Nothing is worse than being completely unprepared for your finals. One test can make or break your entire semester. Thus, it causes a lot of unnecessary stress. With final's week being just around the corner, I've prepared what I believe to be the most comprehensive and productive timeline to follow during your Finals Prep Day.
10:00 a.m. Wake Up
There's no point in waking up early. You've got all day to study.
10:00-10:45 a.m. Wake Up The Brain
Now that you're awake, it's time to wake up the brain. Go ahead and scroll through Facebook. This will wake up your index finger, improving dexterity.
10:45-11:15 Breakfast
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. A well-rounded healthy breakfast fuels the brain and prepares your studying for optimal information retention. I usually start my study days off with coffee and whatever Thanksgiving leftovers are still in the fridge.
11:15 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Mid-morning Nap
Laying horizontally increases the body's ability to evenly distribute all those healthy nutrients you just consumed. You don't want them all going in one spot, after all -- your hips will thank me later.
12:30 p.m. Game Time
Alright, you've properly prepared your body. Now you can grab all your books, cozy up in your favorite spot and prepare to get to work.
12:30-1:00 p.m. Space Optimization
You clearly can't get anything done in the conditions given. The lighting is too bright, you can't get comfortable or your roommate keeps walking in. You need to optimize your space for studying. Grab all the pillows and blankets in your room and turn your dorm into one giant, studying blanket fort. If you have a common area, turn that into the study fort for all your dormmates to work in.
1:00-4:00 p.m. Netflix Break
Building that study space for everyone in the building took a lot of work. Surely that counts toward any philanthropy, non-profit, physics or even math finals needing to be studied for. You deserve a brief House of Cards binge. Blanket forts are the best for Netflix, anyway.
4:00 p.m. Game Time: Take 2
Okay. It's four o'clock. You need to buckle down and get started. Find your spot in the community study fort and crack open that first book.
Also 4:00 p.m. Lunchtime
During all your diligent preparation of studying, you completely forgot to eat lunch! What good does all your studying do if your brain isn't fueled enough to retain anything? Go grab some Chipotle. If you don't want to get dressed, Pizza Hut, Jimmy John's and Minskey's all deliver. You'll continue studying after your belly is full.
5:00-6:30 p.m. Mid-afternoon Nap
Who are we kidding? You can't study on a full stomach. Get that nap out of the way so you'll have plenty of energy for studying later.
6:30-7:30 p.m. The Finer Things
You've been so busy studying all day that you forgot to enjoy life's finer things. Take this last hour of sunlight to enjoy yourself before a long night of studying. Go for a walk, perhaps to the closest taco truck?
7:30-8:30 p.m. Supply Run
Coming to the realization that you're just not a good day-studier, you decide to make a supply run for Red Bull, coffee and an assortment of Little Debbie cakes to prepare for the long night ahead.
8:30 p.m. Game Time: Part 3
This is what the entire day has been building to. You need to buckle down, eat your snacks and absorb some knowledge.
9:00 p.m. Realization
Despite your best efforts, you come to the realization that this just isn't for you. You've always worked best under pressure and you're just not feeling that pressure right now. After all, you spent the past 30 minutes groovin' and boogin' with Yoda instead of studying. You'll just wake up early and study before the final. Set your alarms.
9:00-Passing Out Netflix Again
Just because you've decided to study in the morning, doesn't mean the night has to end. Hop back on Netflix and finish that marathon you started. You've earned it.
5:00 a.m. Game Time: Part 4
This is it. You need to get up now and study. Your final is in three hours...
...But you got a lot of productive studying done yesterday and this should be an easy final. You can afford to hit the snooze button one -- or six -- times.
7:30 a.m. Go Time
You didn't hit snooze. You shut the alarm off completely. Oops. It's now time to head to campus. You can read your notes while on the way. Two birds with one stone, score!
8:00-10:00 a.m. Killing It
Regret nothing. You're going to head in there and kick this final's butt. You didn't spend the past 24 hours studying for nothing.
