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TRANSCRIPT:

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Hello ‘Runners! Welcome to Runner Talks, a series where we discuss and gather advice on various aspects of college life. I am your host, Evelyn Gallardo, and in this episode, I spoke to a current CSUB professor, CSUB Graduate, and a current CSUB student about the stresses of taking exams, gathered some tips, as well as other similar ideas. Be sure to listen to the end to hear about some great resources here at CSU Bakersfield.

[Matthew Woodman]: So, hi, my name is Matthew Woodman;I teach in the English department. I’ve been teaching for twenty years–the classes, or a little over twenty years. Uh, the classes I teach usually are some of the creative writing classes, some of the GWAR writing classes, and then, if you want to go back in time, I’ve taught the Intro to Literature classes, the freshman composition classes… all that kind of stuff.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: So, where did you study?

[Matthew Woodman]: Where did I get my degree?

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Mmhm.

[Matthew Woodman]: Um, I have a creative writing degree, or I’m in the middle of getting a creative writing degree from the University of New Mexico;it’s called IAIA. I got my master’s degree from CSUB, and I have my bachelor’s degree from Humboldt State up in Northern California.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Um, so, from an educator’s perspective, what do you think students struggle with the most in college?

[Matthew Woodman]: That’s a generalization, so I couldn’t say there’s like something that students struggle with the most–cause it depends on the individual student– so like some students struggle with like procrastination and other students don’t struggle with that at all. There’s not like one common thing that every student… that I could say a common struggle, I don’t know.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: What do students come to you the most with there, like what struggles do students come to you with?

[Matthew Woodman]: Like from when I’m looking at students, I see a whole bunch of different struggles and issues. Some of them are like self-inflicted like procrastination;a lot of students like procrastinate; that’s just something they do to themselves. And then some of them are beyond their control like a lot of students struggle like financially, they’re coming from unstable like financial backgrounds and that’s not something that they did to themselves, that’s just like the circumstances they’re growing up with. Some students came from high schools that didn’t give them a firm kind of academic background and foundation. So, like, they came without knowing things they should have known from graduating high school just because the quality of the schools they went to. I mean, I don’t want to throw specific high schools under the bus, but there are some schools that do a better job of making sure students are prepared, and again that’s, not on the students, that’s not the students fault cause it’s just where they live, where they went to school. Um… so the there’s a wide range of problems. Sometimes students, are having problems with stress and anxiety. So, like, the idea of just getting out of their own way like they don’t have the coping mechanisms. Sometimes they’re coming from families that have like chaos at home and so like their… well they’re at school they’re not experiencing it but you can see it’s like they got the emotional baggage their carrying. Which, again, is something they’re dealing with. Um, and sometimes students are juggling things, like they’re trying to work three jobs and then going to school so like they’re trying to do too much.

[Evelyn  Gallardo]: So, in terms of procrastinating, how would you advise a student to do better?

[Matthew Woodman]: Like that’s just a shift that students have to make. So there’s like tricks and things like having a calendar will keep them kind of focused on the dates. Sometimes, um,  students, for some reason, like they don’t do things until it’s due as opposed to like just giving themselves, doing it early, and just relaxing… they keep the stress up until the very last minute. So, it’s kind of like a mental shift;they just have to create a new habit instead of having the habit of waiting;they have to have the habit of doing it early. I don’t know how change a habit, that’s like any habit. How do you change it? So I mean, I get it why students have a hard time breaking habits, too.

[Evelyn Gallardo] Yeah. So, when you were a student, what subject did you struggle with the most?

[Matthew Woodman]: Language, like I was trying to learn French and Spanish and stuff, I had the hardest time. I mean I had a hard time, I didn’t have a hard time cause I could do enough to like pass the classes but I never got fluent through high school and college. I took language classes in college, too, and in high school, and it never clicked.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: So, in college, what was your toughest course that you took?

[Matthew Woodman]: The French class, probably.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: You took French in college?

[Matthew Woodman]: Mmhm mmhm.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Um, as a professor, what are some things you do to ensure a student’s success?

[Matthew Woodman]: I try to force students to do things early. So I have all the assignments broken down into pieces and so they’ll just do each piece before they do the major assignment, they do all the smaller brain storming and drafting and editing.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: How did you get to that system?

