Finally: Summer

Summer greetings everyone!!

As you may know, final exams are blocking our paths to a great summer vacation. For this final blog post for the semester, I want to take the time to explore fun options for enjoying your summer as well as ways to prepare for your finals that have worked well for me in the past. (Please be warned that not everyone learns the same way and what may work for me, may not work for you.)

Summer offers a lot of opportunities and as much as you deserve to do nothing and relax, it’s a good idea to do something with your time. The list is long, there’s;

Volunteering at an animal shelter
Working more hours at your job
Taking summer courses
Vacationing
Reading new books
Traveling the world
Learning a new skill
Exercising
Swimming
Cookouts

This summer I plan to take a summer course, physics for life sciences II, and take part in Stepping Stones. Stepping Stones is a program at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital that allows college students with an interest in the healthcare field the opportunity to shadow physicians and physician assistants from different specialties. You’ll spend time in the emergency department, surgery room, and pediatric department. I’m hoping to find out tons about different specialties and see where I may end up someday in the future. Just wanted to give a quick shout out to the program for anyone who may be interested. To apply simply call the volunteer office at 240-826-6111. Applications open in April and interviews are conducted in May, with the actual shadowing occurring in June. A good way experience for anyone pursuing a career in healthcare, or unsure of what career to pursue.

Preparing for finals isn’t something new for us by now. Some of us have taken them since high school. Preparing for them comes down to a few simple steps.

Study – will be different for the type of material that you’ve covering. Cards may work for a course on anatomy but not on an art course.
- Repetition
- Cards
- Re-writing notes
- Reading over old notes
- Reading over textbook and answering problems in the book
- Using Quizlet or any other learning software
- Studying with a group
- Working on any study guides provided
Break – Take a short break, anywhere from 10-30 minutes. You’re not a machine.
- Eat snacks
- Drink water
- Listen to music
- Read a book (if it relaxes you)
- Take a nap
- Watch YouTube videos (Personal Favorite)
Repeat – Begin studying again and repeat the cycle for 1-2 hours max. After that take an extended break for 1 hour or so. You don’t want to burn out before the exam has even begun.