It’s finally here, Jaspers. The dreaded two week stretch between Thanksgiving break and winter break. This is the worst part of the semester, as we all did absolutely no work over thanksgiving.
Before you know it, finals week is right around the corner. Here are some tips to help keep you motivated and prevent you from pulling your hair out as you’re pulling an all nighter.
1. Don’t cram!
It’d be great if college students ever had enough hours in a day to accomplish everything that needs to be done. When it comes to finals, it’s ideal to not wait until the night before that giant cumulative final to start studying for it. Dartmouth suggests studying for 20-50 minutes at a time, taking 5-10 minute breaks to fully retain information. During these quick breaks, do something to keep your body active, like running to New Riv or JDel for some studying snacks! This will help keep you energized and able to stay focused when you are studying.
2. Find your perfect studying spot(s)
Everyone knows that O’Malley is filled to capacity during the few weeks after thanksgiving break. You could spend half an hour searching for a table, couch, or cubby. Once you do find the last spot available, the kid next to you is conveniently the one who forgot their headphones but MUST listen to heavy metal at full volume while studying. In order to prevent this, try finding your “sweet spot” to study in advance! Book a study room, study in your floor’s lounge (East Hill 5th floor has the giant whiteboard), or try studying in your own apartment. Just remember, studies show that you’re more likely to remember information if you study in multiple locations. The more places you study, the more associations you make with the information, and the more likely you are to remember it for your test!
3. Friends who study together pass together
Studying with friends is a great way to help teach yourself information. If you don’t understand something, ther’e’s a good chance that one of your friends will be able to explain it to you. Plus, if you’re on the other end of that, it’s twice as rewarding for you to explain information to one of your friends: you solidify that you understand it, and you get to help your friend! It also can help keep you motivated during those late night study sessions to know that your friends are right there with you. You can even take turns hosting the study party to make sure you study in a variety of locations!
4. Self Control
If you’re prone to exploring social media websites when it’s crunch time, try downloading an application that will block you from going online. If you have a mac, download SelfControl. If you have a PC, download this trial of freedom (you can use it five times). You can set the program to block your favorite distracting websites for a certain amount of time. (Just make sure you don’t block Her Campus!!) Use this to guarantee that during those 50 minute study sessions, your mind isn’t wandering to the pictures your friends posting their messy, book-filled desks.
5. Prioritize your finals
Have your easiest final on the last day of finals? Don’t make that the first one you study for! Make sure you’re approaching studying in a realistic way. It may be beneficial to create a schedule for studying, including breaks. Plan to study for one test at a time so you don’t get overwhelmed trying to balance 4 different subjects in one day. Be honest with yourself and admit that there are classes that you’ll need to take 3 days to study for instead of 3 hours.
6. Rest, rest, and more rest
I don’t know a single college student who doesn’t spend all of their leftover ACDs and Jasper Dollars on coffee, energy drinks, and any other form of caffeine they can get their hands on during finals week. However, make sure you can still get enough sleep. When you don’t, you create sleep debt, which is when your lack of sleep accumulates and it takes weeks of normal sleeping to not be tired anymore. Nothing is worse than taking a final on 2 hours of sleep in the past 48 hours…. especially when you still have 4 more finals to take. Make sure you get at least 6-8 hours of sleep, and try to limit your caffeine intake late at night!
7. Eating Right
It’s common when studying to constantly be snacking on something. This is totally fine, but there are some foods you could be snacking on that’ll help nourish your body and may prevent you from having a sugar crash at 6 AM when you have that dreaded common exam at 8:30 AM. If you want something sweet, instead of reaching for your fourth candy bar of the night, try grabbing some fruit instead. Frozen yogurt is also a great option that won’t give you that sugar crash an hour later. If you’re in the mood for something more salty, try popcorn or pita chips with hummus instead of potato chips. Some other great ideas include trail mix, peanuts or almonds, guacamole, fruit salad, or even a granola bar! You can find so many other yummy snack ideas here!
Good luck on finals, collegiettes!