SURVING MIDTERMS

Midterms are coming up for college students. They can be scary. It is never too early to start preparing now. Even though I am a freshman, I have learned a few tips that helped me survive midterms. I hope these tips can help you.

·        Find out when midterms are. This is obvious tip but a good one to do. When you know when midterms are, you will be able to prepare for them. You do not want to have them “sneak” up on you.

·        Don’t study last minute. This may not work for some students but it helped me. I try to prepare about a week before the exam. If you work a lot, try to study while commuting to work. Instead of listening to music try to talk about the material to yourself. While getting ready, I would tell myself the material that I need to know. During lunch break, study for the midterms. It is also helpful to quiz yourself over the material

·        Stay hydrated. It is super important to drink water. I get headaches when I don’t drink enough water. It is super hard to study when your head is pounding. Keep a water bottler near you when studying.

·        Don’t study for long periods of time. I find it better to study in chunks. It helps me retain the information better. My brain gets tired if I do too much readings/studying. I like to give myself little breaks. Sometimes for breaks I will do chores, make a snack, check social media, watch youtube /Netflix, and text friends.

·        Get sleep. It can be hard to take a test with only three hours of sleep. I do not recommend all nighters for any test. Some people may be able to function with small amount asleep but a person generally feels more alert with more sleep. Being sleep deprived is not a good thing.

I would love to hear how you study. Have a great day.

Spanish Outside the Classroom

After completing one semester of Spanish, I realized something about learning a foreign language. Incorporating the language is a very important aspect. A person needs to use that language outside of the classroom. It can help that person understand and learn the language better. Why learn a language and never use it outside of the classroom?  Here are tips to incorporate Spanish in your life. These tips could also be applied to learning other languages. I use Spanish as an example since I am learning it.

·         Watch a Movie/tv show in Spanish. This can help you get used to hearing the language.  I like to watch movies/tv shows in Spanish with English subtitles. It helps me learn new words. I like to watch children tv shows in Spanish because I find them more interesting to watch than Spanish soap operas.

·         Read in Spanish. I like to read signs that are in Spanish and English. First I try to read it in Spanish and figure out what it means. Then I read the English portion and see how much I translated correctly.  I liked to read social media post in Spanish too. Spanish books and newspapers are great avenues to practice reading in Spanish.

·         Talk with a Friend. Find a person to practice speaking Spanish. In person, call, and video chat are ways to practice speaking Spanish. This can help you gain confidence speaking the language and practice pronunciation.

·         Write in Spanish. I like to text people in Spanish. Writing in Spanish makes you practice your knowledge onto paper.  Writing a letter or email is another great way to practice writing in Spanish.

I hope these tips can help you. These tips help me incorporate Spanish in a fun way.I would love to hear how you incorporate a new language outside of the classroom.