Stress for FINALS!

With finals coming up I have never been more stressed. This time of year always makes me want to cry because to me, it's crunch time to finish any last assignments and any extra credit that I can do that will help boost my grades. Also, lets not forget the last of our exams that can sometimes determine what our outcome will be in the class. The strategies I used that helped me prepare for each final and essay were (S)-T-A-R-T, Chunking the Time and Fritter Finder. I used all three of these studying strategies because they all worked well together and helped me focus and be in control with my stress.

I first used fritter finder so I would be able to see what days I should study for what and what times of the day I had "down time" so I could relax from all the studying I was doing. This strategy was extremely useful for me because I was able to divide out my time from practice and school and what days I need to study for what final.

After I did the fritter finder, I then used the two strategies (S)-T-A-R-T and Chunking the Time because for most of my classes I have to write essays as my "finals" and do a lot of reading so being able to chunk out my reading and then used (S)-T-A-R-T was extremely efficient in studying and getting my work down. For my classes, I only have two finals and then two final essays so these two strategies worked for whatever homework assignment I was doing.

For EAR101 I used the strategy (S)-T-A-R-T because I first skimmed all the chapters that were going to be used on the exam then wrote down all the important terms I knew that I needed to memorize. Next I reviewed each of my lecture notes that I had taken in the class and saw what I had highlighted because knew they were important for the final. Lastly, I read each of the chapters again and created questions that I thought would help me prepare.

20 minute test Preparation & 1 plus 3 notes

The two strategies that I used most often was the 20 minute test prep and the 1 plus 3 notes. Particularly in my BIO 121 class and my PHI 107 class it was very important to take time after class to reorganize my notes. Many times immediately after classes I took anywhere from 20-40 minutes to make a 1 plus 3 notes. I think the 20 minute test prep is most effective right after class because the lecture is still fresh at the time, as opposed to 8 hours later. My notes are organized by class in my computer, and because of the 20 minute test prep I was able to have great notes for many of the lectures.

What I liked about the 1 plus 3 notes was that I was able to reformat it very easily, thus it allowed me to use it for any purpose and for every class. It contains what I need such as identifying key terms, the details, and anticipated test questions. Also, since the 1 plus 3 notes limits me to one page of notes I found myself summarizing large information into 1-2 sentences. This was a great way of memorizing information, and summarizing it. The 1 plus 3 notes was the most helpful note taking strategy for me because it was both informative, yet very visual.

Time Management

The two strategies of my choice that helped me the most were probably using a Fritter Finder and D's Do and Due. I used both these strategies in all of my courses. I liked the two strategies because they help me stay on task and organized. If I didn't use d's do and due or use a fritter finder then I wouldn't have any real organization when it came to doing my work. I like the fritter finder because it showed me my schedule and the times I was going to be busy and free. Wherever there was a free space on my schedule I would mark it down so I new i should get some work done. I liked using the fritter finder because whenever I did have free time during the day I could get large portions of my homework done. This made it less stressful for me at night because I wasn't up real late. My schedule was the same every day so It eventually turned into habit following the fritter finder. I knew following it would help me out a lot with time management. The second strategy was D's Do and Due. This is the strategy that really keeps me on task the most. I was pretty much forced to use this strategy because of lacrosse but it was one that I really liked. It helped me out because I would write out when exactly I was going to do my homework for each class. I would map out a schedule of the specific assignments I had to get done for each day. The fritter finder fit in with d's do and due because whenever I saw I had free time on my fritter finder I would go to my d's do and due schedule and see what homework I had to do. This helped me stay real organized.

time wasters.....

FINALS!!! FINALS!!! FINALS!!! Yikes.

So Finals are coming up and that means that we are all more likely to slack off more. This week I decided to bring back TIME WASTERS!!! I know I tend to waste time when Finals start to come, because I feel like I have been doing so good the whole semester so I can slack of a couple times. In reality we can't afford to take a break, because the end of the semester is the most important. That is why writing down all of your time wasters is very helpful, so that you won't want to do them. The other strategy that I used was D's Do's and Due's. I chose this strategy so that during Finals week I will be able to plan out all the things that I need to get done. This strategy was very helpful for me, it showed me when I had things do and when I needed to get things done. Using these strategies helped me feel less stressed out about my Finals, because by using these strategies I got everything done either on time or earlier so that I wouldn't have to worry about them. Now when my Finals come I will be well prepared and won't have to worry about a thing.

Time Wasters:

D's Do's & Due's

Beginning of the week!!!

End of the week!!!

STRESS!!!