[Matthew Woodman]: I’ve been teaching for twenty years, so… trial and error. I didn’t start off that way, but instead of getting mad like when a student’s essay is all a mess, or it falls apart, I was trying to think like how can I make sure that doesn’t happen so by trying to have all the pieces be due early, that’s my way of making sure like at the end they have something. It doesn’t always work like people just don’t come to class or they… they don’t do the pieces and so like nothing happens, but it’s much less of a problem for me having those pieces that it affects fewer people. Like fewer people are just writing it off, and if I had, if I didn’t do that there would be much more–people would have much more problems.

[Evelyn Gallardo] So, have you always taught at a college level or?

[Matthew Woodman]: I substitute for uhh…in Porterville, so I was a substitute teacher in Porterville from like Kindergarten to High School. I substituted for like a year and a half I was a substitute teacher at all kinds of different schools. Um, I taught at a community college, I taught at Porterville College, classes a couple semesters. Um, but I never was like a full time instructor for high school or anything.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Um, do you know of any resources on campus that students can use when they’re struggling to study?

[Matthew Woodman]: They have those little… one unit classes and workshops in the library that pop up every once in a while, but I don’t know where like you would find them on…the website or something. I know they have those cause I see the emails that are sent out every once in a while, like the emails that are sent to the students, like the faculty get them too. So I could see that like, “there’s this workshop about good study habits that’s being put on,” but I don’t know who’s actually…I don’t really pay attention to who is the one that’s putting those on or, um, what office it was coming from. I mean, I don’t think those workshops, they’re not frequent but I know they have them but it’s not like you could just go there. I don’t think there’s a drop-in. I mean maybe with the study places you could go to the Writing Resource Center, the tutoring center, maybe they would help maybe the counseling center–if you went over there, maybe the counseling center would help.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: I just wonder, like, how could a first-year student… because I know it can feel like you’re, like, drowning in a lot of information.

[Matthew Woodman]: Right.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: So how could a first-year student…or who could they reach out to?

[Matthew Woodman]: I mean part of what the, if you’re a first-year student, it’s uh one of the purposes for that first-year seminar class. So that’s one reason why that class exists;that was one reason why the class was created. Um, I don’t know if a class is the best place for that, to make people like have to go on a Monday at like ten o’clock every Monday–whatever time the class is– like that’s when you learn whatever the thing is, cause a lot of times when students are encountering these issues it’s not around. It’s like, it’s whenever they’re encountering them, it’s not something they can schedule.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Yeah.

[Matthew Woodman]: So, I don’t know.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: I see what you mean… What do you think the toughest part about taking an exam is?

[Matthew Woodman]: Honestly, in my classes, the students that struggle are the students who haven’t been engaged. So they’re the students who haven’t been coming to class, they’re the students who haven’t been reading, they’re the students who haven’t been paying attention. Those are the students who do awful, and I usually, I set my exams and the times essays;I arrange it such so that if you have been coming and you have been paying attention and you have been asking questions and you’ve been engaged, like those students, usually, do well. And it’s the students who haven’t been engaging the whole time are the ones who do poorly. So I think that’s probably a lot of times when students don’t do well on exam, it’s because they’ve checked out or they’ve not connected to, like, whatever the class has been going on. Like, sometimes also, it’s a question too of why the students are disengaging. If the student has a lot going on in their life and they’ve got difficult classes and things, it’s not a matter of them disconnecting, but it’s a matter of them not being able to handle like all of…to manage everything they’ve got. Then, I’ll work with them and try to help them figure out a way.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: It’s like a give and take.

[Matthew Woodman]: It’s a give and take and also it’s, like, triage kind of or I just, again, I have so many students that I’m going to help the students that want to be helped.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: So, like, as a student, what you’re saying is, the main thing would be engagement?

[Matthew Woodman]: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. And that engagement, whether it’s like showing up to class–it’s like the minimum– and the engagement: asking questions like when you have a question or answering questions when the professor ask questions like those are all ways that you’re kind of staying with the flow of like the process of whatever the class is doing. And that’s gonna both, like, the teachers gonna see that and then also you’re gonna see it, it’s gonna, it can make a difference for you on your end too.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Mmhm. So what do you, what do you think students struggle with the most in your classes?

