Finals period is stressful for most McGill students, but especially those who do not know what to expect. University finals are typically much more difficult and stressful than tests or finals first years faced in high school. These are five tips to keep in mind this finals season.
1. Find a love (read: addiction) for coffee
If you don’t already drink coffee, finals season is a good time to start. Up until two weeks I only drank the occasional caramel iced latte. I have discovered, thanks to stress- and finals-induced late nights, that coffee is a very useful and dear commodity. Even though as a newbie I take it with lots of cream and sugar, I have already developed a true love for it – for better or worse. In all seriousness, I’m not sure if I would have survived the three-finals-and- a-paper bender I had to pull off in three days without coffee. Lots of coffee.
2. Face reality and begin studying
In high school, studying was not a multi-day event for me. It was more often than not a night-before endeavor. Luckily I realized that atuniversity, studying for finals is much more time-consuming and important than in high school. I think it’s important than first years (and upper years as well) start studying early in order keep stress levels down. Studying an entire semester of Econ is much easier to do over a couple of days than a couple of hours. It’s better to be realistic or pre-emptive than to procrastinate too badly.
3. Resist Netflix and other bad temptations
Netflix is a wonderful, beautiful thing. However, Netflix is your enemy duringfinals. Sure, one or two episodes can be used as a study break to keep you from complete insanity. Entire season marathons are going to impact both studying and sleeping time. It’s better to save the Netflix binging for summer vacation when you can also feel good about your (ideally) great grades. Gilmore Girls will be waiting for you when you’re at home in your real bed. In the same realm as Netflix are a multitude of other things that are best to avoid during finals season. One or two drinks might be necessary to again, keep your sanity, but a night out clubbing really might not be worth the sleep loss or the hangover. Save drinking for when you’re done with finals and celebrate big.
4. Stay healthy
It’s easier said than done (because pizza is a tempting choice at 3 AM after finally learning everything you were meant to during the semester) but eating healthy and getting enough sleep will seriously help your mental health and your grades. All-nighters are not conducive to good grades for most people. Your body and brain will feel better and perform better if they are well fed and well rested.
5. Own it
If you can believe that you will do well on your finals, you can turn that into reality. Take a deep breath and try to not feel like a cattle being led to the slaughter when walking into the gym or field house. My first final was incredibly intimidating, and the ones after that were still scary. However, it is important to keep your head up and believe in yourself. Just keep calm and try not to end up like this guy:
Good luck on finals, collegiettes!
Images obtained from:
http://interviewgeek.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/keep-calm-and-survive-f…
http://somethinggreek.wordpress.com/2012/05/16/the-best-ways-to-avoid-fi…