As the school year is coming to a close and the warmth of summer is approaching, so are the dreaded finals. The upcoming finals turn everyone into coffee addicts, teacher’s pets, the librarians best friend and complete and utter zombies. Finals at the end of the spring semester are especially hard to deal with because you know you are about to have the entire three months to forget every math problem you did and every history test you didn’t do so well on.
Summer consists of the months that help you relax after your hard year’s work, take time for yourself and not look at a single textbook, and rejuvenate and prepare for the upcoming school year. All you have to do to make it to summer is get through the last couple of weeks of your professors cramming in as many quizzes, projects and tests as they can before the final exams. Trust me, there are going to be many late nights where you’re questioning why you’re doing all of this work. You’ll tell yourself that it isn’t fair and you’ll swear that you hate your professor and you’ll complain to your parents about how much work you have, but it will all be worth it; Summer will make all of this hard work worth it.
As finals begin to approach, so does the death of all motivation for any and all schoolwork. Plus, you have just about everyone you pass coughing and sneezing, and it can all be pretty overwhelming. A lot of students let the stress of all the projects and tests get the better of them; they allow themselves to fall victim to the stress. Here are some things to do, or think about, when you start to feel the overwhelming stress come over you.
1. Take a deep breath.
Sometimes you just need to stop yourself from overthinking every possible negative outcome for your finals and take a deep breath. You’ve made it this far. You can do it. You’re smart enough to handle this, after all, if you weren’t, you wouldn’t be at that school. Take a deep breath and remind yourself of all of these things.
2. Remember that everyone around you is going through the same thing.
Look around. Everyone is stressing about all the finals that are going on. There are people who have many more finals than you do and people who have back-to-back finals as well. If you think you’re stressed about getting through finals and making it to summer, just think how stressed the senior class is. The seniors have to make it through the rest of their finals, pass everything they need to graduate, get everything done for graduation, have a job lined up, and possibly move out of their parent’s house. So, if you think you’re stressed, just remember that you are not alone and that there are a lot of people who have a lot more to stress about.
3. Call your mom and complain.
Sometimes it helps to just get everything out of your system; all the complaints. Who better to complain to than your mom? She is always there for you, she is your biggest fan and number one supporter. It also helps to complain to her because she isn’t also going through the stress of finals. Complaining to a friend could be difficult because they are also really stressed, so they might get more stressed just by listening to everything that you have to do and complete in a certain amount of time.
4. Grab your favorite snack.
Sometimes the only thing that can make you feel better, and take away a little bit of the stress, is your favorite snack. So even if it’s sour gummy worms or ice cream, grab some and let yourself enjoy it. Finals are a really stressful time so if eating a little bit of junk food is what helps motivate you to get through it, then so be it.
5. Make a list.
Making a list after you have gone through all of the assignments and things you have to do prior to finals is incredibly beneficial. Having everything in a list form and being able to check it off after you have completed it can give you lots of satisfaction. Lists are also a good way to make sure that you don’t accidentally let an assignment slip your mind.
6. Turn studying into a game.
If you’re finding it difficult to focus on studying, turn studying into a game where you get a small reward after you have done so much. Don’t allow yourself to look at your phone until you have done a certain amount of work. Or after you have done one assignment, allow yourself to watch a little bit of Netflix. Make sure your reward is something that will actually push you through the pain of studying and getting assignments completed.
7. Take a break and watch Netflix.
Sometimes the stress of studying and working on projects can just be too much. Don’t allow yourself to get to a point of no return with the amount of stress you have. Make sure to take breaks and schedule time for you to just sit and do nothing. Take a nap or watch Netflix for 30 minutes after studying for two hours. Just be careful that your break doesn’t turn into the entire night. Set alarms to remind yourself of when you need to get back to work and when you need to take breaks.
8. Go to all of your classes.
As hard as it is to get up for those 7:50 or 8 a.m. classes, make sure you are getting up and going to them. This is especially important during your last few weeks before finals because a lot of the time your professors will be reviewing the material that is going to be on the final. They also might even give you some tips or pointers that will help you out on the final.
9. Wash your hands a million times.
For some reason, right around two weeks before finals, the entire campus seems to get infected with some sort of sickness. It is important to make sure you’re washing your hands frequently since every sick person that coughed or sneezed into their hands has been sitting at the same desk as you and been touching the same doors as you. You do not want to get sick before finals. Finals are already stressful enough that you don’t want to be worrying about having to leave to blow your nose, or stressing about being that gross sounding person coughing and sniffling every five seconds during your final.
10. Study with your friends.
Studying can get really boring and frustrating. Having friends around you who are also in the same boat can sometimes be helpful because you can all be there for each other and help realize each others stress by laughing about things and quizzing each other. Having at least one friend to study with can make studying seem like so much less of a drag than doing it by yourself.
11. Drink lots of water and coffee.
Make sure you’re drinking lots of water to keep yourself hydrated, especially during high times of stress. I know that when I am not drinking a lot of water that I just feel gross and tired. A good thing to drink to keep you energized is the classic choice of coffee. Just about every college campus has a Starbucks, or two, or there is probably a Dunkin’ close by since it’s the end of the year and money is low and you can get about three iced Dunkin’ coffees for the price of one at Starbucks.
12. Get some sleep.
I know this one seems impossible and that many college students everywhere are already planning their all-nighters, but the best thing to do is actually sleep. I know it seems like going an entire night without sleeping to study will be the best thing for your grade, but it really isn’t. A lot of the time students just get way too tired to perform well on the actual test or they study to a point where they just can’t absorb any more information. Sleep is always important, but it is especially important in the weeks, and nights, leading up to finals.
13. Don't overthink it.
A lot of people psych themselves out right before finals. They start thinking about all of the possible outcomes and how bad it would be to fail all of their tests. For those people, please refer to number one.
14. Do your best.
I know this is a very cliché and mom thing to say, but it is true. At this point in the year, you have learned everything you’re going to; you already know all the information that is going to be on the final. The only thing left for you to do is relax, take a deep breath and know that you’re smart enough to handle it. It might sound stupid, but it’s true. The only thing you can do at this point is do your very best.
