College can be a stressful and nerve-racking time for students. Learning Support Specialist Mary Turner said Student Support Services is available to help relieve some of that stress.

Turner said there are steps students can take to make college life easier.

“I strongly encourage people to take the Success in College and Life class as early in their academic pursuits as possible,” Turner said. “It goes over a lot about learning about yourself and that’s one of the things that we typically as individuals will ignore or we don’t think is important.

“We think there’s just a magic set of study strategies that works for everybody, but everybody is a different learner, so we really have to focus on knowing who we are first.”

This class has sections beginning mid-term. Turner said students also can schedule an appointment with her or Learning Support Specialist Alta Price.

“We can talk with them about what kinds of things help them — give them some guidance on studying and time management.

“If they’re struggling with reading their textbooks, we encourage them to bring the textbook in so that we can sit and actually go through that with them.”

Turner said her office can help students who may be struggling with note taking, time management, test taking and more.

“A lot of students will come in because they either have test anxiety or they think they have test anxiety but they really just don’t understand how to test. We will sit and work with them on those kinds of things.”

Turner said students also should take advantage of the college’s learning labs and knowledgeable faculty.

Numerous labs are scattered throughout the campus that can help students, she said. In addition, Turner said, students should open up a discussion with professors.

“The reality is, if [students are in] a history class and they’re not really sure how they ought to be studying for a test, their professor is going to know more about that than anybody else because he or she knows more about what is expected.”

The Student Support Services website also contains links to various resources for students about different academic subjects in order to study or find information, Turner said.

“We also go out into the Success classes and work on specific skills with [the students].

“It’s not uncommon for us to do presentations or activities related to studying, test taking, reducing anxiety and stress level and so forth.

“I encourage [students] to come in and work with us,” Turner said.

To schedule an appointment, call Student Support Services at 405-682-7520. For more information, contact Turner by email mturner@occc.edu. A list of campus labs is listed on the college’s website at www.occc.edu.