How to Study for Final Exams

It's that fun time of the year again!

Instead out being outside enjoying the awesome weather we've been having on campus playing hacky sack, most of us have been shackled to our textbooks, flashcards, and PowerPoints studying for the final exams.

Feel overwhelmed and don't know where to begin? Here are a few tips to calm your nerves and get you settled to ace your exams:

- Choose a place to study away from distractions. There are plenty of places all over the Thigpen Library to nestle down and study. If you plan on studying with a group, make sure it's made up of classmates that you're not necessarily friends with. That way your time spent studying in a group is more about covering the material and not socializing.

- Studying for 30-45 minutes at a time with a 5-10 break in between help your comprehension
and give your mind a chance to rest. Also getting at least 8 hours of sleep is a must. Nothing will kill your comprehension worse than being tired during the test.

- Taken from suite101.com, "Ask your professor for help. If you're confused about your notes or the readings, go to the resident expert. This works much better if you don't put off studying until the last minute. It's a good idea to read through all of your notes before you start to study, so that you can inquire early about things that confuse you."

- Follow this How.com guide to study anything... It's really useful when you're studying something that's not the most exciting thing in the world.

If all else fails, you can always resort to cramming before your big final. Here's a video from HowCast.com on how to cram:



Vol State. Volunteer State Community College.

Lady Pioneer Signings

Rossview’s Evans Becomes a Vol State Lady Pioneer

Rossview High School and Westmoreland native Heather Evans today signed her national letter of intent to continue her basketball career at Volunteer State Community College. The 5’11” senior post player averaged 12.7 points and seven rebounds per game this season and was named to The Leaf Chronicle All-Area 1st Team. This was her second season being selected to the team.

“We feel Heather has an opportunity to be an impact player for us as a freshman,” said Lady Pioneer head coach Jason Montgomery. “She uses her body well and has great touch around the rim. This combined with her strong work ethic should let her develop into a productive collegiate player.”

Heather joins a Vol State team coming off a record breaking season that saw the team finish 27-4 and capture the TCCAA Western Division title for only the third time. In addition, the team finished as conference runner-up and ranked 15th in the nation in the final NJCAA poll.


Vol State Signs White House Heritage’s Chelsea Hannah

White House Heritage star and 2009 Robertson County girl’s basketball player of the year Chelsea Hannah became the newest member of the Volunteer State Community College women’s basketball program this week. The senior guard who averaged 16 points per game was joined by her family as she signed her letter of commitment with Vol State head coach Jason Montgomery.

Hannah brings a wealth of experience from a successful prep career with her to Vol State. The 5’8” guard amassed over 1700 career points during her career and was named an All-District selection all four years during her high school career and in 2009 was named her team’s MVP.

“We feel Chelsea has the skill set to be a very solid collegiate player,” said Montgomery. “She possesses good size, can attack the basket or shoot the three pointer, making her very difficult to defend.” Hannah will join with eight returning letter winners of last season’s 27-3 team that finished TCCAA Western Division Champions and TCCAA / Region VII Runner-up.

The combination of a solid returning group and a good recruiting class has Montgomery very optimistic about next season. “Obviously with what we have here now we are not satisfied with our results from last year and can’t wait to go to work with the team we have now,” he said.

For more information on Vol State athletics visit www.volstate.edu/athletics.

Career Fair Packed

There was a big turnout for the Spring Job Career Fair today. Hundreds of job seekers visited with the dozens of employers on hand. The tough economy means that many people are trying to start new careers. Here are some pictures. It will also be on Channel 2 tonight.

We Want to Hear from You!

What's it like to be a college student in the digital age? We want to know.During April, if you are a full-time student at VSCC, you will receive email invitations to participate in an online survey that's being conducted on several campuses by Dr. Alison Head and Dr. Michael Eisenberg at the University of Washington (UW).The survey will help us learn more about the opportunities and challenges that online research presents to you -- and the strategies you've developed to find information for course work and for use in your life.

