We’ve finally reached the home stretch of fall quarter: finals. The last two weeks of the quarter are always the most stressful because that’s when all of our final projects and papers are due, not to mention our tests! A common mistake a lot of students make during this time is to let the stress overwhelm them to the point where they don’t make a game plan. Like all game plans, you need to make strategic moves, sacrifice some plays, get plenty of rest, and have some fun while you’re at it.
Here are some things to consider in your finals week game plan, based on my four years of experience here at Davis:
Strategize:
Make a study schedule for the whole week. Example: Mondays and Wednesdays from 2 p.m. -5 p.m.: catch up on English readings, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7 p.m. – 10 p.m.: solve remaining practice problems from Econ. If you know you don’t need to study for one class as much as you do for another, then divide your time up in a way where you’re spending the most time reviewing concepts you don’t understand from your harder classes.
Choose your study space wisely. The library is PACKED during finals week, and the main group rooms are littered with food crumbs and noisy friends fighting for outlets for their laptop chargers. You’re never going to get any work done in a place like that. If you’re going to the library, choose the cubicles behind the book stacks. The CoHo and the Mondavi center sometimes have days where they open the whole building for students to study (but not a lot of people know this). I’d definitely recommend the Mondavi Center—they give out free coffee and milk, their bathrooms are beautiful, and they always have soothing classical music playing in the background.
Sacrifice:
The fast food. We all resort to fast food because it’s quick and we don’t have to spend time cooking and washing dishes, but it’s not a very good idea for finals week (and this is coming from me, lover of all fast food places!). Fried food makes you sleepy and sluggish. Caffeinated drinks like boba tea or Dutch bros coffee make it so you feel jittery when you study, and they make it hard to fall asleep. Don’t increase your finals stress by doing this to your body.
The T.V. shows. I’m the kind of girl who HAS to be caught up with her shows – I usually watch them the day they come out! However, during finals week would you rather watch your shows like you always do, or bump your grade up 10 points by doing an extra credit assignment? This is something I struggled with a LOT during my freshman and sophomore year, because watching my shows gave me the “me time” I’ve come to treasure after a long day of school and work. I’ve come to learn that I should use the 50 minutes I normally spend watching one episode and use it to get some extra studying in. It really helps, you get an extra hour each day! There’s nothing like the sweet victory of lying in your fluffy bed, snacks in hand, and marathon-ing all the episodes you missed, knowing your winter break is just beginning.
Rest:
Your Brain. Some people lock themselves up in a study room for the whole day and exhaust themselves . You need to take breaks! You’ll just get a headache if you study for 10 hours straight trying to read the whole textbook in one sitting, not to mention you’ll lose your focus. Go outside and take a quick 15 min walk, stretch, or call your friends or your parents for a quick chat. Give your poor brain a chance to retain and process the information you’re cramming into it!
Your Body. Do NOT pull all-nighters. I repeat, do not pull all-nighters, unless you’re absolutely desperate. You may feel fine while staying up at night, but when you walk into class the next morning to take your final you’ll feel TERRIBLE, and that will affect your test-taking capabilities. You’ll only be able to study well if you rest well; don’t force yourself to wake up at the crack of dawn to study some more, or try to sleep past 3 a.m. You won’t be doing your body any favors , and there’s a high possibility you’ll get sick.
Have fun:
Be with friends. Take some time off to meet up with friends and do some memorable things- you do have a whole week of class off after all. Try to stay relatively close to your home. Be wise about your time. Once, my friends and I went to the park next to our apartment complex and rolled out a sleeping bag on the field to look at the stars. After that we went to the apartment’s hot tub and had a nice long talk. That’s one of my fondest memories from college, and it happened in the middle of winter quarter finals week!
De-stress. Everyone has their own way of letting out their stress. On the second day of finals last spring, I got so fed up with studying that I just HAD to blow off some of the pent up uneasiness and worries I had. My housemates and I drove to a karaoke bar in Sac and sang our hearts out to Kelly Clarkson and more. Definitely one of the best nights of my life. I went straight home to sleep afterward and woke up early the next day, ready to take on my finals! You need to let out all the tension, so after you spend all day studying take the rest of the night off to watch a movie with friends or hang out downtown.