Finals – Study Smarter, Not Harder!

Guest Blogger – Carolee Followill, National Academics Chairman

Though your classes are ending and the nice weather beckons, now is the time to prioritize your schedule and efforts to achieve the best academic outcome from your semester. Your time is limited and you want to use it wisely to prepare. Here are some tips to help maximize your success preparing for and taking your finals.

• Look at your class syllabi to check for pertinent information. Be sure you know the dates, times and locations of your finals are correct and keep track of them in your calendar.
• Study early and often. Don't wait until the last minute! Prioritize what you need to study and when. Some finals carry more weight than others, some subjects are easier for you than others and some subjects may need more effort in order to improve your grade. Take these things into consideration as you schedule your time.
• Gather and organize all materials, notes, handouts, texts and assignments from class. Review your old tests, finding the answers to any questions you missed in the past.
• Know what format the exam will take. Is it comprehensive or not, discussion questions, short answer or multiple choice? Does it cover lectures only?
• Take advantage of study sessions offered by your professor. Study with a group, ask each other questions and talk about the important points. If you have questions, don't be afraid to talk to your professor.
• It is important to eat a balanced diet and get plenty of rest and exercise. You should take a short break every hour or two while studying to stay fresh. And never stay up all night cramming for a final; get at least several hours of sleep.
• On the day of the exam, be sure you are prepared. Do you have pens, pencils, calculators and any needed supplies? Be sure you have extras. Get to the exam location early and look over your notes one last time. Have a positive attitude. If you think you will do well, you are more likely to succeed.
• During the exam make sure to read the directions first! Stay calm, pace yourself and take deep breaths to help yourself remember. When you are taking your tests and don't know an answer, skip it and come back later; you may be surprised to find the answer later in the test. If you are not sure about an answer, go with your first thought, it is usually correct. If you don't know a multiple choice answer, delete those choices you know are incorrect. Always answer any bonus questions or extra credit. Watch your time and check your answers before turning in your exam.

Everyone learns differently, so do what is most effective for you. Don't study hard, study smart and you'll do well!


Visit the following sites for additional resources:

www.makingcollegecount.com

www.academictips.org

http://www.back2college.com/library/academics.htm

Campus View - A few pointers to tweak your study habits http://www.collegeview.com/articles/CV/campuslife/youre_not_in_hs.html

How to take on College Studying http://www.collegeboard.com/student/plan/college-success/961.html

Academic Excellence http://www.prenhall.com/success/StudySkl/index.html

Academic Success Videos http://www.dartmouth.edu/~acskills/videos/index.html

Success in College http://speakerjimmy.wordpress.com/blog/

Health for College Women http://www.youngwomenshealth.org/college101.html

How to Study http://www.how-to-study.com

Steps for Writing a Research Paper http://www.back2college.com/writingresearchpaper.htm

National Volunteer Week: Celebrating Service

National Volunteer Week, a time for “inspiring, recognizing, and encouraging people” to engage in their communities, is this week. Hosted by the Points of Light Institute, this year’s theme is “Celebrate Service.” During this week, Delta Zeta would like to celebrate and thank our members who dedicate countless hours to the National Sorority as well as causes within their communities and around the world.

Last year approximately 64.3 million Americans volunteered, providing 7.9 billion hours of service (Volunteering in America, 2012). Delta Zeta members, both collegiate and alumnae, are a part of this great movement. In 2012, collegiate members completed over 620,000 hours of service for worthy causes. Currently over 2,000 alumnae and collegiate members serve Delta Zeta as volunteers.

In addition to the tremendous benefits felt by the communities served, volunteering also benefits the individual serving. Volunteers often report that volunteering has helped them learn new skills, gain work experience, meet new people and build self-esteem. By volunteering for Delta Zeta, you can test out a new skill or experience that you may not have the ability to do in your current career or job.

Volunteering for Delta Zeta isn’t difficult. Each week we have new positions and ways to get involved posted to our website. Take a look and see if any of our current openings interest you. Or, have an idea but don’t see it listed, contact us at Volunteer@dzshq.com and share it with us.

So this week, we salute all Delta Zeta women who are enriching their communities and our Sorority through their service. Follow @DeltaZetaNatl on Twitter this week with the hashtag #DZVolunteer for more information on how you can get involved.


Additional Resources:

http://www.pointsoflight.org/signature-events/national-volunteer-week

http://www.volunteeringinamerica.gov/

http://www.worldvolunteerweb.org/

Save a Cup to Celebrate Earth Day

To the world…

By remembering the start of our Creed, it helps put into perspective that we are a part of a larger community. Delta Zeta’s commitment to the world is seen in many ways. But, perhaps no more than our commitment to the environment with the Pink Goes Green initiative. Not just a program, but a way of life to make the world we all live in just a little bit better.

If you haven’t heard yet – Earth Day is coming next week. April 22 has been recognized since 1970 as a grassroots movement to demonstrate commitment to the environment. Delta Zeta’s Pink Goes Green site has had almost 2000 individuals take the Green Pledge, a simple way to choose one thing to support the environment we live in. Perhaps you choose to use only cloth grocery bags, or maybe you can drink from reusable containers. When you add up the numbers, we can make a huge difference. Just think, according to the Clean Air Council, the average American office worker uses 500 disposable cups a year. If every collegiate member of Delta Zeta took the Green Pledge today to use a reusable container rather than a paper cup, we would save over 6,000,000 cups in the next year alone.

Think of it this way, by having one morning coffee in a disposable cup you create over 23 pounds of waste in one year. Multiply that by our average collegiate membership and we’re talking over 276,000 pounds of waste being sent to landfills each year.

So, are you with us? Tell us by taking the Green Pledge today!

Catching Up with the Delta Zeta ELCs

The job of a Delta Zeta Educational Leadership Consultant is definitely rewarding. We asked our 2012-2013 ELCs to share a photo and memory of their time on the road this year. Here is what they had to say...

Delta Zeta's Learn 2 Listen Week

This week is Delta Zeta’s Learn 2 Listen Week. We are sponsoring it again this year because noise-induced hearing loss is on the rise in teenagers and college age students. As an organization where most members join during their college years, Delta Zeta is compelled to raise awareness of this new epidemic and support one of our national philanthropies, speech and hearing.

One in five American teenagers now suffers from some type of hearing loss, with an alarming increase of 31% in the last decade alone. Instead of having noticeable hearing loss in their 50s or 60s, today’s college student will face these difficulties in their 30s and 40’s. And most of this is preventable simply by learning to listen!

Just think of the number of people you see each day with their ear phones in, listening to music or a podcast or maybe even last week’s calculus lecture. Maybe you are sitting next to them on an airplane, or in the student union. Can you hear the sound coming out of their ear buds? If so, then it is too loud! Turning the volume down half-way on your device when using ear buds can help save your hearing.

To learn more about hearing loss prevention, visit our national philanthropy partners: House Research Institute’s It’s How You Listen That Counts at www.earbud.org and the Starkey Hearing Foundation’s Listen Carefully and Sound Matters initiatives at www.starkeyhearingfoundation.org.

Additional information for chapters planning events can be found on our website. Delta Zeta’s Pinterest board has articles as well as some craft and project ideas to raise awareness about noise induced hearing loss. Follow Delta Zeta on Twitter with the hashtag #DZLearn2Listen. And watch our Facebook page for frequent updates and ways you can get involved in Learn 2 Listen Week.