Rest,
review drive students’ finals success
By Will Shaw
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
Final exams at Cal State Long Beach begin Monday, and students from all levels
and majors are beginning to prepare.
While the tension some students may feel at this time of the year is enormous,
there are some things that will help them relieve their stress and help them
prepare for the upcoming week.
Marilee Samuelson, director of Academic Advising, said she doesn’t suggest
cramming for finals at the last minute.
“
Cramming sure doesn’t help very much because students aren’t getting
enough sleep and rest, which are really important to doing well,” she
said.
Samuelson also said having good time management is also a great way to stay on
top of classes and have more time to prepare for finals.
“
As the semester progresses, [students should] get their homework done and be
all caught up so they have the least amount of stress put on them when it comes
to study time,” she said.
Matthew Capistrano, an undeclared freshman at CSULB, said though he studies three
to five hours a day, he has no creative ways to do it.
“
I just study the traditional way, which is looking at the book or notes and memorizing
the important parts, or the things that the professor pointed
out,” he said. “I find I study better when it is with other people,
as they can help me with things I don’t understand. They can answer any
questions that I have on the material that I may not have known had they not
been there.”
Michelle Delanty, an undeclared freshman, likes to stay organized and comfortable
as she studies.
“
I like to study in comfortable clothes, like sweats and sweatshirts,” Delanty
said. “I like to get in my bed and lay out my notes and then just look
over them for a couple of hours.”
Samuelson also offers some advice to students on how she used to study when she
went to college.
“
I would write little scenarios the night before of what I thought the exam would
be about,” Samuelson said. “By writing this down I would have transcribed
in my head of what I thought would be on the final exam the next day, and there
was always at least one thing that showed up.”
Ashley LaFerriere, a film/TV major at San Francisco State, dedicates three hours
a day to studing starting a week before finals. She studies by rereading and
going over old quizzes and tests.
“
I spend a little bit of time on each subject for a couple days,” LaFerriere
said. “I can’t study just one subject for too long. I divide up each
subject and go back and forth to keep me interested.”
For the students who could use a little guidance on how to study, there is assistance
on-campus.
“
The Learning Assistance Center has all kinds of things going on right now to
help students get ready for their final exams,” Samuelson said. “There
are workshops going on right now, where they will provide the student with brown
bag lunches and the learning specialists teach them study skills on how to successfully
get ready for their exam.”
According to Samuelson, students also create their own large study groups within
their majors, and are open to all people in that major. These offer students
the chance to be able study with people they can relate to, and hopefully help
each other succeed.
And while LaFerriere said she drinks way too much sugar-free Red Bull while she
studies, Samuelson says to “get a lot of sleep, eat a full breakfast, and
don’t cram with Red Bull and coffee the night before, as caffeine can make
you wired and jittery, which isn’t good for test taking.”
In any case, Samuelson says studying is always better than not studying, and
getting help studying and preparing will only benefit the student performance
on exams.
The Academic Advising Center can be reached at (562) 985-4837. The Learning Assistance
Center is located in Library East, Room 12. For more information call (562) 985-5350.
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