Jan 23

The third week of a new semester is always a weird one because its normally when you awkwardly realize that you're no longer strangers with the people in your classes, unfamiliar with your professors, and can no longer use the beginning of a new semester as an excuse for forgetting assignments and class times. These three weeks are also the fastest flying days of the year. The beginning of them indicates the start of boatloads of fun, and at the end of them comes the biggest rude awakening life has to offer: exams. But not just any exams, the first exams. Terrifying. Not knowing what kind of exam-maker your professor is is an extremely intimidating thing. Theres so many breeds:

 The Foot-noter: pulling questions from all the crap written on the side of the page rather than the actual text.

The Wording A-Hole: takes simple questions and words them in the most complicated form they can possibly think of making the "simple" question, dang near impossible.

The Lecture Leach: this guy loves what he says more than the book. Even though you spend hours doing assigned reading, watch out because the questions are coming from the lectures instead. So if you write slow and you're not an information sponge.... may the force be with you. 

I may be being a little dramatic, but some profs really are a bit cruel with they way they make their exams. I  want to kick my first exams in the b-u-t-t so I can kick off the first quarter of the semester with a solid grade in each class. A marvelous cushion for harder points of the semester. Exams are without a doubt my Achilles heel when it comes to school. I put a large amount of honest effort into studying for them and then have a huge brain fart during the actual test. My mom calls it test anxiety. My first exam is on the 6th and a week from that day is the day that I am going to begin my studying. I want to do whatever I can to score that first A. I've already kick started this with locking in study spots all over campus. The one in this picture is my Pi Phi study spot (one of two), the Trophy Room. I'm making a deal with myself to study at least 2 hours a day reviewing my notes, doing homework, practice problems, whatever and to go to at least one meeting with my TA before an exam to review the material no matter how comfortable I feel about it. If you have any study tips for me please feel free to let me know. I need all the help I can get!