Photos and quotes compiled by staff writer Desiree McClean
As the fall semester is coming to an end, finals week is right around the corner. As a student, finals weeks can be one of the most stressful times of the semester. We asked Cal Poly Pomona students what they do to study and prepare for the busy week ahead.
“I try to give myself a lot of time to actually study the PowerPoints, to re-write the notes and … rewrite whatever things I don’t understand and try to memorize it. This semester, I’ve been kind of giving myself a chance to kind of let myself just read through PowerPoints and just trust myself in reading them and try to understand and make associations with different chapters and things that I know.”
“I definitely go into the library and just go through all of the syllab(i) and make sure whatever class is cumulative or not cumulative and make sure to be prepared … (I) make sure I have enough caffeine, and (have) gotten a lot of sleep the night before and then I turn off my phone. As long as I’m eating right while I’m studying, I just feel like (it’s) something I can worry less about.”
“I gather a solid group of four people, maybe three sometimes, depending on the class. (I) spend a lot of time in the library reviewing homework problems, old quizzes that we’ve taken and then just doing them again, making sure I understand the concepts …. Also, (I take) a lot of breaks in between so I don’t burn myself out.”
“I like to get spaghetti or (some) pasta, and I like to eat that and get some energy in me. And then after that, I’ll study the PowerPoints and then I’ll actually read some of the chapters in the book …. And then I just do some of the homework, like the ones that I really feel I should get refreshed on. And after that, when I go take the test, I just kind of wing it and hope I pass.”
“I basically just stay on campus and just … find somewhere quiet and go over my notes and, honestly, that’s basically it. I just go over my notes and all my lectures. Personally, like for finals especially, I like studying alone, so I won’t get distracted.”
“I just go over all the notes from day one, and I read over them, look at all the examples and then I look over homework and then any quizzes or midterms that we took. Well yeah, just do all that stuff and prepare ahead of time. I’ll take breaks and also don’t procrastinate or else you’ll get too stressed. Drink some coffee.”
