Ah, November, or what many people like to call “No Life November.” It feels like just yesterday was syllabus week, and no one had an academic care in the world. Now, the seasons are changing, midterms have officially passed, and it’s crunch time. If you're a freshmen, this can be an insanely stressful time because college-level final exams are completely new territory for you. If you are satisfied with your current grades, this is the home stretch. Don't slow down now! Keep pushing yourself to the finish line! And if your grades aren’t what you had hoped they would be, don’t lose hope! There is still plenty of time and opportunity to pull your grades up. Here are some tips from people who have endured final exams and learned a thing or two about how to prepare for them and survive them:
1. Suffering in silence is NOT an option… Go to office hours and tutors!
Life (and the semester!) is too short to say nothing and pretend like your problems don’t exist. If you are struggling with something, tell someone and seek out help! Everyone has his or her own reasoning for staying quiet (actually talking to a professor one-on-one can be terrifying and sometimes it’s hard to admit that you need assistance), but none of it is worth doing poorly in a class. College is about so much more than getting all A’s. It’s important to take charge of your life, confront your problems, and ask for help when you need it. You’ll grow as a person and develop skills that will allow you to be more successful out in the real world.
2. Make friends in your classes.
There is NOTHING worse than being lost in a class and having no one talk to as a point of reference, especially with finals rapidly approaching and every point counting. Sometimes a professor’s explanation of an assignment or a concept just doesn’t cut it. Sometimes, in order to get through a tough class, you need to have that ‘we’re going through hell together’ bond with someone. And sometimes you won’t be able to make it to class, and you’ll need someone to send you the notes and tell you what you missed. Whether the friends you make in class are people that you commiserate with at 4 A.M. when you both still wide awake studying or people that help explain what the heck a professor is talking about, they’re good to have.
3. Have an outlet.
While we all wish be could be eat-sleep-study machines 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, it’s simply not realistic. If you spend every waking minute your time studying, you’re going to crack. Your mental health is just as important as your grades, so it’s imperative that you take a break from the books every now and then to do something that will relieve some of that academic stress. Some people hit the gym, some people hang out with friends, some people watch an episode of Gilmore Girls, and some people eat 6 jumbo-sized powdered donuts in under 30 seconds – whatever works!
4. Get lots of sleep.
At some point, we all skip out on sleep. We may believe that pulling an all-nighter to cram for a midterm will save our grade in a class, but getting an inadequate amount of sleep can be extremely harmful. Not only does a lack of sleep make us more susceptible to getting sick, but it also inhibits our minds from functioning at their full potential. If you study and then get some sleep, your brain will retain much more information than a drowsy brain will. It’s important to take care of our bodies and minds, so do yourself a favor and give yours a [preferably 6 to 8 hour long] rest.
Good luck with the rest of the semester, people. In closing, I leave you with a final tidbit of advice from one of my generation’s most iconic scholastic minds.
