Wellness Wednesday: Survival Guide to Finals

If you’re a fellow college student, or even a high school student, then you know finals can be unbearable. The pressure on and there’s only one thing on your mind: getting through them. My first experience with finals was rough: I wasn’t used to the huge workload and amount of stress all at once. But after a few runs of trial and error, I’ve learned to better navigate the water. So here are my tips to surviving finals!

1. Plan Ahead: When you get your syllabus, look at it! The first thing I do is highlight my exams and then I put them into my planner. You’re going to want to know when you have what exam, at what time, and in what room. Because trust me, you’re going to forget.
2. Give yourself time to study: I Like to start preparing at least a week in advance. What I’ll do is I’ll start organizing my notes, re-writing and then write up my study guide. I get my study guides finished a week before so that all I have to do is look over them.
3. Find a study zone: Preferably somewhere quiet. It can be the library (mine is good because it has separate floors and the higher you go the quieter it is), it can be the lounge in your dorm, your room itself, or even a café. I’ve seen plenty of people at Starbucks, Dunkin, or the local coffee shop.
4. Sleep: This is possibly one of the hardest things to accomplish. Finals week in college is notorious for Red Bulls, over the counter stimulants, and countless all-nighters. But studies have shown that the process isn’t really as effective as people think. Your brain AND your body need rest in order to function properly and efficiently. You do not want to be that person who falls asleep in the middle of your exam!
5. Eat right: I know you’re short on time and you want to reach for the pizza, Cheetos, and Pepsi but that’s not going to help. The food you eat has a direct correlation with how you feel and well you’ll perform. If you need food that you can carry try fresh veggies with hummus, they even make them in to-go containers! If you’re craving the sweets at 1 am in the library, opt for some chocolate covered berries. Delicious and nutritious! Whatever you do, just make sure you fuel yourself. The more you study the more brain power you use. You’ve got to recharge those batteries!
6. Take study breaks: If you’re like me then you need something to look forward to while you’re studying. Plan little breaks into your studying regimen. I will take a couple of minutes here and there to eat, drink, play guitar, or even blog. The point is to just take a second and let yourself regroup. You don’t want to run yourself ragged.
7. Be confident! You’ve made it this far. I know finals are stressful and they’re usually a large percentage of your grade but you have to keep in mind that there is life beyond a test score. At this point in the semester you know the format of your professors’ exams, you know how they grade, and you know what to expect. So have faith in your ability to deliver. The worst thing you can do is psych yourself out. It’s not over until you hand in that exam so just do your best. It’s a great feeling to leave your exams with the feeling that you did everything you could.

So those are my tips for getting through finals. They’re not very detailed but you get the point. Keep calm and study hard. Oh, and good luck!