It’s that time of the year again: professors are talking faster, your planner looks like jumbled up words, and your brain? She’s left about two weeks ago. Finals are approaching– whether you’re mentally prepared, or floating somewhere feeling like an academic ghost. So, if your motivation is gone, your sleep schedule is a mess, and your attention span is uhh… well you get it. Don’t worry. Here’s your guide to surviving finals even when your brain has officially clocked out.
Accept You’re Taking it One Day At a Time
It’s time to let go of the idea that you’re suddenly going to become the organized academic last minute. If you haven’t by now, you’re not going to start this week, or the first week in December. Instead, just focus on taking it one day at a time. Light a candle, grab your favorite iced coffee, and do your best with whatever your brain allows you to absorb.
Create Your Desired Illusion of Productivity
Even if you’re only absorbing about 30% of what you’ve read in your textbooks, by setting up a cute study space it will allow you to feel productive. Put on some lofi or jazz music, open your laptop, and stack your books as if you’re setting up for a Pinterest picture. Sometimes the aesthetic alone is enough into tricking your brain to be productive.
Study In Sprints, Not Marathons
Your brain might be done for the semester, but you’ll always get bursts of productivity. Learn to use them wisely. Set a time, study very intensely for a short period of time, then reward yourself with a break on TikTok, a walk, or one of your favorite light snacks (nothing heavy so you don’t get sleepy).
Learn to Pick Your Battles
You don’t have to know everything. You need to know enough to be able to understand the concept/material. Focus on the sections that your professor may have emphasized, the study guide topics, and everything they may have repeated 14 times in class. That should be your exam’s love language.
Create a Solid Study Group
A lot of people find they work better studying in groups rather than alone. This is the time to come together, share notes, quiz each other, and emotionally support each other through the academic stress. Struggle together = succeed together.
Use Snacks as Fuel & Motivation
Finals week is definitely not the time to judge your diet. If chocolate, gummy worms, or Hot Cheetos are the snacks keeping you going, then so be it. Brain food? No, more like brain bribery.
Celebrate the Small Wins
Overcoming a chapter? Celebrate. Submitting that quiz? Celebrate. Showing up to class during finals week? Celebrate. Give yourself the credit– you’re actually trying, and that is more than enough.
Trust That You’ve Learned More Than You Think
Even if sometimes your brain has blacked out, you’ve been collecting little bits of knowledge all semester. When exams come, you’ll find yourself surprised with how much you’ve actually learned/ retained.
