Since finals exams are coming up for a lot of university students, I thought it would be a perfect time to reflect on my first semester in college and review all my bad decisions.

So if you want to have a very fun and productive time, definitely don't do these things!

1. Never visit your professors' office hours

Ah yes, the Professor is just some entity that teaches the class and that's it. No. If your schedule doesn't coincide with your Professors' office hours or if that Professor doesn't have an extremely long wait time to meet them, you should definitely visit them at least a few times during the semester to not only get help on your work in their class but also to get to know them as people.

No matter who they are, they are far more knowledgeable and experienced than you so it wouldn't hurt to talk to them and maybe get some advice. Of course, you're not always going to like all of your Professors, but hey, at least going to their office hours shows that you are putting forth the effort.

2. Giving yourself a break and telling yourself you'll do it later

This applies to everything, including papers, projects, laundry, dishes, cleaning, writing your Odyssey article, organizing your life in general, etc.

Don’t be lazy….just do it, like Shia LeBeouf would say.

Don't give yourself a break by making up some excuse why you can't do it or why there are better things to do. If you need to get something done, tell yourself that it won't be as bad once you start doing it and you get into the groove of things. I know the hardest thing for me is starting a paper. But once I force myself to start a paper, I eventually become more comfortable and able to just type away. It's the act of starting a new task or activity that is the most daunting.

Keep in mind, if you don’t do it now, when will you?

3. Go out on the night before you have a ton of work due the next few days

What do people not care about besides Fox News? Homework!

It's a given that you should stay in and work on whatever you have due the next day if you haven't done it already (unless you are a miracle worker and can whip up an above-average paper in like three hours).

But not even just the day before, but you should plan out at least a few days before and allot a few hours per day to working on assignments rather than just thinking you can spontaneously finish everything the day before. Because trust me, it usually doesn't go how you think it is going to go.

4. Staying in your dorm often because you're too "tired"

Be open to going to more things and exploring! I had this problem because it is hard for me to constantly go out to do new things because I get burned out by social events rather quickly. I was much more active in the beginning of the semester in terms of going to new clubs and events but it kind of waned as the semester went on because of increased workload among other things.

I definitely started to take naps more frequently and I found out that staying in your dorm for a prolonged period of time not only makes you depressed but as a result, it will make you more tired and reluctant to ever go out again because it's too troublesome. Or maybe that's just me since I have hermit-like tendencies.

Either way, if you are like me, an introvert, and cannot get used to the spontaneity of going out with others, here's a pretty cool article to check out for some tips.

5. Not reviewing your lecture notes after the lecture is over

Me looking at my notes when studying for exams.

Reviewing your notes after each class or if you don't have time after your class, reviewing anytime that same day you took notes will help you in the later when you're trying to study for midterms and finals.

Why did I feel this was especially important? Well you see, I got really screwed when it came time to review for my exams because I primarily take notes on my laptop (like many other college students) but I felt copying down the notes by hand would help me remember the content better. So I established a plan where I would 1) type notes in class (because it's faster) and then 2) organize my notes after class and 3) copy down the main points to remember by hand.

Sounds like a pain, right? Well, it really was, so that was why I really only did step one of that plan above. Oops. When it came time to study for exams, guess who scrambled to copy down like month's worth of notes but then copied like half of them and called it a day? Moi.

Maybe my study methods are just horrendous but I definitely do need to consistently put effort into studying rather than just cramming the day before.

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If you felt like me and thought your semester could have been better, don't worry! Life, in general, is a whole learning experience. All that is left is to kick butt at finals and enjoy your break.

GIF of you kicking butt at exams