Month: September 2021

Cramming for tests is always a bad idea. For one thing, it’s much harder to retain information this way. Worse, if you pull an all-nighter, you may even fall asleep while cramming, sleep through your alarm, and miss the test entirely. No matter if you’re prone to procrastination or you’re not sure how to prepare for tests other than cramming, there are ways you can improve.

1. Study Every Day

As soon as you know that you’ll be having the test and what it will cover, start preparing. It’s enough to dedicate just half an hour a day to studying — you’ll soon find the information starts to stick and you’ll stop struggling to remember the fine details. Just bear in mind that you’ll need to schedule time each day to ensure you actually do study.

2. Condense Your Notes

An effective way to solidify your knowledge is to rewrite your notes by condensing them down to just the main points. You can even rewrite each set of notes more than once, making them more condensed each time. If you have typed notes, make sure you write them out fresh each time rather than just making a copy of the document and deleting the extra information.

3. Pay Attention in Class

Your notes are no good if you failed to pay attention in class. If you have gaps, you’ll need to go and look up the missing information instead of preparing for your test. This will add to your workload and increase the risk you’ll need to cram the night before.

If you’re finding it hard to focus in class, remove any distractions. Instead of sitting at the back of the room next to a friend or looking at your phone every few minutes, move to the front of the room to be right in front of your professor.

4. Form a Study Group

The best study group is formed of people who want to do well on a test and will help each other understand the material. The worst people to have in a study group are often your best friends, as the study session can easily become another socializing event.

An alternative to forming a study group is to ask a TA or tutor to help you. The important thing is to study with someone who will push you and make sure you understand the material fully.

5. Experiment with Different Study Methods

It’s difficult to know which study methods work for you until you’ve tried them. Many students find it useful to prepare flashcards to test themselves on key concepts and facts. You could also draw a mind map, flow chart, or another type of diagram to summarize what you’ve learned or how key points are linked.

Having a comfortable place to study throughout the semester can make a world of difference. Dorm rooms are notoriously terrible for studying — it’s much better to live in Brock University off-campus housing. At Foundry Lofts, you’ll be able to study in your private bedroom or in our 3,600-square-foot WiFi-equipped lounge. Apply now to secure your suite.

Whether your roommate is a friend or someone you’ve never met before, making the adjustment to living in close quarters can be difficult. The situation is worse if you and your roommate don’t get along. Since you’ll need to put up with each other for at least the rest of the semester, it’s important to take steps to resolve any problems you have before they become overblown.

1. Think About What You Could Do Differently

It’s easy to blame your roommate for everything wrong with your living situation, but you need to consider how you’re contributing. Just like your roommate has annoying habits, you most likely do things that bother your roommate without you even realizing it. In fact, you could be adding to the tension.

If you’re living with a complete stranger, another factor could be that you simply don’t know your roommate yet. You could be interpreting behaviour as hostile or unfriendly, when actually your roommate is just shy or feeling homesick. Give your roommate the benefit of the doubt and put in the effort to get to know one another. There’s no need to become friends, but life will be easier for both of you if you learn to get along.

2. Take Steps to Prevent Conflict

You’re going to have to deal with conflict no matter who you live with. You undoubtedly had conflicts with your parents and siblings when you lived in your family home. The conflicts you have with your roommate may be quite different, but that’s just because you come from different backgrounds. Always consider your role in any conflicts and what you could do to prevent problems in the future.

3. Spend Less Time in Your Apartment

You may find you’re getting on each other’s nerves simply because you’re around each other too much. Perhaps your roommate likes to lounge around in the living room for hours or spends a long time cooking every evening, making it difficult for you to use the kitchen. Instead of becoming frustrated, find ways to stay out of the house more. Perhaps you could visit friends, sign up for more activities at college, or find an opportunity to volunteer.

4. Have Conversations About What’s Bothering You

Resolving problems requires action from both of you — which means you need to communicate. It’s no good to expect your roommate to just know what to do. Worse still is leaving passive aggressive notes, such as to point out that something needs cleaning or to complain about your roommate’s guests.

Instead, you need to have sit-down conversations.

Start the conversation by pointing out that you want to get along and you need to know if you are doing anything that annoys your roommate. Give your roommate time to talk and make sure to listen carefully. Only then should you explain what’s bothering you. Together, you should figure out ways to resolve the issues.

It’s common to find that this first conversation goes much better than you may have expected. The fact is most college students want to have a pleasant living experience and are willing to work with their roommates to make it happen.

5. Vent to Someone

There may be some small things that bother you that you just need to put up with, especially if it would seem petty to ask your roommate to change. Alternatively, you may be stressed in general, which could mean the things your roommate does bother you irrationally. Venting to a friend can sometimes help, but an even better solution is to talk to a counsellor. A professional may have ideas you can use in your specific situation to make your life more comfortable.

You’re much less likely to have conflict with your roommate if you don’t share a bedroom. A great alternative to on-campus Niagara College residence is Foundry Lofts. You’ll have a private bedroom in a suite with a maximum of four other students and you’ll only need to share a bathroom with two other people at the most. Secure the floor plan you want by applying today.