[Matthew Woodman]: It depends;at the beginning of the semester, a lot of times they suffer from, like, low self-esteem when it comes to writing, like they think, they’re like, “my writings bad, I don’t know how to do this, I don’t know how to do that.” And so most of the time they do, they just have, like, someone has told them along the way. Like they got a bad grade once, and that’s all they see about their writing, or they had a bad teacher who told them something once, and so they thing that they’re, they’re not good. Um, but writing is not, like you’re not good or bad at writing it’s just like a skill so it’s a matter of getting better or not. Sometimes they’re a little scared about writing and maybe it’s also frequency like there’s a lot of majors where they don’t do a lot of writing. So then they have to get in my class, they have to write and they haven’t done it for a while and it becomes scary just because…

[Evelyn Gallardo]: They haven’t done it.

[Matthew Woodman]: They haven’t done it.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: So how do you kind of shift their self-esteem?

[Matthew Woodman]: So a part of it is the idea of, I tell jokes a lot, part of it is like making writing not seem scary and then part of it also is breaking everything down into the smaller drafts which is all just credit–no credit. So, like, you just do it, and you get credit. I’m not grading you, I’m not evaluating you, the whole point is to just get something down, and then you can, after you get it down, you can move on to like making it look good, but the first part is just getting something there. And then trying again. Cause a lot of times if you’re scared of something you’re gonna… you’re gonna procrastinate, it’s like, you don’t want to do it so you’re gonna wait till the last minute to do it cause you didn’t want to do it in the first place. So, I have to try to trick them or–or encourage them or force them to do things early when if I didn’t encourage, trick, force they wouldn’t do it early. So I have to kind of have those sorts of things.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: So when you say trick them, what do you mean by that?

[Matthew Woodman]: Sometimes I’ll tell them something is due, and then when it’s there, it’s not really due.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Oh, yeah.

[Matthew Woodman]: So they think, “Ah! It’s due, I have to do it,” and then they do it, and I’m like, “good job,” I give them points for doing it, but I don’t collect it or grade it like I don’t evaluate it, it was just–they thought I was going to, it was just I was really just trying to get them to have a draft.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Okay. Um, what is one way you think students themselves can ensure they are successful as students?

[Matthew Woodman]: One way?

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Well, if you have more.

[Matthew Woodman]: Um, ask for help when they need it or find a person–um, you’re right sometimes it’s difficult to know where to ask for help– but like everybody needs help sometimes, so it’s just a question of like allowing yourself to ask for help. Giving yourself the… the, kind of, permission to be vulnerable to say “Hey, I need help with this,” whatever the case might be. Sometimes students try to do it by themselves and just suffer through it and then like, it’s difficult for them they don’t learn anything, they don’t enjoy it cause its all, they’re all kind of in the weeds. So I’d say that, know when to…know when to ask for help, and then find the person to whom you should be asking help, or from whom you should be asking help. And then, I would just say stay engaged, like, the idea of engagement is the whole thing.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Mmhm.

[Matthew Woodman]: As long as they’re staying engaged, they’ll be in good shape. It’s when students disengage, and then again, it’s not always their fault, they might get sick, they might have something happen with their family, their work might ask them to pull a double shift, who knows what’s happening. But all those things force them…they create disengagements.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Mmhm, yeah. What is one thing you would tell a student who is currently struggling with exam season?

[Matthew Woodman]: I would say like don’t try to cram, cramming is never good. So it’s just like writing, like study a little bit over time, rather than trying to study a lot in a short window. By studying a little bit over time with an exam, you’re giving your brain all that time to actually, like, to have the information settle. If you’re trying to cram it all in, like, the information never settles, you might be able to pull some bits and pieces, but like you’ll be lucky if you do, like, you won’t remember anything;none of it will carry over to the next class. Like, the whole point of an exam is supposed to have you internalize the information. If you’re cramming, you’re not internalizing anything;you’re just kind of overloading your short-term memory. The whole point of– the true point of an exam is to have everything be retained, and so, like, depending of what class the students take, whether it’s for their major or it’s just a GEN ED class– I mean, I don’t wanna be saying some classes are more important than other– but like if it’s something the student is gonna use for their life the student needs to internalize that and so, like, they need to give themselves time to internalize that.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: So, what is one way you used to study when you were a student?

