Buel essay? Neither did he, and he is not afraid to ask an invaluable question, like “So, what were we supposed to, uh… take away… from the Buel essay?”
Thanks, bro.
Don’t overcaffeinate
Too much caffeine will mess you up. I learned this lesson the hard way one night/day sophomore year following a particularly rough all nighter I pulled to finish a research paper. I finished the paper around 7 in the morning, but as the sun rose, I remembered I still had to study for a Spanish test coming up that day. Following hours of sipping coffee and Diet Coke, I decided it was time to break out the big guns, so I gulped down some espresso and an energy drink. Bad. Call.
I spent the next two hours, spazzing out, yelling at myself in Spanish, not retaining anything. No bueno, Raquel.
Eat breakfast
If I don’t eat breakfast, I end up feeling a few monkeys shy of a barrel once the day gets going. So, my advice is to eat up. Seriously, breakfast food is tasty. Just do it. You want to be with it during the exam, and experts (right?) always say you need fuel to focus. So, fill that bowl up with Mini Wheats and go get ’em!
Never send this email
There’s a right way and a wrong way to send out an email to the class. This is the wrong way:
Hey guys!
I was wondering if someone could lend me there notes for J666. I havent been to class in a few days, actually, not since like the first week LOL, and since the exam is Monday, i really need them. I had a really bad cold stomach virus. Please let me know if i could borrow yours for a little while. If i dont get them i might fail the class LOL!1!1
Dress for success
The key is being just put together enough to feel like an intelligent being. A nice big T-shirt and a loose sweatshirt make a comfy combo on top, but go with real pants on the bottom. You want to feel relaxed, but I draw the line at elastic waistband.
Got more tips? Email Rachel at rmschulze@dailycardinal.com. Maybe you can meet up at Soils.
