The end of the semester is near, and that means final exams and final projects. I hate finals, as do most people, and I oftentimes feel overwhelmed by the amount of work I have. It seems like a never-ending cycle, it’s just one heavily weighted assignment after another, and that’s stressful. In order to successfully pass my finals and do my final projects with the grades that I want, I compiled a list of some practices that I have when preparing for finals.
Preparing for Finals:
- Start Now: If you haven’t started studying for a final that you know is coming up, start now. It’s never too early. When studying for any exam, majority of the stress comes from trying to relearn the information you learned more than a week ago. If you create a habit of looking over this information after class and at least one more time the week of, some concepts are bound to stick better. You won’t feel overwhelmed, and hopefully you’ll feel more confident on test day.
- Screen Time: Let’s work on that screen time if we haven’t already. I know I haven’t but I probably should. I find that putting my phone as far away as possible from me is the most efficient way for me to actually gain something from studying. One of my teachers in high school told us that when we’re reading the chapters for the class, in order to make sure that we’re focusing on the chapter, the best thing we can do is put our phones in a completely different room. That same teacher also told us to create an incentive while reading like eating a Skittle every time we finish a page. Whatever works, right?
- Quizlet: Do I need to say more? Test content by major varies, but I find myself using Quizlet more often than I thought as a Computer Science major. Quizlet allows you to actively learn the content you need to know. Staring at a piece of paper with the definitions written on it and expecting to remember ~spoiler alert~ won’t help you remember it. I was one of the people that thought I could miraculously defy the odds and get by with doing this. I didn’t. As science has proved, I found that actively recalling definitions has been the best way for me to remember things in the long run. Whether you use someone else’s Quizlet set (make sure to give them a nice rating as a thank you!) or make your own, just know that you are increasing the odds of remembering the content you need to know to ace your final.
- Start…Stop…Start: If you tell yourself that you’re really going to sit down for 2 hours straight and study, you’re either the 5% of people I’ve ever known that can actually do that, or you’re bluffing. Sitting down for 2 hours to study isn’t easy unless the content is just that engaging. If it were really that engaging would you have to sit down for 2 hours straight and attempt to relearn it all? Probably not. What I like to do is create a small study to break ratio. I set a timer for 40 minutes, in which I study,and after that timer is up, I give myself a 5-10 minute break depending on how I feel. This way of going about studying helps a lot in the sense that you don’t feel frazzled. I think the hardest part of going about it this way is jumping back into the next 40 minutes of studying. Once I’m on break, I never feel like getting off of break. Don’t let that “just-five-more-minutes” mentality kill your drive. It’ll pay off in the end, and you’ll feel like you had a successful study session.
- Too Much of a Good Thing Isn’t a Good Thing: I don’t mean to be captain obvious over here, but don’t work or study to the extent that you end up isolating yourself in a room and refuse to go outside. It’s okay to pause and take some time for yourself. If you don’t, you’ll find yourself getting agitated and lose motivation a lot faster than you think. It’s okay to take a few hours to go shopping, meet up with friends, or just take a nap. Let your battery recharge and get back to it with a fresh mind!
There’s plenty of more tips that I haven’t gotten to share yet, but I know that if you’re reading this, you probably have finals to do.
Pep Talk Time:
If you genuinely put your all into studying for your finals or doing final projects with a solid schedule, then you’ll do just fine. However, I can’t speak on behalf of everyone, you know yourself best. On the day of your final exam, presentation, etc., remember that you prepared for this.
Good luck with your finals!