[Matthew Woodman]: Just in terms of, like, techniques and things? I, for me, writing things over and over again. That’s how I internalize it. So, like, whatever information I needed to remember, I would write it over–like, not at the same time over and over, but the way…by taking notes, like just the literal act of taking notes and rewriting the notes would help me remember, and so, I’d rewrite the notes different times. Sometimes I’d use, like, different colored ink, um, because that is a way to trigger your brain to, like, whatever the case might be, sometimes you might remember just because of the color of the ink that you wrote down. So, to write down whatever you need to write down but in different ways, in different color ink, at different times of the day.

[Evelyn Gallardo] So in, like, bits and pieces?

[Matthew Woodman]: Mmhm.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Okay.

[Matthew Woodman]: And then I’d have note cards, or I’d have it on pieces of paper. And then, you can look at them, you can review the notes. But like, for me, the whole process of writing them over again was what actually helped me.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Mmhm, okay. So, what is one overarching piece of advice you would give all students…in college?

[Matthew Woodman]: I would say to embrace the process. So, like, learning is supposed to be a process, it’s not supposed to be something you get through, it’s not supposed to be something that you check off, it’s not supposed to be something that, um, is only measured in grades or in, like, the transcripts, like, it’s supposed to be the whole process of learning and, like, the whole process of experiencing everything. And, so, that’s what I would say, just, like, trust in the process and the experience and just kind of embrace it. It’s gonna be messy sometimes, it’s gonna be stressful sometimes, but, like, that’s life. Life’s messy and stressful sometimes, too, and don’t get–don’t let the stressful times like… poison the times that aren’t stressful. Like, recognize the parts that are happy, too.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Mhmm. That’s good, I like that. So, lastly, what is one thing you would tell your past self when you were struggling?

[Matthew Woodman]: Oh…I would tell my past self all kinds of things. I was–my past self did suffer from anxiety and things.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Mhmm.

[Matthew Woodman]: Um, I would tell my past self just to chill, and then… you can insert profanity here;chill out. I would say it very calmly and very slowly, like, just chill out. I was high-strung when I was my student self. I was worried–this is probably the part where I’m kind of giving advice, it’s also advice to me–like, I was worried about the outcome and, not, and didn’t enjoy the process enough. So, I would tell myself like…just relax and, like, don’t worry about the outcome and just enjoy the process. Make sure you’re having fun everyday, even when you’re doing something stupid or something you don’t, like, just try to enjoy the process of it. I shouldn’t have said stupid cause like there’s nothing stupid, but you get it.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Yeah. I feel like that’s, uh, something that a lot of students can relate to.

[Matthew Woodman]: Do you have a time machine? I would like to go back and help my past self out.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: I wish I did. Alright, thank you.

[Matthew Woodman]: Thank you!

[Maria Gomez]: Hi! My name is Maria Gomez, and I got a Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Studies with an Emphasis in Multiple Subjects.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: And what are you planning on doing with that?

[Maria Gomez]: Um…with my degree, I plan on pursuing teaching. So, I eventually plan on applying to the Credentials Program and, after that, hopefully getting hired on through a district.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Nice, nice. So, what would you say the hardest class you’ve taken in college was?

[Maria Gomez]: Um, the first one that comes to mind is probably Philosophy and Critical Thinking.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: What does that class have to do with?

[Maria Gomez]: No idea.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Ahh.

[Maria Gomez]: That’s why I struggled. Um, I don’t know;it was just like its own thing. Um…honestly, it’s a blur, that’s…that’s like, in that class, it’s, like, the lowest grade I got.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Oh.

[Maria Gomez]: That I have on my transcript. It was just very confusing. So, of course there was things I understood from it, but majority, it was just very… um…

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Difficult?

[Maria Gomez]: Difficult, yeah.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Yeah…and how do you prepare for your exams–or, how did you prepare when you had exams?

[Maria Gomez]: So, we would get together, and then…so, like, a study group. And…it would help because you would see everybody’s different, like, methods, and you would kind of pick up on them. So, for me, what helped me was I would…For example, for chemistry, if I had to remember a certain, um, formula or what certain, like, letters meant when grouped together, I would come up with some type of…is it acronym?

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Mmhm.

[Maria Gomez]: With an acronym. So, my friends would see me do that and then, like,  the next day, or whenever we took our exam, they’d be like, “Oh my gosh, that totally helped me,” and so like I…I can’t remember and equation off the top of my head, but yeah I would come up with acronyms which helped a lot. And then, like I said, them repeating it or them, seeing them study, it was kind of like an extra…

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Reinforcement?

[Maria Gomez]: Yeah, so like…it’s kind of, like, if you’re rewriting something but we were just like talking and, like, helping each other out. And then I’d be in an exam like “Well, like, Bianca said this.”

[Evelyn Gallardo]: So, like, um, kind of like, having a conversation would help it stick?

[Maria Gomez]: Yeah.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: That’s good. I’ve never heard of that, like, making acronyms, you know? For things. Sounds interesting.

[Maria Gomez]: Yeah, acronyms or like little songs.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: I think that would be helpful for, like STEM Majors.

[Maria Gomez]: Mmhm.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Um, do you think those, uh, study methods were effective?

[Maria Gomez]: Mm, yeah.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Yeah?

[Maria Gomez]: Yeah.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Do you…did you use them, like, after that class?

[Maria Gomez]: Yeah, I would use it for, like, every class.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Oh.

[Maria Gomez]: Mmhm.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Nice, nice. Um, have you ever used any of the resources on campus when you were studying at CSUB?

[Maria Gomez]: Um…I heard of, like, resources. Like of course, my English teachers would always bring up, like, the writing center, but I never went.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Mmhm.

[Maria Gomez]: Umm…I also heard about tutoring, but I didn’t know exactly where it was located, so, again, I just never went. The only one that I used…I was in the CAMP Program, so they offered tutoring. So whenever, um, I was in that building, they had a tutor, like, in the room while we were doing our homework and stuff.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Oh…

[Maria Gomez]: So, that’s the closest that I got to, I guess, actually using resources. Um, but yeah other than that, no, I didn’t really use any studying resources that CSUB offered. Other than the library, of course.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Umm…What is one tip or piece of advice you have for students in terms of test-taking?

[Maria Gomez]: I would say not to stress, which is easier said than done, but I mean…cause if you stress out, it’s not going to help you. It’s…just gonna make you more overwhelming and then, cause at one point, there’s like nothing else you can do. Like once you’ve studied, and you know you did what you could, that’s that. Why are you going to stress over…cause like, I said, it’s not gonna help you, it’s not gonna, um, make the process any better or go by any easier. So just be confident in what you did to prepare.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: I like that. So, what is something you would tell people who are currently stressing over an exam?

[Maria Gomez]: Um, I would tell them that one exam is not going to determine your whole academic career. So, if you do–let’s say you do fail your chemistry exam–it’s not the end of the world. It may feel like it’s the end of the world, but it’s not. Cause, again, I was the same way, uh, cause there were some exams where I didn’t do so well, and it just felt like that’s it, I’m done, I’m not gonna graduate on time. Um, or also feeling really down on myself or feeling like a disappointment, but I mean I did it. You know? I got through it, and also, let’s say, like it does set you back a little bit. Again, it’s not the end of the world, like, we’re all at our own pace. We don’t all have to, um…for example, there’s friends that we all started together, but we’re not all ending at the same time, and that’s okay. There’s some friends that I have that graduated earlier than me, there’s some friends that are still, um, working on getting their Bachelor’s Degree, and that’s okay. We’re all at our own pace.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: So, from the outside looking in, what is something you would tell your past self when you were stressed over an exam? Especially, like, how you mentioned those times where you felt like…in the moment, you felt like if you failed, it was the end of the world, but now that you’ve gotten your Bachelors Degree, you know it wasn’t the end of the world. What would you tell yourself in that moment?

