Finals Mania!

Finals are here! They are closing in for some of us, and I know others have already been swamped by their mushy, gooey, icky-ness. Some of us have already even made it out the other side. (To those of you: yay! You made it out, and you did great, and you're alive!!!)

But for those of us (myself included) who are just about to take the plunge into the Finals Bonanza, here are some tips and tricks I've (almost) perfected to help make finals as painless and easy as possible.

1) Plan ahead. Ew. I know. Planning. (Actually I love planning, it's fun. Organizing is my jam, I think.) BUT, regardless, it's is so helpful. As soon as an inkling of terror hits you, just look up your exam dates. It's not hard to know roughly when you will have your exams, even if the specifics are a little up in the air. And at this point in the semester, you know which classes are going to demand more of your time and need a little more nurturing.

2) Be honest with yourself. You know how hard you need to work on your various classes. You know which topics you struggle the most with. Don't let yourself fly through your study sessions by just looking over topics you already know. Sit down and muddle through your difficult practice problems and essay questions until they make sense. And not until they 'kinda, sorta, maybe make sense' but until you can sit an eight year old down and make it make sense to them. Or to a peer who isn't taking the same class.

3) Do something fun before your exams start. Meet up with friends and have study date. Go out for pancakes. Stay in and make pancakes. Impromptu movie night. Just do something to get your busy stretch kicked off in a relaxed manner. Do something fun and low key to help you de-stress before all of that major stress kicks in.

4) Plan something fun for after your exams. Pick a movie time for right after your last exam. Get some friends together to go shopping or get frozen yogurt. Go as big or as small as you want - but try to do something that requires minimal planning. You don't want your fun post-exam plans to distract you while you should be studying/taking an exam. In the past, I've tried to keep plans as vague as my Type-A sensibilities allow me to. It keeps things fun.

5) Get enough rest. You don't just need enough sleep the night before the exam. You need enough sleep during the time you're studying. Psychologically speaking, our learning is state-dependent. If you are bone-tired when you're trying to learn something, not only will you have difficulty learning the material in the first place, you will have a hard time performing if you are more/less tired than when you learn the material. Besides, sleep is a great time to consolidate what you've spent the day trying to learn!

6) Take care of yourself. Make sure you're getting lunch, and drinking enough fluids. If you're a little under the weather, which is by no means uncommon during this time of year, make sure you're drinking enough tea and taking medicine if you need to. (Especially make sure you're sleeping enough if this is the case.) If it's getting too hard to concentrate, take a break. Make sure you relax for a moment each day. You won't be able to absorb material as well if you're not in tip-top shape, nor will you be able to perform at your maximum caliber.

7) Get some help if you need it! It's okay to need some extra support while you're studying! Everyone needs it. You know how you study best, so why not use that to your advantage if you're struggling? Pop in your professor's office hours/teacher's room if you need to ask them a quick question. Linger by for a few moments after class. Get a study group together. Text your friends. Check to see if YouTube has any good videos on your topic. Do whatever you need to do to feel, and be, as prepared as you need to be.

#Miscellaneous #School