Finals week is always a stressful time for everyone and burnout can be a common symptom to appear during this time. Here are a few tips to help prevent burnout before it happens.
- Use the Pomodoro Technique
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The Pomodoro Technique is one of my personal favorite study tools, even if it’s not finals week. How it works is you set a timer or use a study app—my personal favorite is the Forest app—for 25 minutes where you study free of distractions. After the 25 minutes are up, then you take a break for 5 minutes and repeat the cycle four times. The fourth time you do the pomodoro cycle, instead of a 5 minute break, take a 15 to 20 minute break before starting the Pomodoro Technique again. Having these mini breaks are great as you don’t get overwhelmed with all the materials you need to study for classes and it’s a nice way to refresh yourself before studying again.
- Don’t procrastinate
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It’s easy to procrastinate on studying for finals. You tell yourself that finals aren’t for another week or two and you promise yourself that you’ll study for that exam in a few days. Before you know it, it’s the day before finals and you’re trying to memorize all the content you learned throughout the quarter in a few hours. To avoid a high stress situation like this, try to study for an hour a day minimum a week or two weeks before your final. Your future self will definitely thank you for it.
- Get at least eight hours of sleep
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Sleep can be easily forgotten especially if you’re trying to maximize the amount of study and review time before finals week. Not getting a good rest the night before can affect your memory, performance, emotions, and mental health the next day. Attempt to get at least eight hours of sleep every night so that you can recharge and wake up refreshed and ready for the next day of studying.
- Take a day off to do some self-care
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After a long few days of studying for finals, it’s important to make sure you’re taking a day off to do some self-care. The pressure of finals can make you forget that you need to take care of yourself and that it’s alright to take a day off from school work to do what you love and enjoy. Some things you could do for self care is go outside for a walk, put on a face mask and eat ice cream, bake some sweet treats, or watch a movie. After all that studying, you deserve to have a personal self-love and self-care day.
There are definitely more ways to help avoid burnout during finals week, however, these are some of my favorites that worked for me. Don’t be afraid to try some of these. It may take some time but you’ll find what will work for you. Good luck on your finals!