Are you feeling the crunch of the semester? Are you overwhelmed by group projects, papers and looming final exams? If you are feeling tired and stressed from your marathon of a semester, I have some excellent study tips for you!
1) Find a quiet space
This might sound cliché, but it is important to find a quiet space where you can study. This will allow you to concentrate and focus on the subject at hand. There are a lot of excellent quiet spaces around campus. You can always reserve a study room (if they aren’t booked by study groups). You can also see if any classrooms are open—this is especially useful during dead week. Most classrooms are opened late so you can find a quiet place to study or meet with a study group.
2) Gather a study group
When you study with a small group of people, most everyone can learn the material better. It has been proven that teaching someone material helps engrain it into YOUR memory. If you are feeling confident about a subject but would like more exposure to it just to ensure you know it, offer to teach someone about it. On the flip side, if you are feeling a bit uneasy about a subject, see if anyone would be willing to tutor you.
3) Listen to music
Classical, calm music is great to accompany those long hours of studying during the weeks leading up to finals. Pandora, Spotify and 8Track are all excellent, free music stations. You might have to listen to the occasional ad, but music without lyrics has been proven beneficial in studying.
4) Associate your subject
I can remember back to the 6th grade when my teacher gave us a test. A day before we took the test, we were given a spice and a word to remember. Our instructions were to go home and smell the spice as we studied our word. When it came time for the test, he had a sample of each spice and we were allowed to smell it when we took our test. To this day, I associate cinnamon with that test. If you are struggling to memorize something, try using some sort of association. You can chew mint gum while you study. You can have a dryer sheet on your desk while you study. (P.S: The power of association is useful when you are studying Organic Chemistry!)
5) Find your best technique
Ultimately, not every student can learn or study the same way. Your best bet when you are studying for finals is to find the method that works for you. Using a quiet space, study group, music or association might not be your ticket to success. The ideas I have proposed are just a few things that have worked for me and some of my closest friends.
Regardless of how you study, have confidence. You have been learning this material for nearly 13 weeks. If you forget something in the middle of the test, do not panic—simply move forward. Get plenty of rest, stay hydrated and fuel your brain. Caffine might sound good in the moment, but just remember that you may crash in an hour or two. Drink water or Gatorade and enjoy a Luna Bar! You’ve got this!