Finals week is stressful for everyone. Handing in papers, reviewing several months worth of material that you could have sworn you’ve never seen before, and attending countless review sessions, while your friends post statuses about how happy they are to be home can drive anyone crazy. Here are a few tips to maintain sanity and ace your finals.
DO:
Get yourself on a regular schedule. Just because there aren’t classes, doesn’t mean you should sleep until 2pm. Going to bed at a regular (and decent) hour each night, and waking up at a regular (and also decent) hour each morning, will make you feel better rested. Running on 2 hours of sleep isn’t good for anyone, but when you must cut hours, try using http://sleepyti.me/ . Sleepytime is a bedtime calculator that uses sleep cycles to calculate a few ideal times for you to go to bed, given the time you need to wake up. Waking up in the middle of a sleep cycle makes you feel more tired than less sleep might provided that you wake up in between sleep cycles.
DON’T:
Wait to study for one exam until after taking a previous exam. Spread out your material. When you get too tired of one subject, switch to another. By starting to review early you can push information from your short-term memory, which can only hold 7 pieces of information at a time, to your long-term memory, which can hold an unlimited amount of information indefinitely.
DO:
Take study breaks. Four hours of Breaking Bad is not a study break; it’s procrastination. However, a 20-minute break can really make each study minute count. When you feel your brain turning to mush, flip on Netflix, take a short nap, or read a magazine or book. A little distraction will take you a long way when you need to review a whole semester of material in 48 hours.
Don’t:
Skip meals. It may seem like a good idea to get the extra study time, but being hungry can be very distracting. Keeping your energy up is important for effective studying, and eating regularly will help you maintain your focus during those long hours in the library.
Do:
Make a master list of all your remaining assignments. Write down every chapter that needs to be read, every paper that needs to be written, and every section that needs to be studied. Make sure to write down due dates and then assign each item to a day of the week that you plan to do it. This way you’ll avoid any last minute realizations. Staying organized will lower your stress.
Don’t: stress out! You go to a good school and you’re in the final stretch to relaxation. Take a deep breath and take everything one step at a time. Good luck!