Aaron Johnson – General Assignment Reporter
NEW HAVEN – A small group of students met on this past Wednesday night, as apart of the “Building a Better You” programming series being put together by the Southern Connecticut State University Student Affairs department. The main focus of this part of the series was a concentration on preparing for midterms and making sure students are mentally prepared for the exam period.
“How you approach your studies is important,” said Denise Zack, who along with graduate intern Cate Barber conduct the program. “It can be hard to organize and prioritizes.”
The program focused most of the time to helping the students realize that there are many different way to prepare for exams without becoming overly stressed. Barber said during the meeting that students have to realize that sitting right promotes confidence which in turn will help students during exams.
“Body language promotes confidence and sitting up right as oppose to slouching gives yourself a little of an edge when in testing. The power of positive thinking is key,” said Barber.
During the discussion, both Barber and Zack told the group of students that the importance of proper nutrition combined with allowing time for rest will also help them during the testing process. Also the group talked about the different kind of study habits that they use; freshman Lauren Forbes said that the group sessions have helped her so much this semester.
“I go to prepare for exams just by studying little by little. Maybe an hour to an hour and a half per subject,” said Forbes, an accounting and economics double major from West Hartford. “I think the thing that has helped me the most is just knowing what my triggers are and know that you can stop and think about what your next action will be. Everything in your life is optional you don’t always have to react. You can just stop and think and I think that is the most important thing I’ve gotten from this program.”
Each week when the group meets a series of exercises to help the lesson sink in are preformed. This week the exercises were a breathing exercise that helped clear the mind before preparing to study. Zack said that the breathing exercise also helps to boost confidence and clear any and all barriers that may be in the way.
“Barriers are going to be there, but you can’t try to avoid them. You have to cope with them,” said Zack. “There’s always an option no matter what you do, there is always an option.”
Forbes, along with the other students in the group, said that the breathing exercise not only worked but it also helped make her more relaxed and calm.
“The breathing exercises today were awesome,” said Forbes. “I was just able to get more relaxed than I already am. And I think that it’s just always good to just center yourself.”
“Life Knows How to Test You” took a different path then past sessions of the “Building a Better You” program. Zack said that the reasoning for that is because of the timing of this specific session falling on the time of midterm exams.
“This part of the program falls in line with exams,” said Zack. “Last week, we anxiously got inside the mid but this week we’re breaking down the thought process of preparing for exams.”
