Time Management: A remedy to stressful times

By Jess St-James

stja0023@algonquincollege.com

Jess St-James photo Stressed students are encouraged to visit counselling ser- vices for help

Before Algonquin students can embrace their summer freedom, first they will have to hit the books for the final examination week April 17-25.

During this week, students in all programs will be completing a variety of assignments and writing the final exams that are crucial in determining their academic success.

 For many students, this time of the academic year is not only the most work-intensive but is also the most stressful.

“For students at this time of the year, often stress is related to academics,” said Jeff Agate, coordinator in the assessment centre at Algonquin. “Stress is the perception that you’re being asked to face some kind of challenge that you’re not sure you’re going to be able to handle.”

Agate says in order to address exam-related stress, it is important for students to look at the challenge at hand and ask themselves why they feel unprepared to meet whatever challenge that might be.

“The best advice is time management,” said Health Promotions nurse Krisstina Davis. Students who are pulling “all-nighters” should better manage their studying habits to avoid this unhealthy activity. “Once you lose sleep, you never get it back,” she said.  “It can become a cycle.”

Agate suggested some studying strategies that students can use to avoid the unhealthy cycle of stress that exams can cause.

“The most important thing is that you have to start with a general understanding of what you are learning before you can have a specific or detailed understanding,” he said. “Cramming for something that you really have no understanding of is not an effective way of learning.”

He advised students to avoid “cramming” and memorizing and instead, try to understand the basics of what they will be tested on. To do this, Agate suggests making visual examples such as charts, or try and explain the subject to someone else as a means of enhancing your understanding on a topic.

The counselling department at Algonquin offers students the “study smart” guide to help relieve the stress that comes with final assessments. The guide offers advice on preparing for different types of exams, time management, dealing with test-related anxiety and outlines the services available through the college.

“Counselling Services regularly offers workshops in stress management,” Agate said.

 He also suggested that if several students in a particular class are feeling stressed about the course they have the option of setting up a group workshop to deal with issues related to a specific course.

“The professor can invite a counsellor to come into the class to give a workshop about stress management,” said Agate. While this does require more planning it can provide students with a personalized session that targets the specific issues students have with a course.

There are currently no scheduled workshops geared towards exam preparation for the month of April, however Agate encourages students to make use of the other services available through Counselling Services, located in C-226.