Finals week can be the most stressful and daunting part of the semester, but it doesn’t have to be. Here are some tips I’ve learned that help relieve the finals week tension!
1. Get Plenty of Sleep
A well-rested mind is a fueled mind. Getting an ample amount of sleep is crucial for you to properly function in all walks of life, especially in academics. This means cutting back on the all-nighters or avoiding them altogether.
2. Make a Game Plan
Organizing and planning your study sessions and assignments helps you overcome the finals anxiety and bad procrastination habits. Online organizers, planners, calendars, and browser groups can be useful tools for managing all your materials and deadlines.
3. Break Down Your Assignments
Breaking down your major assignments into smaller tasks makes them less daunting and easier to manage. Write out all of the steps you need to do to complete an assignment and focus on completing one task at a time rather than trying to focus on completing the entire assignment at once.
4. Create In-Depth Outlines
Outlines help to organize and condense exactly what you want to accomplish in your writing or presentation. Fleshing out your thoughts before sitting to write out the full essay or create the presentation helps you organize the points you want to make and lets you evaluate how you can make them stronger when you put them all together. Break down the essay by paragraph and subsection and presentations by specific talking points and groups of information.
5. Set up a reward System for Yourself
Promising yourself a reward based on a specific goal is a great way to keep your motivation up and hold yourself accountable. These goals and rewards can be as complex or as simple as you’d like, such as getting yourself a treat for every assignment or study session you complete, or something more demanding like buying a lavish item if you get all A’s. These can be completely personalized based on your motivational needs.
6. Set Strict Boundaries between study time and relaxing time
Finals week can be all-consuming, so a great way to avoid burnout is to strictly separate your study time from your relaxing time. Giving yourself (and your brain) breaks promotes recharge and can help you stay motivated when studying for long periods. Setting time boundaries where you don’t study past a certain time or stepping away from your work to take time to enjoy a meal, watch your favorite show, or spend time with friends are great ways to keep a good balance and ensure you don’t get burnt out.
7. Designate certain study elements
Assigning specific smells, playlists, TV shows, etc. can help you when you need to get into the study mindset.
8. Move to different locations
A good way to keep your mind active and to keep your motivation up is to move locations when studying for long periods. This type of studying has recently become popular on social media under the name “study crawling.” Moving around allows you to take small brain breaks and prevents you from getting bored of your surroundings, which could amplify your motivation. This might even lead to you finding a new favorite study spot!
9. Don’t Focus on one assignment for too long
Focusing on one particular task or assignment can lead to brain fog, boredom, and feeling less productive. Bouncing between tasks is a good way to keep yourself engaged in your work, can promote better time management by stopping you from spending too much time on one assignment, and could prevent burnout.
10. Try Different STudy Methods
Trying out different study methods is a fun way to maintain your interest in the subject or assignment you’re working on. Some of the most popular ones are Active Recall, a method where you write out everything you can remember without looking at your notes and review what you’ve missed; the Feynman Technique, where you teach the concept to someone who knows nothing about it; Mind Mapping, where you visually organize the information you’re learning; and my personal fave, the Pomodoro method, where you study for a short 25-minute interval then take small breaks in between.
11. Treat Yourself
Prioritizing taking care of yourself is key during a stressful time like finals week. This looks different for everyone, whether it be putting extra effort into your skincare routine, eating a comfort meal, watching your favorite movie, or getting yourself a sweet treat. It’s important to put yourself before your academics and care for yourself during this stressful time.Â