Finals are just around the corner, Bruins! Luckily our wise friend and hero Hermione Granger has been providing us with helpful guidance ever since we first opened Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone back when we were seven. You might want to take note; she is the brightest witch of our age after all.
When your professor first assigns that monster end of term paper or explains the colossal nature of his final exam, the first thing that may run through your mind is “you foul, loathsome, evil little cockroach!” While you can’t punch your professor in the face in a rage of fury, as did Miss Granger to a deserving Malfoy, you are allowed to mentally freak out and despair for ten seconds. But that’s it. Don’t let yourself spend all your energy complaining about your assignments; it gets in the way of building up your motivation to get things done.
This may be coming too late to save you this quarter, but I can’t stress enough how important it is to actually read your assigned readings throughout the quarter. While some classes you can get away with skipping them (i.e. the exams are just about lecture), most of the classes I’ve taken have had their finals heavily focused on reading topics. Try to gauge the importance of the readings in the beginning of the quarter so you don’t realize it the week before your exam. Trust me, it’s impossible to make up a quarter’s worth of work in that amount of time.
Study groups are great! But only if you actually commit to working with your group instead of procrastinating together. With that being said, other people can help you point out things you need to study for more by bringing up a topic you forgot about or quizzing you on a topic you find you don’t know much about. Your friends can help correct you if you’re wrong, and you can affirm what you know by helping them with topics they might need help with in return.
Don’t think you can get away with BSing a paper. Your TA or even your professor grades them and I can assure you, they probably know the material better than you do.
Stress eating is a thing. It’s ok to indulge every once in awhile to cut some slack, but know where to draw the line. I once ate so much candy while studying the night before a final that I felt sick the next day. Don’t do this.
During finals week, the unofficial school uniform is sweats, pajamas, and Ugg Boots. Don’t worry about how you look, honestly just roll out of bed and start studying away. No one has time for fashion during Finals Week. You rock those yoga pants anyway.
While you may not have a Time Turner to juggle all of your classes, you do have one heck of a work ethic. You go to UCLA for a reason, after all! Study hard and study smart, Bruins; and most of all good luck!