If you take the survey, you'll qualify to win one of the three $100 gift certificates to your campus bookstore, which PIL will award in May. Not bad for about 20 minutes of your time.Watch your email for the survey announcement. Just be sure to complete the survey by the May 11 deadline.Your participation is entirely voluntary and all responses remain confidential. The research has undergone Human Subjects Review.

Career Fair Wednesday

Channel 2 ran a brief story about the Career Fair coming up Wednesday from 10am to 1pm in the Gym. We've had a bunch of phone calls too. I think with this economy these events are becoming a bigger deal. Everyone from the community is invited...and be sure to bring your resume! Rick with Career Placement tells me there will be dozens of employers on hand and he has a couple of workshops with job search and interviewing tips.

List of events for the rest of the semester...

Hey, did you know that finals are in two weeks? It feels like this semester has flown by!

Here's a link to the Spring 2009 Final Exam Schedule.

In between now and finals week, there are loads of events happening on campus that you should check out.

Here's a list:

SpringFest, April 15th
Come out from 10am to 1pm for free BBQ from Buffalo P's and to see Joe and Lefty Spray Can Artists work their magic to turn a blank poster into a work of art in minutes! Check them out here. Also, all of the active clubs on campus will be recruiting new members for the Fall 2009 semester and handing out free stuff.

Blood Drive, April 16th
The American Red Cross will be set up in the Carpeted Dining Room from 10am to 3pm for a Blood Drive.

Community Garden work day, April 18th
Help get the garden ready for the spring and summer months by volunteering at the Community Garden between the Mattox and Wallace buildings from 9am to 2pm.

TMTA Math Contest, April 21st
9:00 am to 2:00 pm

Spring Job Career Fair, April 22nd
Dozens of employers will be in the Pickel Gymnasium from 10am to 1pm.

Movies by Starlight, April 24th
Featuring Hotel for Dogs and Yes Man
At dusk (around 7:30) on the Library lawn

Music Department Showcase, April 24th & 25th
$5 suggested donation or $10 with the Spring music CD
7:30 pm in the Weymss Auditorium.

Vol State. Volunteer State Community College.

"The Pioneer" is out on stands now!

Vol State's student-run magazine, The Pioneer, has just released its Spring 2009 edition.

To the right is a picture of this year's cover.

This edition of the magazine focuses on relationships. Not just boyfriend/girlfriend relationships. The magazine covers LGBT relationships, friendships, marriage, divorce, co-worker relationships, and so forth.

I've worked on the Pioneer Staff as the magazine's Photographer and Art Director from . From my personal experience working on the publications, it takes everything these students have to whip up enough stories, pictures, sell enough advertisements, and design an entire 32-page magazine is under 4 months... It's no easy task.

Pick up your copy anywhere on campus, including the Student Publications Office directly across the hall from the Cafeteria in the Wood Camps Center.

Remembering the Tornado

Friday April 7, 2006 was a warm and sunny day with spring fully in bloom. Folks were looking forward to the weekend, but also keeping an eye out for stormy skies. The rest is history, now part of the fabric of the college. We'd like to get your perspective of the day, if you would like to share.

I remember many of us in a hallway next to the Humanities break room in the Ramer Building. We were standing around, waiting for the tornado warning to pass and kidding around with each other about the storm.

And then Suzanne Hesson came running in, declaring the tornado was on campus. The building coordinator radios confirmed it a moment later.

Suddenly everyone went quiet and sat down on the floor.

I crouched next to a Coke machine, holding my briefcase over my head in case the ceiling came down.

We waited.

And then it was like a bomb went off. There was a blast of debris shooting down the adjacent hallways. The ceiling tiles started rattling and were sucked up for a moment. Our ears popped. There was a terrible roar.

20 seconds later it was over. We realized the ceiling was not going to come down, the walls were not going to crash in and we were still alive. There was an eerie silence and dust filled the air.

What do you remember? Click comments and let us know...

These photos come from Robert Higgenbotham taken the day of the tornado: