With the fall final exam period fast approaching (Dec. 15–Dec. 21), Shelley Carson, lecturer on psychology for Harvard University and Extension school faculty member, shares the following tip to make it through this often-stressful time.

“You’re in the lecture hall and the teaching assistant is passing out the final exams. You know the material, but your heart starts pounding and you feel your stomach knotting up anyway. What can you do?

Try 2 minutes of deep breathing. Breathe in by taking air deep into your stomach rather than your chest. Your belly should extend all the way out while your chest remains still. Breathe out slowly, allowing your belly to deflate. Pause. Breathe in again, and think the number 1 to yourself. Then, breathe out slowly and think the word ‘relax.’ On your next breath, think 2 as you breathe in, and ‘relax’ as you breathe out.

Continue counting until you reach 8, and then count backward back down to 1. Try to focus only on your breathing and the words. Two minutes of deep breathing will not only relax you, it will send oxygen to your brain to help you think clearly.”

To find out when and where your final exam will take place, see the Final Exam Schedule.

Carson has been teaching PSYC E-1240 Abnormal Psychology and PSYC E-1704 Creativity: Geniuses, Madmen, and Harvard Students this fall.

See our psychology offerings for the spring.

With flurries in the air, Extension School faculty member Jill McDonough provides students with a few tips on topics like proofreading and a key spot in the library.

1. Always take a sweater to the library. It can be chilly year-round.

2. Be charming and kind to librarians, who are secular angels with extraordinary power.

3. The Woodberry Poetry Room is a national treasure and open to everybody, not just Harvard affiliates. Looking up from your work and seeing snow fall out the window there is one of the great pleasures of living in New England.

4. When you are writing something proofread it out loud. Especially when you are writing an e-mail.

5. Google your professors. What you find can tell you a lot about their research interests and how they conduct their classes.

6. Shopping tip: pens are cheaper by the dozen at Bob Slate.

McDonough is teaching EXPO E-15 Fundamentals of Academic Writing this fall and will teach CREA E-1 Introduction to Creative Writing this spring. Read her faculty biographry.

Quick aside for potential degree candidates: the application period for degree programs is now open until November 30. If you’ve completed the preadmission courses and meet the other admission criteria, you can apply online. See individual program admissions pages for more details.

Now that we’re back to school for the fall, you might find yourself surprised by the amount of homework being assigned even after the first couple of classes.

To help, faculty member Tom Nichols has volunteered the following tip on how to read your assignments in a way that’s both useful and less time-consuming.

Nichols, professor of national security affairs at the Naval War College and a fellow of the International Security Program at Harvard Kennedy School, teaches the Extension course GOVT E-1886 Nuclear Weapons and International Security this fall.

“Few things can be more frustrating for faculty and students alike than trouble with the assigned readings, particularly in political science, where the readings are often not so much an attempt to transmit information as they are to make an analytical argument. So here’s a suggestion about how to read in a course on politics: instead of trying to memorize every word of every reading—which will eventually drive you crazy—try instead to read thematically. That is, try to follow the author’s argument without stopping every few words to underline, highlight, or add a post-it. Step back a bit in order to understand the reading in its totality, rather than mastering every single factoid or phrase in it. This is often the key to greater comprehension and a more efficient use of time.”

We asked a couple of our faculty what students can expect in their courses and for a tip or 2 for how to navigate in the classroom, and here’s what they had to offer:

Don’t be afraid to talk!
John Whitman, PhD, senior lecturer, College of Professional Studies, Northeastern University, and adjunct lecturer in social entrepreneurship, Babson College, teaches MGMT E-5440 Social Entrepreneurship in the fall and spring.

“Do you ever feel that what you have to offer in class isn’t being tapped? Especially in courses dealing with nontraditional subject matter, students with a liberal arts background and notable work experience have a wealth of knowledge to share with their peers. That’s why I plan to reserve about 30 minutes at the end of my classes for students to mix it up and just consult each other. At the end of the class, they will turn in a sheet of paper on which they list 1 to 3 things they feel they learned in the class and from each other.”

Get inspired, get informed, and ask questions
Paul Beran, PhD, director, the Outreach Center, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University, teaches GOVT E-1960/W Introduction to the Conflict in Israel and the Occupied Territories in the fall.

“The study of political science and the Middle East region has provided me with a continuous source of new questions to ask. As I have done so, I have learned that theory is essential to understanding information and that the notions of power, ideology and interests are crucial to most inquiry. In my teaching I try to encourage informed question asking and learning from the answers received. My focus on the conflict in Israel and the occupied territories has shown me that studying politics is ultimately about understanding why some individuals and communities are able to live well and others are not.”