The finals are coming! The finals are coming! And we're all freaking out, as usual. Seriously, you would think that by now we would understand how college finals work, yet, we don't. We forget the endless struggle every semester, and become introduced to it once again every few months. If you find yourself on this sinking boat, I have some words of advice for you.
1. "Calm down.... and Bear Down."
We get it, you're stressed. I'm stressed. We're all stressed. Although you feel like this stress is life-consuming, it really is not. Just calm down, relax and breathe. Remember, you're a semester in, odds are you've learned something, anything.
Just stop talking about how stressed you are, no one wants to hear it, you don't want to hear it. Sometimes, we create more stress by talking about how stressed we are. And, to be honest, after whatever we were stressed about ends, we realize that our stress was premature and overdramatic, that it really wasn't that bad.
2. "Just study already."
No seriously, study, and study well. Sometimes as students, we feel entitled to not study or convince ourselves that we do not have to. This is not applicable during finals. You have to study for finals!
Yeah, sure, exams are common and you've had them before. But, final exams are a completely different breed of finals. So, just stop with the excuses, grab some coffee and study your butt off. If you need someone to change your Netflix password for a week, do it. You'll have plenty of time to catch up on all your favorite tv-shows and movies after finals.
3. "Ignore the haters."
Odds are that at least once in your college career someone will try to distract you during finals. You'll hear people say that exams aren't that bad, or that you deserve to live a little. Do not let yourself be fooled by the haters.
Whatever tactics your best friend, partner or parent, tries to throw at you will not be enough to distract you during finals. Yeah, this is a bit extreme, but think of how important finals are to your GPA, your entire semester is sometimes riding on this week of exams. So, twirl away to a good grade and don't mind the haters.
4."It doesn't suck to succeed."
Do it. Work it. Twerk it, if that makes you happy. Go into that classroom as if you're Beyoncé stomping on some lemons, making lemonade. Own those exams as if you were Oprah. Be successful. Find every way possible to get those accomplishments done, to achieve your goals. Give it your all, for once, and see what happens. Who knows, you might completely surprise yourself and turn into a little Einstein. No, not the cartoon.
5. "And... repeat."
Like an instruction label for shampoo, I always end a week of finals reminding myself to either repeat what I just did, in the future, or actually try harder next time. Unless you're a college senior with no plans of continuing your education, odds are that you are going to face hell week one more time, or a few more times. Thus, you must be able to follow this list and follow it entirely. Only you hold the key to open up the door of being stress-free after finals.
