By Hannah Whitley
Hey fellow Beavers!
We’re closing in on week 5 of fall term, and if you haven’t by now, it should be prime time for midterms, projects, and papers to be due pretty soon. The middle of the term comes with its own challenges, but luckily, Oregon State students have a plethora of resources available to help them as they journey through college! One of my favorite resources at OSU is the Academic Success Center. Located in Waldo Hall, the Academic Success Center provides students with a variety of services, varying from study tables, to assistance with writing, to supplemental instruction and coaching. Here are a few programs the Academic Success Center offers that can help keep Oregon State students successful in the midst of midterms:
1. The Writing Center. Offering free help with any writing project at any stage in the writing process, the Writing Center is open to all OSU students in addition to staff, faculty, and members of the Corvallis community. In addition to academic papers, Writing Center assistants are trained to help with resumes, cover letters, and applications as well. Alongside their location in Waldo hall, the Writing Center has an online presence through the Online Writing Lab, where students may submit their work-in-progress though this portal: http://cwl.oregonstate.edu/owl.php. Call (541) 737-5640 to schedule your appointment today, or stop by Waldo from 9 am – 3:30 pm for a walk-in appointment.
2. Supplemental Instruction (SI) offers peer-led, group study tables for challenging courses. Though the support courses change each term, students can find which courses offer SI at this link: http://success.oregonstate.edu/si. SI groups meet once a week for 50 minutes during weeks 2-10 of each term. The Academic Success Center reports that “students who participate in study tables at least 5 times or more per time, on average, receive final grades 1/3 to ½ a grade higher than students who do not participate.” With that said, check out the SI tables today!
3. Feeling stressed about exam preparation? Struggling with your study plan for a challenging course? Academic coaching may be right for you! Academic coaches are available for a series of conversations which aim to assist students with their personal well-being and academic performance. With 45 minute appointments, coaching sessions allow students to discuss time management, test preparation, test taking, procrastination, and stress reduction with a trained coach. I was able to participate in academic coaching during my first term of college, and I will say, it’s the best thing I could have done at the time! Coaching helped me analyze how I was taking tests and gave me tips for how I could better my test taking experience. I definitely recommend academic coaching for anyone feeling stressed out during midterms or even with their impending final exams.
