Finals week is one of the toughest weeks during the school year for almost every college student. Getting organized with all the subjects you have to study, finishing all your projects until the day before deadlines, reading all the texts you were supposed to read during the bimester – but you didn’t –, studying hard for your tests and the most important thing: keeping up with good grades. One of the easiest ways of doing it is to be an organized person. Even though it feels like we will not be able to do everything on time, actually we will make it! We just need to keep it all planned. With that in mind, here it goes some hints for you finals week:
Keep organized!
Being organized is not always easy. Different people have different ways to have this task done. Yulia Serra, freshman Journalism student at Cásper Líbero, has an interesting way of studying and arranging her schedule: she summarizes contents and reads it for herself – out loud. “It helps me fixing the main topics, as my memory is not one the best”, said Yulia. For her, the biggest tip is making a calendar at home. “I just grab a paper and divide into thirty spaces, each one for a day of the month. Then, I write down not only the deadlines, but also the days that I plan on doing the work, around two weeks earlier. As I finish each topic, I underline it with a yellow highlighter, and if it’s already printed, I use a blue highlighter”.
Yulia’s schedule
Bianca Santana, student formed at Cásper Líbero and now professor in there, believes the most favorable thing is studying and making your projects beforehand. But if you didn’t “a good to-do list gives you an idea of the quantity of things you must do, so you won’t forget any single thing.”
Also, having a clean workspace is important, because it prevents spending time with distractions and optimizes the job. As college works are harder to execute, the best way is to manage your time to cover up everything.
Respect your body limits – sleep and eat well
Keeping your body healthy is very important to make your life easier during the finals week. There are a lot of different ways to do this without struggling. “Take a breath (literally) and organize a period of time for you to sleep during the week – so you’ll make it until Friday”, advised Santana.
Roberta Brandalise, also a professor at Cásper Líbero defends: “Sleeping well after studying helps you fixing the content you’ve just studied and also establishing the capacity of building knowledge”, and she completes “it also helps lowering anxiety”.
Having a healthy diet is also very important to balance your body “eating well (like fresh vegetables and fruits and avoiding junk food), taking care of your body will make you have better results”, according to professor Bianca Santana.
Study hard!
Well, keeping up with the subjects during the semester is the easiest way to get the greatest grades during finals. However, if you didn’t, you still can use your free time over this week to review the test’s contents. “Pay attention on your notes, concepts, and ideas developed by the professors during classes”, said Sandra Goulart, Anthropology professor at CL. “It is important to review your notes and reflect on the connections between the subject and your routine”, said Brandalise.
If you still have doubts on the points you are studying, try talking to your friends and professors to clarify them. Also, using colors and different papers, such as “post-it” and notes, can help you by stimulating the visual memory and remembering the subject during the test.
Do things you like
People usually stop having social life during finals week. This might be good if you have a lot of things to accomplish. But it’s not the most fun thing to do, right? In order to make it a little it easier you can try to do things you like. “Drinking some beer the day before tests can help, but if the time you’re using to drink is substituting the time you should be studying, then it’s no good”, said Rafael Grohmann, also a professor at CL.
If you feel like doing something more relaxing, take some time to read a book, watch some movies or series and listen you music.
Remember: studying may not be easy for everyone and neither a beloved hobby, but it is necessary in our academic lives. Keep calm during you finals week and rock it!