The semester is quickly coming to an end and you know what that means: dreaded finals are upon us. But don’t let finals stress you out this year! Use Thanksgiving break to start preparing for finals before they really sneak up on you. Here are some tips to help you do that!
1. Know when your finals are
Check your syllabus or ask your professor when your final is. Write down each final you have in your planner and see if any of the times overlap. This is also a good way to make sure those exams the week before finals week don’t creep up on you! Remember that if you have three or more finals on the same day, you can take one of them at an alternate time. Email or talk to your professor to see when this time is. Don’t wait too long to do this! Also, see if your professor is offering another time to take the final other than the one scheduled. This make-up time may work better for your schedule to try to space out your finals.
2. Gather all your notes/organize your binder
Gather all your notes from the semester you need for each final exam and organize your binder accordingly. This is also a great time to take notes from a textbook for a certain chapter that you didn’t have time to do before. Organizing really will help declutter your mind so that you can focus on actually studying.
3. Decide what classes to study for first
I am not encouraging you to try to calculate the grade you need on the final exam (because that just ends up wasting much more time), but determine what exams you need to start studying for sooner. Always start with the material that is hardest and you don’t know well. While it may be tempting to study material that you already know well, DON’T. This will just result in more stress closer to exam time.
4. Study a little bit every day
I know the last thing anyone wants to do is study for a test weeks before when they don’t have to. However, studying a little bit everyday will help you remember the information more. Also, you won’t have to worry about cramming an entire semester’s worth of material the night before an exam when you’re already stressed and have no idea where to even start studying.
Hopefully these tips will help you get a head start on finals studying and will leave you less stressed the week of December 12 (aka Pitt’s finals week).
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