Four Tips for Finals

Here it is! Finals week. Classes are over! But we still have those ever-anticipated finals. So, as a somewhat experienced students, here is my advice for handling the stress of five tests piled up all at once.

1. Sleep. This one should be easy. On the days you don't have tests, get extra rest. Don't go crazy and stay up or party all night every night. Be smart. Besides, college will teach you to appreciate sleep if it hasn't just yet.

2. Study methods. This is important. Take advantage of some online tips to help you study. These are particularly helpful when you have so many at once. Check out some of my previous blogs for some of my favorite methods.

3. Eat. Stay nourished and energized. The caf remains open through finals or just keep some snacks in your room. Make sure to get some fruit and granola in there, but don't totally neglect the fun salty sweet snacks either. And then, of course, there is the late night breakfast on Dead Day. Always a great way to store up for your upcoming week of stress and exams.

4. Finally, just have fun. I mean, it may be finals, but it's also a really fun week to hang out. This is a great way to relieve stress. Go hang out with people. After all, you may not see some of them all summer. Don't spend all week studying in the library. Take some time to chill. It'll pay off.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my rants for the past semester. Have a great summer!

Five Things to Consider When Registering for Classes

It's that time of the semester. Time to pick and register for our Fall classes. Before you make anything official, try a few pre-registration tips that will help you assure a satisfying semester.

1. Think ahead. It's easy to think of next semester as very far away, but don't forget that you are setting up yourself. In only a few months, you will be faced with the way you set things up now. So, although it may seem doable to say now, "Yeah, I'll just sign up for an eight o'clock...," if you aren't the best at making those early classes now, you probably won't be in August either.

2. Trust your adviser. When you go in to meet with your adviser, don't just see it as a requirement that gets your hold lifted. Believe it or not, they know what they are talking about. They have experience with this sort of thing. Make sure your classes are lining up with your plan to graduate. You don't want to just make things easy until your senior year, when you have no choice left but to take a full load.

3. Try talking to upperclassmen. If you know someone older than you in your college, ask them for their advice. These students will be able to suggest classes, teachers, and even whether or not you will really need your books for certain classes, despite what the syllabus may say.

4. www.ratemyprofessors.com-This site, while controversial, really can be of service to students. Maybe you are about to enroll in a course that you are sure will be tough for you. If so, this site can give you an idea of how helpful the teacher may actually be. It can be of more use than seeing whether or not you actually have to attend class.

5. Even things out. Don't pile all your difficult major classes up for the end. Even if it is your freshmen year, it is smart to get some gen eds out of the way, as well as some of the harder classes if you can. Have a plan and write it out. Use one of the advising sheets for your major. Be smart about the way your collegiate career will begin and end.

Three Fun Ways to Celebrate Easter in the Dorms

Easter is this weekend and as students, we may not have to opportunity to do something major with our families, especially if our homes are a distance away. We do, however, have some options of how to enjoy ourselves right here in the dorms on campus. Here are some of my favorite ideas...

1. Easter Egg Hunt. The Student Union supposedly held one of these this week, but I have yet to see any eggs on campus. I suggest a hunt between friends. Go buy some cheep eggs at WalMart and fill them with candy or little toys or even nothing as a joke. Hide them all around your dorm or apartment parking lot and around the buildings. Then have everyone take off in search of them. Maybe even make it a contest for whoever finds the most eggs and have some sort of a winning prize.
For ideas try: http://www.celebrating-easter.com/party/egg-hunt-ideas.shtml

2. Egg Toss. You know the traditional game. If you want to make it really interesting, use raw eggs. Grab a group of lively friends and head to a lot or field on campus. Put team members on each end and toss away, trying not to break too many. The person with the least broken wins. Feel free to incorporate fun rules such as standing on one leg or tossing backwards.


3. Egg dying. This one is my favorite! It can be messy of course, but still fun. Get a group together in your room or the lobby of your dorm. Have everyone bring a dozen or so eggs and have some colored dye ready. Bring napkins. Lots of napkins. There are even some fun designs and ideas you can research online to make it interesting. Go egg crazy.
Try: http://www.dltk-holidays.com/easter/dye.htm or http://www.celebrations.com/article/easter-activities-20-easter-egg-decorating-ideas

Happy Easter!

Three Words for Building Your Vocabulary part 5.

We are getting on through the alphabet here. Three more words to expand your vocab: here they are...use them! I dare you...

1. Matriculate. 200 (to enroll as a member of a group) This could come in really handy in our current status. This word applies especially to a school or college. How about the use even in the case of a greek organization? Try this as a verb in describing someone joining your group in the fall.

2. Nestor. (a leader in one's field) This is also quite pertinent to our season of life. As students, we are surrounded by leaders. Try this word in reference to one of your professors or the dean of your college. This could even apply to someone in your major who is especially gifted in leadership in your field of study.

3. Ostensible. 279 (shown in an outward way) A synonym for this word is apparent. Not as relevant as the first two words, but still useful. Usable in describing someone's work if it is outstanding. Perhaps this word could also describe the actions of one student or authority towards another.