[Maria Gomez]: It’s gonna sound very, like, simple, but I would just tell myself that you’re okay because I felt like that’s something that my past self would try really hard to convince herself like that it’s okay. Cause I would have, like, episodes where I’d be like “it’s okay, it’s okay, like it’s fine,” but I know deep down I just didn’t believe like I was like “no, like it’s not okay,” you know?

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Mhmm.

[Maria Gomez]: Um, but yeah, I would just tell her like it’s okay, you’ve made it. Um, don’t let… yes, grades are important, exams are important, um, but don’t hold it so, like, above everything. Cause you come first. Yes, you want to do good in school but don’t let it take over your life.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Mhmm. That’s good, I think a lot of students could relate to that. Is there anything else, like any advice, you would give to just any students?

[Maria Gomez]: Like in general?

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Just in general, yeah.

[Maria Gomez]: To enjoy the process because time really does fly by really fast, like… I already graduated, and it felt like I just started not that long ago. So yeah, enjoy it. There will be ups and downs;it is a process, but whenever you are feeling down or how we were talking about, like, you don’t do so great on your exams or on a paper, I wouldn’t let that discourage you.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Yeah, alright. Thank you! Thank you so much.

[Kiara Zabala]: Hi, my name is Kiara Zabala. I am a communications and journalism major. Hardest class I’ve taken so far…I’m gonna say right now, it’s my Game Theory class.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: What is that class about?

[Kiara Zabala]: So we go over video games and like the different theories. Like, how it, like, rolls into, like, feminism. Um, the different, like, gender roles that, like, take on, but the final project, you have to make, like, a poster studying one game for thirty hours and it’s a lot.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Sounds like a lot.

[Kiara Zabala]: Yeah.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: How do you usually prepare for your exams?

[Kiara Zabala]: I don’t.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Oh!

[Kiara Zabala]: I don’t. I’m the type of person I’m gonna look over the material once and just be like, you know what? I’m not gonna worry about stressing about this because it’s depends. Like, if it’s one major exam and it’s like fifty percent of the grade, okay, I’m gonna study. But if it’s like spread out, a bunch, amongst different exams, I’m not gonna study as hard. I’ll probably just look over the study guide really quick or refresh my brain, but I don’t really spend too much time prepping for them.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Mm, so it depends?

[Kiara Zabala]: It depends, I guess, yeah, it depends on the class.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: So do you think those methods are effective though?

[Kiara Zabala]: Um, I mean, I’ve only failed one class, so I would say so.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: It works for you.

[Kiara Zabala]: It works for me;I don’t know if it would work for someone else, though.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Yeah, valid. Um, have you ever used any of the resources on campus to study?

[Kiara Zabala]: The only resource I’ve used is the library, and that’s it. Other than that, no. I kind of came in when COVID was still a thing, so I didn’t get the introduction that all the freshmen get now where they walk around the campus with, like, their little leaders and like, this is what you use, this. So, I kind of just, I’ve just been discovering things as I go along. So, I don’t really know a lot of the resources that are on campus so far.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: So would you say COVID set you back in that sense?

[Kiara Zabala]: I think COVID did set me back. I barely discovered that we had the rooms you can reserve like this semester. I would’ve been using this the whole time, and this semester’s definitely been my hardest and most productive semester so far. So I think, like, COVID was a disadvantage for a lot of us.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: I don’t remember if you mentioned already, um, what year are you?

[Kiara Zabala]: Oh! This is my fourth year? Fourth year, but I’m graduating a semester early. So, this is my last semester on campus, and, like I said, I learned the resources a little too late.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: So, have you heard of any resources though that you haven’t used yourself?

[Kiara Zabala]: I know there’s the writing resource center;I know we have tutors on campus, but, as far, that’s all I’m aware of, but I’m pretty sure there’s probably more things I’m just not aware of. But that’s all I know so far.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: So, what is some, like, a resource you would recommend to maybe somebody who knows less than you?

[Kiara Zabala]: Uh, this. The being able to rent out, “rent” out a room. It helps a lot because I know not a lot of people, like me, I can’t go study at home because I have a family that’s always home, and this you’re able to find like a quiet space and literally just zone out from everything and just focus on your assignments. It helps, like I know a friend who was in one of this till one in the morning last week because she was studying, she’s a biochem major, and she said that the rooms really help her a lot, and I know they’re been helping me too.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: What is one tip or piece of advice that you have for students in terms of test-taking?

