Thoughts on Exams

Infographic on exam attitude readiness (source)

Tomorrow, I'm taking two of my three exams for the week - back-to-back no less.

Oddly enough, I find myself not too stressed about the upcoming ordeal. That's probably because, between writing posts, I've been going over the materials for my classes. It's been refreshing to break up long periods of staring at a screen with looking at a decidedly non-digital piece of paper. That aside, my exam stress-levels have benefited immensely from the generosity of my professors. Among my remaining lecture-based classes, all of my professors have been so kind as to provide us with study guides for our finals, and from my past experiences in their classes, I know using the study guide will boost my exam readiness by leaps and bounds.

Study guides aside, I remembered that your attitude on exam day can really influence how well you do, too. I came across the attached infographic last week on one of my social media sites and thought I'd share it here. On that note, I'd also like to recommend this college resources blog where the infographic came from, Students Toolbox. This blog gives a lot of tips on how to get through the daily grind of school with colorful infographics and offers pleasant printables to help get you organized. For all my fellow collegiates, let's do our best on these exams! You've got this and so do I! Have some Shia to cheer you on!

Resources: Videos

For a student with papers to write and projects to finish, going on YouTube would seem counter-productive to, well, productivity. However, YouTube is an invaluable wellspring of videos that aim to inform and educate viewers in digestible and visually engaging videos. Here are some educational channels (and one website) that I've watched over the semester that you might find interesting!

What's Gonna Work?

Ruminating on the recent topic of stress, as well as finishing up some projects, has brought to mind a particular. There's an old Nick Jr. preschool program called "The Wonder Pets" that follows a trio of classroom pets who go travel around the world to save the animal in distress. The program always had this one song play in the first half of the show and the chorus goes something like "What's gonna work? Teamwork!" Teamwork certainly works, but not every team works, unfortunately.

Resources: Presentations

In addition to term papers and final exams you might be wrestling with, you might have a presentation or two to give before the semester's end. Instead of recycling that one slide on PowerPoint, try something new with these great online presentation editors!

Resources: Stress

Try as you might to avoid, stress is a inevitable factor of college life. Some of us college students are not only juggling several classes, but we might have a family, a job or two, and maybe even personal issues to juggle all at once. Plus,with the conclusion of this semester coming up and the impending holiday climax of December, everything can just feel like too much. As we take a look at some stress-reducing resources, take a breather and treat yourself to a nice, calming cup of peppermint tea if you can!

S T R E S S

Are you a human being? Do you have needs that require fulfillment or wants that you desire to fulfill? Do you interact with other human beings on a regular basis? Do you have a job, a family, and/or school? If you've answered "yes" to any of these, then you've most definitely encountered stress at some point. Stress is just one of those unavoidable and ever-present factors in our lives. My psychology professor formally defined "stress" as "any circumstance that threatens or seems to threaten our well-being and, therefore, reduces our ability to cope." He offered the example of a bridge designed to only carry, say, 2 tons of weight; if 4 tons of traffic were to be stuck on that bridge, we'd say the bridge is under "stressed." The same applies to people. Often we find ourselves trying to do more than we're capable of, putting us under intense degrees of stress.

Pictured above: Me, yelling

The impending conclusion of this semester has been a roller-coaster ride that never seems to stop going up and it's definitely hasn't been a fun ride up. My internal state over these last several weeks can be easily summarized in the above gif. November - and all of its hubbub with the elections, Thanksgiving, and registration, among other things - flew by in a painfully quick blink of an eye and plopped right us into the immense activity of the December holiday season without any room to breathe. Or at least that's how it feels on my end. With all this craziness in mind, I'll be taking a look at how to cope with stress in an upcoming post!