Midterms can be a stressful time for students. You are preparing for multiple exams at one time while preparing to leave for spring break. I am here to let you know that you do not need to stress yourself out! Here you will find a few tips and tricks to prepare for midterms this semester.

Things to Consider

Organization: This is key to effective preparation for midterms. Creating a study timetable and setting study goals, will give you a realistic time frame in which you can achieve them.

Study Tools: Find the study tools that work for you. Using tools like mnemonics can help you memorize information in a quirky manor. Making use of study guides, flash cards and supplemental course material can also aid your study process.

 Procrastination: It can be easy to fall into procrastination habits and keep putting off your work. Devoting yourself to the work now, will leave less for you to worry about later. The week before an exam should be used to brush up on skills, not to teach yourself new material.

Know Yourself: Midterm time is some of the busiest of any college students’ academic career. Make sure you are aware of your preferred study methods, your most motivated time of day and what kind of self care you might need to get through the week.

Night Before: Cramming for an exam, or pulling an all nighter can be detrimental to your ability to retain information. You want to make sure you get a good night sleep and stay positive!

Resources: Make sure you are doing everything possible to prepare for your exams. The Academic Success Center offers Tutoring for different subjects each semester. In addition, you can find more information and study resources on their website. 

With all the hustle and bustle of a new semester, it can be difficult to focus on the social aspect of the college transition. Well, what if I told you that building connections on campus, has a positive correlation to academic success? That’s right, when you get involved with co-curricular activities in college, you open up an environment to gain new skills including: time management, networking, communication, and more! There are countless articles that discuss tips for getting involved on campus, but this one will focus specifically on involvement at IUP.

Crimson Connect

IUP uses an online platform to host all of the recognized organizations in one convenient location! You can follow organizations you are interested in, see events that are happening on campus and keep up with their social media! The best part is you do not have to sign up, it is included with your IUP Login.

The Beak 

This email is sent daily through the Center for Multicultural Student Leadership and Engagement. It includes all of the events happening that week at IUP as well as important information on academics, speakers, or contests on campus.

MSCLE Office

The Center for Multicultural Student Leadership and Engagement is the hub for all student events, organizations, Greek life and other opportunities on campus! This office hosts IUP Day and Winter Warm Up, which happens at the beginning of each semester to showcase everything the campus and the community has to offer. You can visit their website here.

Bulletin Boards/ Chalking

In almost every building on campus there is a specific board for students and local businesses to post events that are happening. You can check out these boards while you are walking to class, or if you have some free time; they are updated frequently. During the warmer months there are also advertisements on the ground in chalk for club and organizational meetings!

Beginning a new semester can be stressful for a variety of reasons, including new classes, new professors, and new people. To help alleviate some of that stress, this post has included some tips and acronyms to keep in mind when navigating through IUP.

Communicating with Professors

In Person

Use Correct Titles: Have you ever called a professor Dr. So and So, only to find out they are not a doctor of any sort? On the first day of classes, professors are likely to let you know how they would be addressed. It is important to pay attention to their preference, so you can avoid awkward situations like the one above.

Greetings: Nothing brightens a person’s day like a hello and a smile! If you see your professors outside of class, be sure to say hello or strike up a conversation with them. Building those connections will help ease your transition to campus.

Ask Questions: Professors are here to serve as a resource to students. Be sure to ask your professors questions about the syllabus or class work. Making use of their office hours can greatly benefit you during your time at IUP.

In Email

Be Courteous: It’s easy to fall into the habit of emailing the same way you text. Being polite and friendly via email can make the difference between you getting a swift reply back or not hearing back for a month.

Check Spelling: In a world full of spell check, there is no excuse for misspelling words. Be sure to proofread your emails, and check that you have the correct spelling of the professors’ name before you send them.

Short, Sweet to the Point: Emails are sent with a purpose so make sure to include details that are relevant to the question you are asking. This allows the person you are emailing to easily distinguish the issue and provide an accurate response.

IUP Acronyms

HUB: Hadley Union Building,

HSS: Humanities and Social Sciences Building

BU: College of Business

ED: College of Education and Education Technology

FA: College of Fine Arts

HH: College of Health and Human Services

HS: College of Humanities and Social Sciences

NM: College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics

MCSLE: Center for Multicultural Student Leadership and Engagement

Final exams are almost over, you’re all packed up and ready to see your dog who you’ve been without for four months. People often talk about the transition process TO college: full of uncertainty, homesickness and more. But what about the transition back home for Winter break? It is possible you have spent the last few months with the greatest amount of independence! How do you handle the readjustment back to your pre-college regulations? This article will give you a few ways to navigate that experience this upcoming break!