Five Ways to Persevere Through the End of the Semester

Spring Break is over. I know. Miserable. But, the good news is, there are only four weeks plus finals until spring semester 09 is OVER. But we do have all those final projects, tests, and final studying to do. So...how do we get through? Here are some tips.

1. Take it a week at a time. Don't waste time crossing off the days...just the weeks. Seriously, if you just think in terms of weeks, it will all just flow into the end. Do this four times and before you know it, the final week will be here.

2. Put forth effort. If you try on everything you are doing, you will care about it. If you care, it won't seem so monotonous and boring. You will do a good job, get deserving grades, and lack that despising hatred for the final weeks that you know so well.

3. Stay focused. Do what you must. Don't let your mind wander too much. If you do nothing but dream of the end of the semester, it will seem even further away. If you go ahead and keep your thoughts here for the most part, summer will be knocking sooner than you expect it.

4. Plan for the summer. Go ahead and look forward to the sweet times awaiting you in a few weeks. As I said in three, don't dwell on it. But let the smell of what's ahead help you push through. If you have something to look forward to, you will see the light at the end of the tunnel.

5. Bide your time. Enjoy the aspects of being on campus that you like. For example, go to the FREE fitness center or HPESS. Or go sit and read at the fountain, even if you have to study while doing so. If you aren't from Jonesboro, go hang out at some of your favorite town sites. Just enjoy it while you are still here!

8 Things to Do Over Spring Break

Finally! Spring Break is here! It's time to go out, go home, or go away....either way we want to get fare off from ASU for a while, right? Just a good old break from the pressures of the classroom, dorm, caf, and campus in general. So when you get wherever you are going...what are you going to do? Have a plan so you are sure not to waste it! Here are some ideas...

1. Rest and relax! This has got to be one of the most looked forward aspects of the break. Time off from working so much! So make sure you make time to chill on the couch, sleep in, read a book, and watch some of your favorite movies.

2. Serve. There are opportunities out there that give us the chance to serve the community. Get involved while you have a little extra time! Go out and help out at an animal shelter or food bank. Try looking for ways to help those in need.

3. Prepare. This one isn't as fun, but this will be a good chance to think ahead and ready yourself to end the semester out strong. Maybe even try looking over some notes and studying a bit.m

4. Hang out! I love this part. Find some old friends or new friends and just go be young. Go out and have fun! There are tons of fun adventures to partake on this week. Even just a night in town at the movies will be a good time.

5. Spend time with your family. As your college years progress, you will get to see your family less and less. So take advantage of this chance to go be with them. Nothing special, just time. Enjoy hearing about their lives and tell them about yours.

6. Catch up. I know, this is lame too. But if you have fallen a little behind due to procrastination or something in school, use a bit of this time to be responsible and catch up on it so you can return to shcool all ready to finish strong.

7. Activities. Play sports, climb mountains, go to the lake or beach, or something! There is so much to do around here! Go take advantage!

8. Work. This is good for saving. We all want or need money. When you would be in class, throw in some hours somewhere and save it up. It'll come in handy later and you wont have time to work as much when school starts again.

Six Ways that College Transitions Us

The average student graduates in four years. They come in straight from high school at about eighteen and embark on a new season of life: college. But what they don't consider immediately is how this season will be thrusting them towards a new one, a more permanent one, in a quick eight semesters. Suddenly, it's graduation day and, looking back, an entirely new person has arisen inside of the once immature and unexperienced high school grad. So what ways should we be keeping a lookout for? Just how are we being transitioned over time into the people we will be when we walk across another stage?

1. We learn to cope with major responsibility. Most teens have little stress over having a busy schedule and deadlines to keep up with. Once college kicks in, we are loaded down with papers, exams, and major requirements that boost our capability to handle loads of important pressures in the real world.

2. We are also gaining work ethic this way. We gradually come to terms with the fact that more studying and harder working rewards with better grades and success. Therefore, when having significant need to provide for a family or even just for yourself, you are set with priorities in mind and the ability and motivation to do what must be done.

3. Aside from pushing us towards something new, college pulls us from something old and ready for retirement. Without even realizing it, we are becoming less childish in our actions, desires, and mindsets. For example, have you yet caught yourself turning in early simply because you know that you have somewhere to be early?

4. As we stray from the kid living in us, we reach for someone new to emerge. As we do this, we are slowly becoming someone altogether different. We become comfortable in our skin and at ease with who we are. We set our own standards and use this as the guideline for what we ought to pass, rather than the approval of others. College helps us to reveal our true self.

5. Meanwhile, we are gaining vision. A clear and realistic vision for our lives. We think beyond our graduation and plan ahead. We decide what values are important to us and what we do not want to pursue. Within four years, we go from caring about what to do on a weekend to caring more about what sort of standards we want to set in our homes.

6. Another major transition is status. A large number or students meet their spouses in college. Meeting this person will automatically change the outlook on life. We accept compromise and we draw from their perspective of what we are planning for after those four years end.

College can be a time to party...or a time to grow. Usually, we start with the former and end up with the latter, whether we realize it or not.