Midterm season has finally ended!
And…finals season is going to start.
I know. I know. But ‘tis the life cycle of things, and a cycle of suffering no less. But…if anything, now is the time for you to jump up and get going! You want to bump that B+ into an A? Want to keep scoring in the 99.9999th percentile? Well, the finals are your place to shine, no less.
However, a key fact in economics, and life, is that you cannot get something for nothing, so if you want to do well, you better study hard and make use of your time. So here are a couple tips for how to spend your time well during reading period.
1. Make a schedule during reading period. As Alexander Graham Bell once said, “Chance favors the prepared mind.” So prepare yourself by managing your time wisely, and knowing which classes you should be preparing for at what time. If you have roommates or study buddies, and plan to study together, decide on the dates and times that need to be locked down for group study.
Ha! You wish you had Patrick’s To-Do list.
2. Study over as long a period of time as possible, don’t cram.
I’m sure everybody’s read the study. If you have a final on the 20th, like me, you might not need to start studying on the 3rd, but you should start studying somewhere around the 13th, so that you have a full week, even if you only review materials for an hour for the first 4 days. It’s better for you to process that information over a long period of time, instead of the night before. If you find yourself needing to cram, still give yourself enough time to sleep, and eat a good breakfast.
3. Be realistic, and enforce your policies. Or have somebody else enforce them. Let’s be honest. You’re not going to get up at 6:00 AM to do five practice exams. So don’t put that into your schedule to begin with. If you’re not going to go to bed at 10:00 PM, acknowledge that. You’re not going to suddenly change your habits during reading period, so don’t expect yourself to. Plan according to the self you know, but also be sure to enact what you plan. If you say you will complete two practice exams before noon, make sure that you do it, or as mentioned, have somebody else act as the study police. Trust me–your roommates will be more than happy to inflict punishment or take your money. Conversely, make some system of delayed gratification. For every practice exam you complete, that’s one episode of Friends you can watch.
4. Prioritize. Most of us have wished, at some point, that we could have dropped a class. If you’re juggling a lot of classes, allocate your time and resources wisely. Unless you’ve invented a time machine, the time that spend doing whatever isn’t going to come back. Say you’re really not doing well in your Tightrope Walking 23.7π class, and it’s around the same time as Chem 17. If you’re confident that you won’t be concentrating in Circus Acts and Entertainment (though kudos if you are), then there’s no need to split your time fifty-fifty between these two. Focus on the ones that mean more to you, and pertain more to what you might want to study. If you can study and do well for all your courses, wonderful, but if not, then choosing to focus on three of your major classes instead of all four or five or twenty-seven is your best bet. It’s better to ace three and do not so well on one than to do okay on all four.
This is not a cue for you to start watching Gilmore Girls. That is not your priority right now, you have the whole winter break to binge on whatever you want.
5. Get lots of sleep. Take care of yourself. Reading period is a lot of free time for you to decide on what to do. So while you do not need to be studying twenty-four seven, don’t party late into every night. Sleep is amazing for you, so do that. Go swimming, jogging, work out. Get a massage. Reading period is a nice time for you to not just press on the gas pedal, but also to hit the brakes. A little. It will be a nice change of pace not having psets due every day of the week, so you can take some time out of the day to love your body and treat yourself. Work hard, but take the time to unwind–watch a bad rom-com with your roommate over popcorn, or have lots of dance breaks. Make sure you’re still having some fun and getting plenty of relaxation and rest.
Bonus: Do primal scream…if you want? This one’s up to you.