As we get in the spooky Halloween spirit this month, we must ask ourselves: What’s more terrifying than midterms and finals? These words, whispered in the dead of night, will send shivers down the spine of any self-respecting college student. For sisters busy with chapter responsibilities on top of their school work, looming exams are downright mortifying.
You’d probably rather walk through a haunted house alone, without a flashlight. You’d probably rather suck on the eyeballs of a newt or touch a human brain--even if these are just some Jawbreakers and a bowl of Spaghetti at a Halloween party.
No one likes exams.
What if we told you that your frights and spooks could be easily dispelled? What you don’t know often drives fear. That’s fun when watching horror movies late at night, or reading an Anne Rice novel. Yet going into exams unprepared is just a bad idea.
Knowledge is power. Your chapter has already given you the sorority tools to flourish in your studies. You just need to use them properly.
Have Midterms and Finals Got You Down? OmegaFi can help. Study Better with These Sorority Tools.
Greek Tutoring--What Is It and How Do You Use It?
Most college campuses offer a variety of tutoring avenues. Some colleges provide live academic support, with tutors able to directly engage students. Some utilize online tutoring services through their library system. Student athletes often work with specialized tutors through their athletics department. Student tutors can work directly with certain professors and offer specialized tutoring in those course subjects. These may be students who’ve already taken a class and passed with a high grade, or are graduate students in that field.
Unfortunately, all these tutoring services have one thing in common. They’re not tailored toward sorority sisters. University tutoring is still helpful as a backup plan, but first you should stop by your Greek Life Office.
Why? Because they may offer access to Greek peer tutoring, a network of tutors who are part of the Greek community and understand the unique challenges of completing an undergraduate degree while taking part in a sorority or fraternity chapter. Sisters whose campuses offer Greek tutoring can contact sorority tutors for various subjects and classes, and can meet in predesignated study areas or even the study rooms of their chapter house. This is the perfect place to turn when exams are about to make or break sisters’ GPAs.
What’s even cooler is that you can equalize your study karma by offering up some tutoring yourself. Talk to your Greek life office about any subjects you may be proficient with, as well as days and times you’re available.
Even if your campus doesn’t offer this service, the National Panhellenic and Greek Life office often work together to set up Greek academic scholarship programs for sisters and brothers.
This exemplifies what sorority life is all about: building community.
Sorority Software: It Helps with Everything. Yes, That Includes Studying.
Your instinct is probably to distract yourself from studying using technology. But that only makes your life more difficult. Why not use the tool of software to your advantage and ace that exam?
OmegaOne is a great piece of sorority software for communication, but it also has you covered when it comes to study hours. You can track and manage study hours straight from your mobile device. This will help keep you on course for those crucial hours of cramming.
However, sometimes no studying will get done until you turn the screens off.
Phone apps that block distractions can help you get in the study zone and focus. One such app is Tree, which grows trees on your screen and blocks social media and other apps as a timer counts down. If you go on Facebook before the tree finishes growing, it dies. You don’t want to kill your trees, do you? If you have a hardcore phone addiction, there are more aggressive app blockers, or you could just hurl your phone into an actual tree.
Software is a tool sisters can use to their advantage when it’s necessary, but can be a major distraction if overused.
Location, Location, Location: The Ultimate Sorority Study Tool
It’s study time, and you should head straight to the university library, right?
Think again.
The library has the best Wi-Fi on campus, so hilarious YouTube videos will load instantly on your laptop. Hours later, you’ll be watching American Idol auditions from ten years ago and weeping openly.
Sure, there are quiet areas, but who wants to be quiet when you can snag a key for a study room with a few sisters and goof off?
That’s assuming you even make it past the Starbucks near the entrance.
Hey, is that Rebecca ordering a Frappuccino? You saw her at the chapter house five minutes ago, but it can’t hurt to drop in and say hi. There’s still plenty of time to hit the books.
This is how it starts. When studying, AVOID THE LIBRARY AT ALL COSTS. It’s a trap.
Instead, lock yourself in the chapter house study room--a place most sisters would never willingly find themselves outside of study hours. Have one of your sisters guard the door and tell her, no matter how much you scream, no matter how much you beg, not to let you out until you’re done studying.
If that doesn’t work, find some corner of campus where you can’t get an internet signal and sit beneath a tree with your notes and highlighter. The squirrels have no idea what you’re up to, and they don’t really care, which is why they make the perfect study companions.
Sorority study tools are only useful if sisters know when, how and where to wield them.
Sisters: How are your studies going this semester? Are there any sorority study tools that’ve helped your grades? Please respond in the form of an essay in the comments below, and remember to use a No. 2 pencil.
