Max Bickley – General Assignment Reporter
In Academia, there are some constants which all students can acknowledge: homework, teachers, friends, and more importantly tests, especially midterms. Midterms can be one of the most nerve-wracking parts of the year next to finals and getting spring concert tickets. However, one of the important parts of handling the midterm is the preparation process prior to taking the exam.
In regards to Southern’s student body, the preparation for midterm exams can vary from student to student. However, what most students do before their test is some form of studying. There are just as many methods of studying as people doing the studying. One example is junior Patrick Le, who takes to studying notes before his exam.
“What I do for studying is just reviewing my notes from class,” said Le. “I’ll just look at what I wrote down, notes, seeing what work I did for different sections, and that’s how I prepare for a test, especially midterms.”
In conjunction with these thoughts, Le also remarked on the level of preparation for midterms offered by the teachers and faculty.
“I think teachers do a good job prepping for midterms,” said Le. “It depends on your subject though I think. If your paper is an essay you may need to go to office hours to make sure everything’s in line, or you might need to do some more practice problems if it’s like a math midterm”
While this is the case for Le, and many other students, Southern also offers a method of help and academic support for students in the form of the Student Success Center. The Student Success Center on campus is a resource for students who could use help either studying, organizing their work, or improving upon their academic skills.
According to the website for the Student Success Center, “The Academic Success Center at Southern provides services that support students on their journeys to gain scholastic independence and achieve academic success. The Academic Success Center’s aim is to assist students to become more independent and self-motivated learners, to master course material, and to develop and apply effective study strategies.”
When students go to the Student Success Center, they are paired with a tutor who can help them in the subject area they need help working or improving in. Writing Tutor for the Student Success Center and freshman Kaitlyn Lucas, affirms these types of resources available, as well as describes the process by which students may make use of these resources.
“Students can go there for help in almost any subject,” said Lucas. “They can make an appointment with a tutor to discuss any questions they have or work on any concepts they are struggling with. I myself work as a writing tutor, and I help students with paper organization, citations, GSP, and quote explication.”
The resources and areas of help, in Lucas’ experience, has not quite been used for midterm preparation or studying, but Lucas often finds work with students in the normal week. However, students like Christian Peloso, who has his own method of studying recommends the center.
“I study fine enough on my own, I do more problems if it’s a math test, or I will work longer on an essay, but I think people should use the success center if their having issue,” said Peloso. “I mean, the school offers it for free, there’s no reason not to go if you are having issues studying or prepping for exams.”
Photo Credit: Derek Torrellas