Communication, Communication, Communication

You can’t expect to go home and your family to have all the answers. Having a conversation with them before, or when you get home about the growth you’ve experienced during college is important. The last four months have been a change for them as well, so discussing your experiences can be helpful for both parties. Setting expectations for the break with your family, and getting some updates on their rules can begin to ease the transition home.

Express Your Independence

You have likely spent the last few months doing your own laundry, cooking your own food and sleeping whenever and wherever. It might feel easy to go home and fall into old habits, depending on your family to wash your laundry or some variation. Back up your talk about your newfound independence with action. Wash your own dishes, cook a meal for the family, etc. Showing them your independent, reinforces this part of your identity in the eyes of your family.

Make Time for your Family  

Four months is a long time to spend away from home. Spend time with your family, catch up with them or plan an activity together. Making plans with your family, leaves you with a set schedule and open days to spend with all the friends you want to hang out with.

Though this is not an exhaustive list of ways to make the transition home, it is preparing you to start thinking about the changes that have happened. It is common for students to go home for break and feel trapped because nothing has changed. It’s okay, that is a sign that you are developing and changing during your time in college. Staying productive and enjoying the holidays with your family can make winter break feel like it is flying by. Happy holidays and have a great break!

Final exam week is always a scary time. If your reaction is similar to the person in the video above, don’t worry. We have a few tips and tricks to make the next few weeks as painless as possible.

Start Early

Ask Questions: If there is material you are unsure of or just information you want to clarify, ask your professor! The weeks leading up to the final exam are the most important. You don’t want to spend the bulk of your study time, re-teaching yourself material.

Create Study Guides: Using the notes you’ve kept all semester (if you would like note-taking tips, click here), class assignments and handouts, create a study guide for each of your exams. Studying is much easier to get through when the material is organized toward your learning style.

Create a Schedule: Trying to cram all the information into your brain in one sitting, is not going to be effective. Planning a schedule for each class, and setting specific topics to cover, are just two ways to stop that overwhelming feeling before it even starts.

Plan Accordingly

Prioritize: Time management is the great skill anyone could possess. Studying exam material in order of importance, test dates, or information you would like to spend extra time on, are all ways to make your study sessions efficient.

Identify Your Study Habits: Procrastination is easy when you’re overwhelmed. It is important to know if you prefer to study using a guide, flashcards, a review sheet, or any other method. Knowing your study habits allows you to go into your study sessions with a preemptive plan, minimizing your flexibility for procrastination.

Group Study: Studying can be more fun when you do it with others. The key is regulating that fun. If you’re spending more time talking about the latest Buzzfeed article, than studying, this might not be the best way to ace your exam. Picking your studying groups accordingly and devising a study plan is the best way to go.

Visit Office Hours: Professors hold office hours because they want to serve as a resource for students. Take advantage of your professors office hours. Ask them questions, discuss course material, make sure you are as prepared as possible for your exam.

Visit the Tutoring Center: The tutoring center is located in Stabley Library 201-A, take advantage of it! They are here to help you succeed. The tutoring center will be open until finals week, so please visit their website for their hours.

Take Care of Yourself

Take Breaks: If you think spending 22 hours in a room, hypercaffeinated, and diligently studying is effective…I have some upsetting news for you. The most important thing to remember about finals week is to listen to your body. Take a break when your brain has had enough information. Go for a walk, stretch your legs and de-stress for a few minutes. You are only able to retain limited information, don’t minimize that retention by overworking your body.

Get Enough Sleep: If you’re a college student you probably haven’t had a good nights sleep since August 29th, and that is okay. Depriving your body of sleep right before an exam, limits your brain’s ability to retain information, and you didn’t stay up all night studying just so you could get to the exam and forget everything.  A full nights sleep right before an exam is the first step in getting that passing grade.

Pack Snacks: Did you really have a library study session if you didn’t pack snacks? As much as we want to stress eat potato chips, pizza, and burgers during finals week, these will make you feel sluggish and sick. Pack some protein, fruits, veggies, or other favorite snacks to keep your energy levels high!

Create a Playlist: A real study session includes a ten second dance party. Music helps you concentrate, increases your mood, amongst other benefits. Pre-set your study playlist with pump up music and study music to keep your study session going smooth.

