Welcome Back
Human nature being what it is, many of us tend to procrastinate. We all have deadlines to face and often we don’t view them with too much urgency until they start to draw near. Well students, guess what? Those end of semester deadlines are bearing down on you! The obvious deadlines are those that involve handing in assignments. There are summative assignments, culminating activities – possibly involving seminars and presentations, independent studies, and essays. You know what these are, when they are due, and the value they represent for marks.
The less obvious encroaching deadline is the necessity of mastering the expectations of your course. In simpler language, learning the material in your courses and being able to apply that material to problems, questions, or arguments to prove that knowledge on a final test or exam. The bottom line is that you have to study.The inevitable question I get this time of year is “How long do I have to study?” The honest answer to that question is “I don’t know.” Neither your teachers nor I can give you a length of time that will guarantee that you will have learned your stuff. I will guarantee you this though – flipping through your notebook the night before a final exam or looking at the pictures in your textbook isn’t going to do it. Studying is an active thing. You need to make notes, ask questions, solve problems, and be comfortable that you understand the material. Success in school would be easy if we knew that staring at notes for one hour would result in a mark in the 60’s, three hours a mark in the 70’s, five hours a mark in the 80’s and so on. Some of you who brought a good understanding of the subject matter to class, listened to the teacher, kept good notes, asked questions, and handed in all assignments, may need only to go through your notes a few times and perhaps could have a certain level of success, based on the work you put in all semester. You still need to review and make study notes and perhaps work on some questions to refresh your memory and to be ready to prove your mastery of the course material though.
Studying should start now. This may be in the form of going through your notebooks to make sure your notes are complete, or summarizing material in the form of study notes. Short reviews of notes every night will bring much more success than cramming the night before. Now is the time you have teachers available to you to answer questions or to explain things you encounter in your studying. After all, who are you going to ask at midnight the night before a final exam if you come across something that you need help with? Better to sort that out now that to be frustrated on exam day.
Nobody likes studying for final exams – at least I haven’t encountered many people who look forward to it. It is something that we have to have the discipline to make ourselves do. The reward is great, and next time, studying will be that much easier because you will understand the success it will bring.
