My finals start this Monday. Most of you have already had yours and have hopefully finished them and made it out all right. I am miserable. I had to move one roommate out, one roommate in and clean and reorganize my entire house to host last minute guests this weekend. I'm scheduled for a ton of shifts and have pushed anything and everything back to the last possible second. I'm finishing up my junior year in college and honestly I knew this would happen. I could have prepared better and done things in advance so I wouldn't have 8,000 things to do all at once right before, during and after finals.

1. Read!

There is a reason why most teachers make you buy books, assign readings and have you discuss them in class: because you'll be tested on them. Skimming the bold words and first and last sentences of your chapter in that five minutes before class starts doesn't count as reading. Even if you can pass the graded discussions with those bold words imprinted in your mind it doesn't mean you'll remember them by next class or by the test in two weeks. Next semester, I'm going to make a real effort to read the work I was assigned and not just skim for homework answers.

2. Take Notes—Constantly!

Taking notes during lecture is so crucial, because so many professors pull their exam questions right out of their own notes. Something that's also crucial is taking notes on assigned readings. It's unrealistic to think that even after 15 years of schooling, that I will remember every detail from my 100 pages of assigned reading per night. So now that I've decided to actually start doing the readings for class, I realize that taking notes may seem like an added chore, but it is essential for comprehension and makes it way easier to look back on notes from readings rather than carry around a heavy text book. I've started to do this while reading books for pleasure as well and it's saved me a ton of time as an alternative to dog earring pages and then searching for certain passages or quotes that sparked my interest. Taking notes while you read is an extra step in the beginning but saves you about three steps in the long run.

3. Ask Questions

I sometimes get so frustrated with my class material and my professor and their way of teaching, that I rush out of the room as soon as class is dismissed even if I'm confused or not sure about a grade. It makes things so much simpler in the long run to just ask questions when you have them. Sometimes, I've been raging mad about a grade and then stayed after class and the professor has realized they've made a mistake and never would have noticed unless I pointed it out. Also, even if I don't get make up points the professor will explain why the answer was wrong and what to do in the future.

4. Ongoing Discussion Board / Journals

Do them weekly or do them in advance; do not save these for the last minute. I have three classes with ongoing discussion boards and one with ongoing journals I somehow procrastinated on all of them so now I have to do an entire semesters worth of journals and discussion board questions for three classes in addition to all of my end of semester projects, papers and studying for final exams.

5. Time Management is Self Care!

Time management while working and in school is essential and is truly a part of self care. You need to be able to know your limits and what kind of rest and recreation time you can take while still being able to study and do work effectively. A professor told me once she got through her PhD by studying for 25 minutes at a time and taking a five minute break and repeating that until she was done with her material. She also told me you should double the credit hours of your classes and devote that much time to studying for that class. For example, if your class is a 3 credit hour class, devote 6 hours a week to studying and doing work for that class. So If I'm taking 15 hours next semester, I need to be able to have 30 hours of time to devote to that class to study and do well, even if that means cutting down a shift at work or only doing one yoga class at a studio and supplementing with at home yoga a few times a week to save time. You need to be able to negotiate your time and needs to do well in your courses and to take care of yourself. Getting home from class during the week and sleeping 12 hours and saving everything everything else for the weekend may seem amazing, but you could spend 15 minutes doing dishes or tidying your room, another 15 in the shower and 30 minutes studying or reading for class and have saved yourself a ton of cleaning and study time for the weekend and will allow you to grab lunch or go for a run in addition to studying and doing homework during the weekend.