Journal #24

Final exams. They are the death of me.  I dread this part of the year as soon as school starts.  As the week gets closer and closer to happening, teachers tell you that you should start studying and preparing.  If you were smart, you would start studying when they said that.  Most people though, like me, wait until the week before.  I always tell myself that I will start preparing, but that never happens. When I do start to study, I go out or have my mom go out and buy things of note cards.  That is the way I study.  Depending on what is going on the note card, I will cut them into different sizes.  If they are just words and their definition, I cut the note card in half and then in half again.  This makes teeny-tiny note cards that do not take up much space.  So many people use whole note cards for definitions that are short, which is just a waste.  If you make the note cards smaller, you have more of them and you do not have to spend more money.  If what I studying is just lists, I will only cut the note card in half that way I do not have to scrunch everything in.  I leave the note card whole if it is a diagram or something that needs a lot of space.  Once my note cards are made, I sit down with them and first do the easy way.  This is starting with the definition or the list and having to say what the word is.  After I have mastered it backwards,I turn it around and see how much information I retained.  Forwards is usually a lot harder for me, but I keep studying them to the point where I can go through the whole stack and know every single card front and back.  The main thing that helps me during finals week is sleep!