Make It Fun: Studying can be stressful, but that doesn’t mean it has to be boring. Create new, effective ways to study, create playlists, take breaks, and make sure you’re exercising self-care through-out your study sessions.

Happy Finals Week!

How many of you remember filling out the FAFSA, before starting at IUP and having no idea what you were doing? How many of you have your parents fill it out and have no idea what a FAFSA is? How many of you knew that the FAFSA needs to be filled out every academic year?

If you have answered yes to any of those questions, no worries. We are going to outline what you need to know to file for Financial Aid this year.

Basics:

What is Federal Financial Aid?

Federal Financial Aid is grants, scholarships, loans, and/or work study support through the federal government.

What is FAFSA?

FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) is the form used to apply for the aid options listed above. It needs to be completed every academic school year and requires information from both you and your parents, in most cases. Some of the information asked for includes your tax statements for the year. The FAFSA recently updated their policy and opened the form in October! The maximum aid consideration deadline is January 15, 2017 but you can use your tax information from 2015 to file!

How do you reapply?

This is the easy part. You should have a FSA ID from previously filing for Financial Aid. If this is your first time visit: fsaid.ed.gov to apply for one. Once you have your id, visit fafsa.ed.gov/ and log in. There you are able to fill out the form and submit it, but please be sure to do so BEFORE the final consideration deadline, May 1, 2017.

If this is your first time filing, you will also need to fill out the Entrance Counseling and Master Promissory Note at studentloans.gov before you’ll be able to receive your financial aid. Each of these websites have step by step guides to help you fill in all the information needed to process your application.

Qualifications:

In order to be considered for Financial Aid there are a series of requirements you need to meet. You must be enrolled at IUP at least half time which is 6 credits a semester. You must maintain a 2.0 GPA or higher in order to keep your financial aid and you must have earned at least 67% of the credits you have enrolled for. It is important to keep track of the classes you have withdrawn from because if this exceeds 33% of the total classes you have completed, your financial aid package will come under review.

Smart Borrowing:

Viewing your financial aid package for the first time can be very confusing. It can include a range of grants, loans and scholarships, not to mention aid provided through the state government as well. It is important to only borrow, in loans, what is necessary to cover the cost of your expenses because you eventually have to pay this back, with interest. You do not need to borrow all of the money offered to you.

Recommendations: 

• Establish a budget before each school year to help you monitor your spending and determine whether or not your financial resources will cover your education costs.
• Overestimating your expenses, and underestimating your income, eliminates the potential for a budget deficit.
• Prepare for unexpected situations by setting saving goals to build your emergency fund beforehand.
• Assess the cost of attendance for each academic year and plan accordingly.
• Exhaust all other aid options before using private loans, from banks or other services. These loans often come with higher interest rates and do not have the flexibility afforded to federal loans.
• When using student loans from the federal government remember that you have a 6 month grace period after you have completed or stopped school before you are required to start paying them back.

Important Contact:

If you have any questions, or comments. The Office of Financial Aid has an amazing website with information for everyone, including graduate and transfer students. (www.iup.edu/financialaid/)

Their contact information is also below:

Financial Aid Office

Phone: 724-357-2218

Fax: 724-357-2094

financial-aid@iup.edu

Have a great Thanksgiving Break and remember to use it wisely! Final exams start two weeks after break is over!

Lecture note-taking is one of the most useful skills you can learn in college. It helps you remember important material from class, process and retain the information. It also leaves you with a nice outline to refer back to during exam time. There is a tendency for students to try and write down everything the professor says during a lecture. Doing this, is not only ineffective, but means you’re less likely to be paying attention to the lecture. These tips and tricks are designed to help you get the most out of each lecture.

Things to Remember

• It is important to have a separate notebook for each class.
• Be creative! Use pens, pencils, highlighters and other writing utensils to help you identify information.
• Focus on key information and repeated words/ideas during the lecture, because these are likely to be the most important.

Methods

The video above addresses five different lecture note-taking methods that could be useful for you. I have listed the advantages of each method as well as an example of each method. Just like most academic methods, it is important to mention that not every method works for every person so find what works best for you.