[Kiara Zabala]: Don’t procrastinate like me. Don’t procrastinate like me. Even though I’m graduating a semester early, I could’ve made it a lot easier on myself if I didn’t procrastinate, and I probably wouldn’t be taking as many classes right now. I think the procrastination is what gets a lot of students like; they don’t plan it out as well so, I would suggest buying a planner, and looking at the syllabus and looking a semester ahead. Don’t wait until the week everything is due to start on it.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: So you say you’re…you wouldn’t have taken as many classes as you have right now. How many classes are you taking currently?

[Kiara Zabala]: Uhh, currently taking eight classes right now.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: How did you manage to do that?

[Kiara Zabala]: Well I failed stats twice because, like I said, I would procrastinate. I’m not the best at math, but also my advisor did miscalculate my graduation credits and I needed to add on one more class. So I was scheduled to take seven this semester, and I just said, “Oh, why not? Let’s just do one more,” so I don’t have to drag it out.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Yeah.

[Kiara Zabala]: I’ve already signed up for graduation so that’s why I’m taking eight this semester.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Do you mind sharing a little bit more about that? Your advising, um, mistake.

[Kiara Zabala]: Yeah, I don’t mind. She’s a really great advisor, there’s no hate towards her but she miscalculated my graduation credits and we didn’t discover it until I wasn’t able to sign up for graduation. Everyone else was getting emails around me, and I emailed her being like, “Hey, is there a reason I’m not getting emails?” and then we had to schedule a Zoom meeting, and she was like, “I miscalculated your credits so you either can add on an eighth class or you can graduate next semester.” I’d told my parents that I was going to graduate this semester, pushing it another semester back would just disappoint them. So I just, I had to do it.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Must’ve been scary.

[Kiara Zabala]: It was scary, but I mean what are you gonna do? It’s…

[Evelyn Gallardo]: They’re human.

[Kiara Zabala]: They’re human, exactly, so I don’t hold it against. I just, I wish we would’ve caught that mistake before cause maybe I could’ve taken a course or two over the summer. and I wouldn’t have such a heavy load right now, but it’s okay.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: How are you handling that though? Eight classes.

[Kiara Zabala]: Um, so I work. I work outside, and I work like forty to fifty hours a week, so I take out a lot of my stress there cause I work outside. I’m close to my coworkers, so we chop it up a lot. But also, I’m trying to go to the gym. I have a boyfriend that, like, makes sure that I actually relax. He’ll take away my laptop sometimes and he’ll be like,“You just need to like zone out for an hour, and then I’ll give you your laptop back.” So it helps that I have someone that I can lean on, like a good support system. But also, the gym helps a lot, like I can just zone out when I go.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Yeah like outlets.

[Kiara Zabala]: Yeah, little outlets.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Um, so what is something you would tell people who are currently stressing over an exam?

[Kiara Zabala]: At the end of the day, I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. If you’re gonna fail that exam, you’re gonna fail that exam, but you never know; miracles happen every day. There’s only so much you can do to prepare, and I learned this in high school:don’t over-study for an exam, don’t overstress. Because there was a final that I had in my English class and English, easy, I could do it. I wrote a ten-page paper in an hour and a half, and I got an A on it. But, I over-studied for this exam, and I stressed myself out, didn’t get enough sleep, wasn’t eating right when I studied for it, and I failed. Luckily my teacher was like “This isn’t you,” and he let me retake it, so I passed the class, but not every teacher is going to be that understanding. I think if I could give one piece of advice: don’t over study, don’t over stress because it will hurt you in the long haul. And that’s one thing I don’t think teachers or professors talk about enough like, you shouldn’t be studying for, like, two or three weeks for one test. I think you should study maybe one maybe two good tries, like, maybe an hour or two hours at most; after that, your brain will stop retaining the information

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Mm, so you…you think, like, whatever’s gonna stick is gonna stick and nothing…

[Kiara Zabala]: Yeah, if you’re not getting it when the teacher’s explaining it or when you’re going over the study guide, there’s just some things that aren’t gonna stick in your brain, and that’s perfectly fine. People think it’s an all-or-nothing, it’s really not. When it comes down to the science of it, there’s just some things your brain won’t understand, and you gotta stop comparing yourself to the next person.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: So you mentioned your teacher. Was it high school?

