With finals less than two weeks away, students at the University of Connecticut scramble to prepare for exams, using time management and taking advantage of resources offered across campus.
Katie Tran, a second-semester allied health major, said she’s mostly stressed for her upcoming statistics exam. To help motivate herself to study, she enjoys studying with her friends and taking advantage of technology.
“Just like having company, it makes me more motivated… other people are doing work around me,” Tran said. “Also using a lot of technology like AI, Quizlet and Chegg. They’re helpful.”
Samantha Kovaleski, a fourth-semester material science and engineering major, said she is most stressed about her chemistry final. She claimed nobody scored over 85% on the first exam, and the second exam had an average of 50%. With the exams worth half her grade, Kovaleski said she likes to relieve her stress by spending time with the emotional support dogs UConn brings into the library.
For Tran and Kovaleski, one problem constantly interferes with their studying tactics: time management. Tran said it’s difficult to balance her back-to-back exams outside homework and projects while participating in Running Club.
Kovaleski said she struggles with “having so many finals and also being at the point in the semester where it’s really nice outside and [she] just want[s] to go home or hang out with friends.”
UConn offers resources to support students during finals. The Academic Achievement Center provides academic coaches, mentors and supplemental instruction to assist students throughout the semester. Morgan Balesano, a mentor coach at the AAC and an SI leader for Calculus II, said she has seen a spike in the number of students coming to the AAC. She shared how students struggle with managing study time for exams, especially cumulative ones. She said the AAC has been focusing on planning out the rest of the semester for students.
“Something we’ve been using is a five-day study plan,” Balesano said. “We’ve planned out which subjects to focus on each day, for how long, and then what they were going to do with each subject, for example, making flashcards or doing practice problems.”
Balesano said the AAC also offers workshops for finals prep starting this week. According to Balesano, the following three workshops will focus on stress management, strategies for deeper learning, and test-taking strategies.
“Intentionally planning out each part of your day and what you hope to get done can be helpful in preparing for finals,” Balesano said.
The AAC isn’t the only place that students can find support on campus. The Writing Center, located on the second floor of the Homer Babbidge Library, also offers assistance to students. Writing coach Anthony Kepseu said he has seen more students coming to the Writing Center in recent weeks.
“I was definitely surprised to see that almost all the appointments are fully booked, compared to last week,” Kepseu said. “It’s definitely ramped up.”
Kepseu said the Writing Center tutors students to help improve their writing and is currently focused on helping with final essays. According to Kepseu, students struggle most with formatting, citations and flow.
To improve this, Kepseu said the Writing Center utilizes strategies such as having students read their work aloud to familiarize themselves with their writing.
“I think that’s the most important thing,” Kepseu said regarding students reading their work aloud. “Other strategies depend on what they [students] want to do. Focusing on sentence level stuff and focusing on the big picture.”