With the fifth week of the semester fast approaching, students are beginning to think about midterms. Luckily, the Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) is here and ready to help students prepare for midterms.

The TLC is an on-campus resource that students can use to get help with study tips, attend student-led study groups and book student tutoring sessions.

The TLC webpage has a series of videos and documents with studying and time management advice. When studying for midterms, the TLC suggests students should evaluate their progress this semester with the SQ3R approach, a five step process for reviewing and studying material for midterms. The S stands for Survey, which requires students to go over notes, homework and quizzes and try to identify the most important topics. The next step is Q, which stands for Question. Students should be writing down 3-8 questions for each day/section. These questions should be relevant and ones that the student does not know. The first R stands for Reading to find the answers to the questions that the student doesn’t know. The next R is Recite. Here, students are encouraged to talk aloud, work through questions and explain the information to others. The last R is Review, where students review material with more than just their eyes. During this step, students practice questions and continuing to do so until they can answer all the questions without their notes.

“The University’s students are smart and hard working, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need to adapt and adjust to different content areas, teaching styles and testing formats,” Laura Lanwermeyer, the associate director of Student Learning Support, said.

If students are hesitant about studying by themselves, the TLC also offers many facilitated resources, including student-led study groups. There are study groups that range from STEM classes to language classes, and from beginner to intermediate in level. These groups, which are available to all students, meet for 90 minutes every week and generally have 8-12 students. These groups are led by a peer facilitator who has been trained by the TLC.

“We have a thorough training and professional development model for our staff based on the international standards of the College Reading and Learning Association,” Lanwermeyer said.

Hannah Grillo ’21, who leads weekly study groups for BIO 121 and BIO 127, says that study group not only reinforces the course material, but also helps students grow as learners. When studying for midterms, Grillo advises students “to move past memorization, rather take time to apply material, relate it to other topics, and put the material together in your own way.”

Peer tutoring is also an available resource. Peer tutoring is limited to mainly STEM courses but is still a resource that is available to all students. Students are allowed two 45 minute sessions a week where they can meet one-on-one with a trained peer tutor. In these sessions, students can work on specific concepts and questions they have.

“I would want to remind students to focus on what is most essential for their own health and work,” Lanwermeyer said.

Another resource available to students is the Counseling & Student Development Center. While this may not be an obvious stop on students’ journey to midterm success, it can be a helpful resource for those students who are struggling with more than just learning information.