3 Tips to End Your School Year on a High Note
By Jody Bell
Flowers are blooming, leaves are turning green, and temperatures are rising. Summer is just on the horizon, and as beach days and picnics become more tempting, it can be hard to finish off the last few weeks of school with a bang.
No worries: we’ve put together our top three tips on how you can finish the last few weeks of school on a high note, so you can relax and enjoy yourself this summer.
Engage in your classes as much as possible
With the craziness of this past year, and burnout that many students are experiencing, it can be incredibly easy to doze off or daydream during class.
Trust me, after a year of mostly Zoom classes, I definitely found myself missing entire sections of material because I couldn’t help but get distracted. That being said, the last month of material is usually the most important -- in many classes the content is cumulative, and the final units incorporate many aspects of early parts of the course.
Try to ask as many questions as possible ‒ oftentimes not being able to grasp end of the year material is an indicator of where you need to brush up on your foundational knowledge.
2. Try a few different studying techniques
As the last few exams wrap up before finals, it can be a great opportunity to try different study methods so you can go into your final exam periods with a strategy.
If you already know the sort of techniques that work for you that’s great ‒ but you should still try and expand and experiment a bit. If you love taking notes and rewriting them, try making a poster with a year's worth of material on it so you have a one-stop-reference for studying. Or, if you are a more auditory learner try to lecture a friend or family on the content using what you know and some notes as reference. There are plenty of fun study sites, like Quizlet, and other resources you can check out that can help you expand your studying habits.
3. Make learning collaborative
With a year of digital learning under our belt, it’s easier than ever to connect with our classmates and study.
Having a supportive and motivated study group is crucial to reaching long term goals and staying motivated during long study sessions. It’s also a great way to socialize with classmates who you may have grown distant from during the pandemic.
We recommend making a group chat for the class, and setting up a scheduled time where you will all zoom together to go over material. It’s important to set an agenda for each of these sessions, or at least have a general idea of what you want to cover that day. This way, the group is accountable for going over set material and staying on track.
Outside of this, it’s always a great idea to connect one-on-one with your teachers towards the end of the year. See if they have office hours you could attend, or email them to set up an appointment. These conversations could be a great way to get to know your teacher more, ask for studying advice, go over material, or just reflect on the course.
Lastly, try to make your family involved with your studying. During dinner, try giving a quick lecture on the material you studied that day and have them ask questions afterwards. These conversations allow you to reinforce your knowledge in a new way than traditional studying.
Out of all of these tips, the most crucial one is that studying does not have to be daunting. Looking over all the material from an entire year may seem incredibly overwhelming, but, with the right strategy and discipline it is more than possible to break down hours of review into a manageable and enjoyable schedule.
And with that, we wish you all the best of luck on your final weeks of classes and exams ‒ stay motivated and confident in yourself and you’re set.