Outline Method

Advantages: Organized, Shows relationships between information, Easy to review

Cornell Method

Advantages: Organized, Easy to identify key information, Saves times

Mind Map Method

Advantages: Good for visual learners, Easy to track relationships, Good to use for reviewing

Flow Method

Advantages: Builds strong connections between information, Facilitates Learning While Taking Notes, Good for Visual Learners

Slides Method

Advantages: Easiest of all methods, Convenient, Already has the key points listed

There is more to lecture note-taking than what happens in class. Be sure to prepare for each class by doing the assigned readings and picking up on key points addressed in them. It’s also important to mention that each of these methods can be used in a notebook or on a laptop/tablet if that is your preferred note-taking option.

It’s mid-semester and you are beginning to realize the academic goal you set of getting a 4.0 grade point average this semester is a little more difficult than you imagined. You’re panicked, what if you can’t achieve your goal? Before you start to worry too much, what if told you there was a way to maximize the success of achieving your goals? Two words: Manageable. Goals.

Manageable goals are used to break academic goals into segments, making them easier to achieve. When creating manageable goals there are four things you need to consider:

1. Goals can either be short-term or long-term

2. Can involve one class or multiple classes

3. Must be well thought-out and specific

 4. Start with smaller goals that can help you towards bigger goals

It’s important to note that steps 3 and 4 are not to be completed in succession but coincide with one another. Creating well thought out goals and using steps to achieve them is part of what manageability is all about.

Before you start creating goals, there are a few pieces of information you need to know. Academic Goal setting involves collaboration between three aspects: Yourself, Your Strengths and Your Classes.

Yourself

There is no one in the world that has a better understanding of you, than you. The most important part about goal setting is that these goals should represent YOUR goals and not any one else’s. Goals are meant to encourage you to complete a task that directly affects your success. If your goal is really someone else’s, you are less likely to be able to achieve it, or experience greater stress when attempting to. Once you identify your goal, it is time to outline what factors will influence it.

Strengths and Areas for Improvement 

Assessing your strengths and weakness, in relation to your goals, helps you figure out what could benefit or hinder completing your goals. Sitting down with a sheet of paper and writing down your goal, and the strengths you possess that could help is the first step. You can do the same for areas you would need to improve on in order to keep up with your goal.

Your Classes

Since you are creating manageable academic goals, it is important for you to understand the role your course schedule would play in achieving those goals. Questions to ask about your classes include:

–What times do your classes meet? Where?

–Who’s the professor?

–What’s the course material? (Is this a subject you may find more difficult)?

–Who’s in the class/class size?

–Notice due dates/evaluate the syllabi!

–Talk to your professor about any other questions/comments/concerns you may have.

Applying your strengths and areas of improvement to the information you gain from assessing your classes, gives you a better picture of the steps necessary for your manageable goals.

Creating a Manageable Goal

Using all of the information in this post, it is time to start setting manageable goals.

Identify your goal:

“My goal is to achieve a 3.75 cumulative GPA for my four years in undergraduate studies.”

Break it into Manageable Steps:

First Semester Freshman Year: I will spend an average of two hours per class studying each week. I will create a weekly schedule that outlines when assignments are due and I will start working on my final project in November, sectioning out each portion so that it is completed on December 3rd.

Second Semester Freshman Year…

First Semester Sophomore Year…

Assess Strengths and Areas for Improvement:

Strengths: Well Organized, Disciplined, Good Time Management Skills

Areas for Improvement: Procrastinator, Statistics is difficult for me to understand

Your Classes: 

“I see that my statistics class has three exams listed on the syllabus, I will make sure to schedule extra study time those weeks and visit the tutoring center.”

“My professor offers office hours twice a week to answer questions about classwork, I’ll make sure to visit her and clarify a section of Monday’s lecture.”

Discipline and Self-Efficacy 

Discipline and Self-Efficacy are vital pieces to completing your goals. You must have the discipline to not only follow through with your proposed plan, you must also believe that your goal is attainable. Being disciplined about your goal does not mean you will not experience setbacks. It is important to understand that this does not mean you cannot achieve your goal, but the goal or your approach may need to be readjusted. Be honest with yourself about whether or not you were following your manageable goal plan or maybe there was an error.

Additional Resources 

Academic Success Center @ IUP – www.iup.edu/success

ASC@IUP Walk-In Tutoring Center – 201-A Stabley Library

Further Walk-In Tutoring http://www.iup.edu/success/tutoring-schedules/

Writing Center – Eicher Hall, Rm 218

Learning Enhancement Center – Pratt Hall, Rms 202/203

University Libraries – Stapleton & Stabley – located in the Oak Grove

Career and Professional Development Center – Pratt Hall, Suite 302

Major and Career Exploration Center – Pratt Hall, Rm 214