As college students we all face finals and the stress and worry that comes along with it. The pathway to success is not hard to follow. All it takes is a little bit of studying, a quiet place, maybe a tutor, five minute breaks, snacks, and sleep. Oh, and lose your phone for a few hours.

DISCONNECT:

Social media. It’s a part of our daily routine. If you look around most people are looking at their phones rather than each other. While getting ready for finals, try to disconnect for a few hours at a time.

Phones can be a huge distraction. One minute you’re using the calculator and the next you might find yourself watching cat videos on Facebook.

STUDY:

Studying is the key to success. There are typically four ways students learn; visually, auditory, hands-on or kinesthetic, and read or write.

If you’re a visual learner, a good study strategy is to use charts, graphs, diagrams. You may even want to try to use color coding in your notes and replacing some words with symbols to better memorize them.

As for auditory learners, try recording the lecture and listening to it while summarizing on paper what your teacher is saying.

If you’re more hands on, try using real life examples in your study questions. If there were labs in that class, try redoing them to remember how it works.

However some students are better with reading. A good study strategy is to rewrite your notes and even summarize the main points to get a better understanding of your material.

GET HELP:

Fullerton College also offers help to students at the Tutoring Center on campus. They offer peer tutoring and expert tutoring. According to the Fullerton College tutoring center website ,”tutors share their knowledge of the subjects with students, explaining difficult concepts, steps and methods, giving examples and being a sounding board to illuminate problems.”

The tutoring center hours are Monday – Thursday 9:00am – 8:00pm and Friday 10:00am – 2:00pm. To make an appointment its recommended to call (714) 992-7151 a week in advance but the minimum notice is one day ahead. They do accept walk-ins for math, science and accounting. However, students are only able to have one one-hour appointment per week per class.

“All walk-in Math/Science tutors can tutor all math classes through Math 150A (Calculus) unless noted.”

Yes, online tutoring is available for math and writing for those who can’t make the tutoring center hours! “Students can chat with a live tutor up to 24 hours a day from ANY internet connection.”

BREAKS:

As much as we all love cracking open the books taking an effective break is a must. Although the brain is an organ it acts like a muscle. If you study for long periods of time without any short breaks your attention span decreases.

Day dreaming for a good five minutes can actually help you. According to the Scientific American, “some studies have demonstrated that the mind obliquely solves tough problems while daydreaming—an experience many people have had while taking a shower.”

SLEEP:

Lastly, don’t forget to sleep. Sleeping helps you retain your material. According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology when you sleep your brain moves memories from short term to long term and when you wake up and study again your brain replays the memory. Also, sleep takes away those eye bags we all will have at the end of the semester.