Have you ever been soo stressed out to the point where you just physically want to break down??? I think we as Full time College students have reached our breaking point once or twice. In CLS this week we learned a few strategies on how to reduce the amount of stress you have. For me I have a very hard time dealing with my stress, because I feel like just when I have it under control something has to happen to make me stress out AGAIN!!! In our workshop on Monday Janine mentioned 3 different ways on how we can reduce our stress, which are: Relaxation Strategies, Stress-O-Meter, and the Stress Diagram. For this weeks Blog I decided to choose the Relaxation Strategies and the Stress-O-Meter. I chose these two things because they both show me two different sides to my stress. The Relaxation Strategies is where you basically jot down all the ways that at the end of the day help relieve your stress. For the Stress-O-Meter you right down what stresses you out, how you reduce the stress, the day of the week, and what level of stress it is. For the Relaxation Strategies I would either write down what stressed me out at the end of the night or right after it happened. After doing that I always go back to the previous pages where I wrote down my stressor or a inspirational quote. I bring this book with me EVERY single day just in case. To start the Stress-O-Meter you make 4 different columns, then make the first column the day(s) that you were stressed, the second column is for the level of the stress, then what stressed you out, and finally the fourth column is where you put down any reducers.

Relaxation Strategies:

Stress-O-Meter

Using these two strategies really helped me stay calm and not worry soo much over certain things. It was also good for me to actually write down the things that stressed me out, because it would just stick in my mind. So every time I came across that certain thing I would remember it and not allow it to stress me out again.

How to cope with STRESS

"Stress is the body's reaction to a change that requires a physical, mental or emotional adjustment or response." I seem to never take time to find a way to escape from my stress; rather I just try and cope with all the pressure I have from my school work. During the CLS workshop, one of the T.A.’s talked about some strategies to us for students to help deal with stressful issues that a college undergrad will regularly go through. For me, I always tend to always have sporadic thoughts going on in my head usually dealing with the topics of school, social schemes, friends/family and sport. Its seems as if I am never able to escape the random thoughts that always spin around in my head which in turn, ALWAYS makes me stressed. Talking in workshop about stress reliever strategies really helped me reevaluate how I should control myself when the “going gets tough.”

The two strategies I decided on using were, Five-Minute Escape and Stress Diagram. I decided on both of these because with the stress diagram, I am able to rank all of my stressors, explain why they make me stressed and what about them makes me so stressed. Ranking my stressors and explaining the reasons for their effectiveness on my stress levels shows that I need to take more time in making these topics a priority and to try and find effective ways in helping them lower my stress. But, there was a downside to ranking my stressors, when I ranked what made me so stressed it seemed to keep my stress levels up instead of looking at them and trying to make a way to fix it so I won’t be so anxious when dealing with these topics. I took the approach on once again reevaluating my stressors and WRITING OUT why they make me so anxious and stressed. Once I did that, I had a better attitude on being able to deal with the pressure of school and other things in my life because I wrote down why it made me stressed. I then was able to talk about what makes me stressed which helped because I was then able to get feedback on other ways to approach stress. With that being said, the second strategy that I used that was very beneficial to dealing with stress was the five-minute escape. Instead of stretching, closing my eyes and rubbing my temples I found that what helps relieve stress for me is watching the news. I usually will take a little over five minutes probably ten to read over a daily article from CNN or The New York Times and usually that will help me get my mind off whatever that was making me stressed and then go back and do my work or whatever productive thing I was working on. Normally that always does the trick for me and I will always learn something new also.

An important goal for me is to have a “balanced life,” with school, friends and how I use my time. Managing stress is all about taking charge of you, your thoughts and emotions. LET’S TAKE CHARGE!

STRESS

For this weeks tech-assign on Stress, the two strategies I used were a Stress Diagram and 5 Minute Escape. I used the stress diagram so I could map out the main things that stress me out and figure out how I can calm myself down more when I'm feeling real stressed. I used 5 Minute Escape to help me get away from the stress and to calm me down. While mapping out the Stress Diagram I realized there are five major things that stress me out and can actually have an effect on my day. Papers, Exams, how busy I am through out the day, lacrosse, and trying to figure out my major are the biggest things that stress me out. The most emphasis goes on papers and exams because they are the most important task for each of my classes. It just stresses me out even thinking about papers and exams. The least emphasis has to go on lacrosse since it can actually calm me down sometimes. The only time it really stresses me out is if I'm in a slump. Mapping out my top five stressors really helped me to see what causes the most stress and what causes the least stress. Since papers and exams cause the most stress for me I need to figure out away to make my studying experience and my experience writing better. If I use the 10 min technique when I write papers I think it will relieve a lot of my stress while I'm writing because I won't feel so much pressure to have to write a full paper in one night. I can spend snippets of my day working on it until it is finished. Also using 20 minute test prep to study for exams helps me because I basically have a practice test to help me study. For 5 minute escape I took one of my all time favorite videos on youtube and watched it a couple times. This is an adaption to the strategy in the book but it is something that relieves stress for me. I like this strategy because whenever I am feeling overwhelmed I can turn to the video and feel some relief. The reason I watch the video I'm posting is because it makes me feel like you can accomplish anything you set your mind too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-i3g-RvC-iA&feature=related