Q&A: Saartje Kortleven on coaching students during the summer

What is the importance of your role?

During the academic year, students can receive a lot of advice from study counsellors and large services like Teleblok – the telephone helpline and chat service of the Christian Mutuality. But during the period before exam resits, there was little support available – until now. I will provide this guidance during the summer months, and I will act as a regular study counsellor from mid-September.

What kinds of questions are you getting?

A lot of students struggle to deal with fear of failure, stress, procrastination and personal problems. But I also get a lot of questions on the best study methods and good study plannings to prepare for the exams. Students also ask for tips on how to take the exams, for example, how to answer open questions and how to avoid black-outs. Many of the students wonder where they went wrong in the first exam period. Other students are confused about how the system of learning credits works and how the resits will be organised. The majority of the questions come from first-year students.

How can students reach you?

Via our website, students can ask for an individual appointment to get advice in person. A survey we carried out among our students indicated that there was a large need for personal consultations. But students can also talk to me from their own rooms during daily one-hour chat sessions or via my Facebook page, on which I also post study tips. I will also be present in person at the library where students can study in groups or individually, so they can ask me questions then, too. Students can also participate in leerateliers or learning workshops. In these sessions, I work with groups on topics such as study planning, exam preparation, taking exams, fear of failure and stress in an interactive way.