It's December so for college students that means one thing, finals and break. As a dancer I go through two weeks of finals and I have finally figured out the best way to handle the stress of finals. It is all about the way you prepare for them.
The first week of finals for dancers are our technique finals. These vary from teacher to teacher and technique to technique. Ballet finals are the finals that are the most strict, but that is all because ballet is the most disciplined of techniques. For the final you learn an entire class, the teacher goes through every exercise and then the day of the final the class is broken up into groups and the groups have to execute the exercises without the teacher going over them. What you need to do to prepare for this is to write down the exercises after class and go over them the night before the final. For tap finals it is a solo that is self choreographed. My suggestion is do not improvise when performing it in class, choreograph it and practice it ahead of time. The best thing to do is to perform it in front of friends ahead of time to get there opinion about it. The jazz final is choreographed by the teacher and you work on it for 3 or 4 classes before the final. The day of the final its a quick warm up, across the floor, and then the combination. The best way to prepare for this final is to pay attention in class to every little detail about the combination, and then work with your friends in the class to rehearse it the night before. The modern finals are a combination of choreography from the teacher and group choreography. Although given time in class to work on the group choreography, the best thing to do is to get together in the group and rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. For all of these finals the best preparation is rehearsing and I personally like to write all of the combinations down. I find it as a memory trick that is best for me.
Academic finals are the weeks after that and they vary from exams, papers, and projects all of which are equally challenging. Projects just take time and the best thing to do is not to procrastinate, work on it every night and leaving it for the night before is just asking to fail. Papers are the same, do not leave them for the night before because if it is your final it is going to be at least 10 page paper and the teacher wants to see your best work of the semester. Also, utilizing the writing tutors and having them look over you work is the best thing to get a better grade. The tutors are there to help and why no use every resource you have access to, it is your final after all. Exams are what takes the most preparation ahead of time. To prepare these the key is to STUDY. Study by yourself, or in groups. Study groups are good because others will remember information that you did not remember from the beginning of the semester. Teachers are also willing to lead some study sessions so they are the best sessions to go to. The teachers are the ones who made the exam after all, they know what is on it. And most of them tend to give little hints at there study sessions as to make it easier for there students to do good on the exam. After all, the goal of all the teachers is for their students to succeed!
Winter break starts right after the last final, so for me that starts on December 14th! Leaving all of your friends behind is tough, especially when you know you are not going to see alot of them for a month, but that just means in a month when the new semester starts there is more fun to have. Until next semester....
~Christy
