Hello Anteaters! I am excited to share my midterm experience with you all!
After I committed to UCI, one of the most common conversations I would have with college students would be about midterms and how intense they were.
From the start of week one, my chemistry professor would repeatedly announce to the class that midterms were week three. He wanted the class to ask for help if the introductory topics or online videos were difficult to understand. He knew that the level of stress would decrease during exam week if students were intentional with the class and sought help before it was too late!
Because of his advice, I took advantage of not only his office hours and my TA’s office hours, but my math professor’s office hours and the Learning and Academic Resource Center (LARC) for extra help.
My chemistry midterm was week three, and my math midterm was week four. For chemistry, my midterm was online, and this meant that I had the option to choose where I wanted to take my exam. Because I wanted to take the exam in a quiet space, I reserved a room for a couple hours in the Study Library. If you ever have to take an exam online, I would 100% recommend reserving a room because it is a comfortable amount of space, you are the only one in the room, and you do not have to worry about a roommate or outside noises.
A few study tips that worked for me were attending review sessions for your courses, attending office hours, and studying material by small increments a few nights prior to the exam. I found that the material covered in the review sessions were useful and provided extra guided practice before the exam day.
(This is from the LARC study session for my math midterm. There were plenty of opportunities where students could ask questions for clarification. )
Before my exam days, I made sure to go to bed earlier ( around 11:45 pm-12 am, and I promise this is an earlier bedtime for me). In the morning, I woke up extra early to eat breakfast and prepare my materials for my exam. I recommend giving yourself at least 30 minutes to set up an exam if you are taking one online. A tip is to make sure your device is charged the night before and to bring your outlets in case your device starts to run out of battery.
(After my chemistry midterm exam review (that was led by the Chemistry Department), I was greeted by a ZOT Bot 🙂 Because this study session ended at 9:30 pm, it was a pleasant and cheerful surprise to see the Bot! I could not pass up the opportunity to ask my friend to take a photo of me and the Zot Bot! )
Overall, attending review sessions and office hours were key factors in helping me prepare for my first midterms at UCI!
Until next time….. ZOTZOTZOT!!!