[Kiara Zabala]: Mmhm.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Let you retake that.

[Kiara Zabala]: Yeah.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: So, in terms of professors, though, have you ever gone to any professors’ office hours?

[Kiara Zabala]: Um, I’ve gone to a few office hours, like when I, I was missing like two or three essays one class, and it brought me down from like and A to, like, and F, and I was going through hard times, and I explained to the professor what those hard times were and she gave me an extension. I ended up passing the class with a B and… you gotta take advantage of the office hours, they’re there for a reason. This isn’t high school anymore where they’re gonna come up to us and be like, “Hey so and so, can you see me after class?” The office hours are there;I guess that’s another resource, going back to the question you asked earlier. They’re there so you can use them like;how else is your teacher going to know you when they have hundreds of students every day and they don’t always have the same class. You gotta make yourself known in those office hours so they can actually help you.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Yup. So, just kind of tying everything together, what is something you would tell your past self when you were stressing about an exam?

[Kiara Zabala]: Stop procrastinating till the last minute, like, that’s a really bad problem I have. Even with the eight classes, I’m still procrastinating now like;I have like five or six final projects that are due this month that I haven’t started on. We’re gonna figure it out, we’re gonna pass, we’ll be fine. Um, but also don’t overstress. I think that’s something one thing with my past self like. I would tell myself don’t overstress.I had really bad anxiety. I have it now still. It’s not something that just goes away overnight, but at least I have it more controlled now. I don’t have panic attacks all the time. Freshman college me was having panic attacks every other day because I couldn’t handle doing the class, and now I would just like, I would like to shake that version of me and just be like, “You need to just calm down and remember to breathe,” because at the end there will be other classes, you can always retake it. There’s no harm in being here longer than you planned, and I think that’s a really bad stereotype that affects a lot of students.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Yeah, that’s a good point. A lot of students feel like they need to finish, four years, be done with it but…

[Kiara Zabala]: What’re you gonna do?

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Yeah.

[Kiara Zabala]: Yeah.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Okay, uh, any last words, piece of advice you may have?

[Kiara Zabala]: Um, with exam season around the corner, I know we just got through midterms, and, boy, were they rough;uh, I know that finals are gonna be coming up soon. Uh, I think just utilize your resources and don’t…don’t become a hermit. Like, I get it you wanna stay inside and you wanna study up for all your exams but you’re never gonna be this young again. You are never gonna have these life experiences, being able to be this version of yourself ever again. So, I think you also need to be living life. Like, there were times where I was like I can either finish this assignment and stay till one, or I can go out and do something to relax. Sometimes it take a missed assignment or two. Not saying to miss all your assignments, but sometimes you just gotta prioritize yourself over school because you’re a person first, you’re a student second.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: I think that’s a great way to put it. Good advice. Thank you so much!

[Kiara Zabala]: Of course!

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Appreciate it.

[Evelyn Gallardo]: Thank you for listening to this episode of Runner Talks by The Runner on Air. If you are currently experiencing stress and anxiety, it might be helpful to reach out to somebody. The CSUB Counseling Center is currently offering teletherapy appointments over Zoom, you can find out more about this at csub.edu/counselingcenter/ or you can call (661) 654-3366. If you are looking for some tutoring help, you can visit the website csub.edu/tutoring, there it lays out all the different tutoring services CSUB has to offer. Always be sure to check your csub email for any information about the wellness workshops that CSUB offers. If you need a space to study, use the library! You can book a study room on the website library.csub.edu. And lastly, if you are feeling down and overwhelmed, you can reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline via telephone at 988.

As always we hope you enjoyed. Be sure to follow our social media @therunner_csub so you won’t miss out on any important information, and make sure to check out our recent stories at therunneronline.com. Have a wonderful day.

Music Credits:

Intro and Outro Song –

Sequential Elements

Written By Sander Kalmeijer

Performed By The Galaxy News