mid-terms – GW Blogs from Abroad

Study Shock

AdminMarch 11, 2015December 14, 2018

It’s no secret that while studying abroad, your course load is generally easier. The more relaxed academic setting during study abroad is great because it gives students more time to focus on experiencing the culture of their host country, or to travel to other places. The down side to this no-stress atmosphere is that when midterms or finals week rolls around, we don’t remember how to cope. Even though most of us are juniors in college, being abroad leads you to suddenly forgot how to handle a couple of exams and papers that are all due during the same week. So, here are 3 extremely useful tips that I am sure will help those trying to cope with studying for midterms or finals abroad:

Find a place to study. This may seem like an obvious tip, but remember that most students who are studying abroad don’t live on campus, where finding a quiet place to student is much easier. Before midterms week, I thought that studying at home would the answer. But, the weekend before midterms my host mom had all of her childhood friends over, and I’m sure you can imagine how loud that got. Moral of the story is, find a quiet place to study beforehand. Studying abroad isn’t like at GW where you can always study in your own place, or set up camp in Gelman. Look up any public libraries that may be around, or cool cafes that offer free Wi-Fi. Just make sure you have a place to focus before the last minute; I learned this the hard way.

Keep in contact with your professors. This is especially easy for students studying abroad through a GW program. Since the class sizes are so small, it is easy to develop a close relationship with any one of your professors. At GW, however, lectures tend to scare students away from asking too many questions or going to their professor for help. But, during midterms week, my classmates and I asked any and every question we could about what topics to focus on while studying. What we found was that all of our professors genuinely wanted us to do well, and gave us a tremendous amount of helpful tips. Study abroad allows students to develop a unique and close relationship with their professors that we should all take advantage of when midterms and finals roll around.

Plan accordingly. As I’ve said in my other blogs, it feels like there aren’t nearly enough weekends to travel while studying abroad. As a result, students may make the mistake of booking a trip the weekend before midterms, or even during them. This is why I strongly suggest having all of your syllabi spread out before you whenever you go to plan a trip. I almost planned a trip to London the weekend before midterms, but thankfully thought to check my school calendar beforehand!

Midterms… piece of cake?

AdminApril 3, 2014December 14, 2018

By zamorse

Three words. That's all I really need to describe what my next two weeks here in Israel are going to be like. That dreaded two-week, often a month long period of time in the middle of the semester is never much fun, but it Israel I can see that it is going to be a lot different than back at GW.

Usually I have multiple papers, exams, and projects all due in a hectic two-week period before spring break. And that's true to an extent here in Israel. I have a paper, two exams, a project, and a presentation all due before Passover break starts. Except the projects and presentations are easier and shorter than they would be at GW. Instead of a ten page paper, I have a 5 page paper. Instead of a 15 minute presentation, I have a 5 minute presentation. And instead of your typical blue-book midterm exams, I have a much easier skimmed down version.

Another huge difference between here and GW is the amount of time I have to study for my midterms. Instead of juggling a 20 hour a week internship and being president of a student organization in addition to five classes like I was last year, my classes here are only once a week seminars, and I'm not juggling extracurricular activities like I was at GW. That gives me much more time to get everything I need to get done, but also have lots of time to go to the beach and hang out with my friends.

Midterms here are not as stressful like they are at GW. But that's exactly what it should be like. The point of studying abroad is to study while abroad, obviously, but only a little bit.

The real learning is done outside the classroom.

Getting Schooled

AdminMarch 5, 2014December 14, 2018

By msotomayor12

In honor of midterms looming over my weekend plans, I’ve decided to dedicate this post to my university experience thus far. Get ready to be schooled.

The GW Madrid program is housed at La Universidad Aútonoma de Madrid, a public university that is located on the outskirts of the city. For any GW student, the atmosphere is the polar opposite of Foggy Bottom. The school used to be run by the military, which is another way of insinuating that it’s not the prettiest campus I’ve ever seen.

Yet what it lacks aesthetically, it gains in its academics. From what I have experience in the Spanish education system, there is a huge value placed in the relationship between professors and their students. For the first time in a long time, I’ve felt that professors truly care about getting to know their students so they can note their strengths and weaknesses.

The attention is incredible. I’ve caught myself not even realizing that I’m participating in class discussion because in this atmosphere it comes so naturally. As a result, my professors have gotten to know me besides just reading my papers and exams.

I find this extremely important because it not only makes me more confident about my work, but as a student. I do not feel like I just need to get through a class because professors really try to work with me to develop my understanding. I feel stimulated to keep learning. Also, they really value not bombarding students with 30 pages of reading a night. They would rather students focus intently on several assignments and have enough time to study in their other classes. I feel stimulated to keep learning.

Getting to know professors is also fascinating. I’ve found myself discussing politics and breaking down House of Cards with my literature professor on our train ride back home. My political science professor took us to visit the Spanish Congress, but the best treat was discussing the importance of political research over coffee and churros. These discussions out of the classroom are exactly the moments where I believe a professor can assess a student’s passion and ability, which are hard to determine from a black and white exam.

Even though its a refreshing experience, I still have to study for midterms, which is still a pain no matter what country a student is in.