Students should prepare for finals by mapping out specific and formulaic strategies, an academic specialist told Boston University students Tuesday.
In an effort to help students with their upcoming finals exams, BU academic support specialist Mike Lantvet directed a workshop ‘Mid-Term to Finals’ in the College of Arts and Sciences. He said students often find themselves overwhelmed at the end of the semester because they do not establish rigid study habits in order to perform well on their finals.’
His workshop offered possible solutions to this problem, but only three students attended.
‘Mapping out and planning are key,’ he said.
He outlined a two-part study stratagem: Phase 1, entitled ‘Know what’s coming’ and Phase 2, called ‘Map it out.’
Regarding the first phase, he stressed the importance of knowing as many details as possible concerning upcoming exams, such as their time frame and the number of multiple choice questions on a given test.
He tackled the second phase by handing out blank December calendars for attendees to mark with their test dates.
‘I always recommend a month-view calendar,’ he said, ‘One of the first things people don’t understand is that mapping out how many finals they have, when they are, etc., is one of the most important things.’
Lantvet continued the workshop by suggesting attendees employ a ‘5-Day Plan,’ in which material to be covered on exams would be broken down into hour-long or two-hour-long study segments.
‘My strategy is divide and conquer,’ he said, pointing to a sample detailed 5-day study outline he would written on the classroom board.
He said students should create a loop with their studying by tackling more of the subject each day while incorporating material they had already covered in previous days. Additionally, he emphasized reduction of stress as an important factor to improve study habits.
‘You should break workload down into small, manageable pieces in order to reduce stress,’ he said, ‘And you should overestimate the time that you give each section. It’s better to finish early than crunch for time.’
In conjunction with stress relief, Lantvet suggested students give themselves plenty of breaks in order to ensure the material they study actually ‘sticks’ in their heads. Time off the books allows studied material to be transferred from short term to long term memory, he said.
Finally, he emphasized the value of collaborative work through study groups and reading over past tests and exams.
‘Professors have a trend a lot of the time,’ he said.’ ‘Old exams are great hints at what’s going to be on the final.’
College of Arts and Sciences freshman Michelle Kwock said she found the presentation informative and useful.
‘We all want to do well on our finals,’ she said. ‘More people should attend.’
