Help your student go from “Frantic Finals” to “Fantastic Finals”

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”  
~ William Yeats

Many students struggle with the idea of staying on task for courses they do not perceive as “important” or applicable to their future. Of course, the proper college curriculum is a critical decision to faculty and only arrived at after much debate and consensus. Just by completing their college education, your student’s experience at Millikin has taught them attention to detail, critical thinking, goal setting, teamwork, public service, intellectual curiosity, flexibility, diversity and much more.

Help your students  “light that fire” and find the hidden treasure in any course they take. Your energy and enthusiasm for their course work will go a long way to helping them focus not only at Finals time, but all the time.

Studying for Finals is really a task that begins the first day of class. That being said, here are a few “conversation starters” that will help your student excel.

• Review or re-write all notes the same day they are taken. Not only does this help make sense of notes because the information is still fresh, it also saves time. At this point you are reviewing and that is far better than having to “re-learn” right before exams.
• Plug in daytime study hours and do it now. Schedule a time every day. You can usually find time in-between classes. Then you aren’t leaving every thing until evening when various activities compete for your time.
• Spend time for optimum value. All time studying is not quality time studying. 
• Find your own personal strategies. What trips you up? What can you do to combat that? Examine the areas where you are falling short. Implement your personal plan. There is always a way. You can form study groups, go for tutoring, use note cards, access your professors, exchange notes with a friend or access the Office of Academic Development. We know you can do it and we want to help!

The Office of Academic Development is located in the Learning Resources Center on the Lower Level of Staley Library, Rooms 14B-14D. Students and family members can contact the Academic Development office at 217-362-6424 or by email at oad@millikin.edu. Students and family members can also visit Academic Development on the web at www.millikin.edu/academicdev.