To my friends, family and other fellow students taking part in this horrible time span the colleges like to call “finals.”
The reason you’re reading this is either because you are truly interested or because you found yourself on social media again instead of studying for the finals that are quickly approaching. Don’t worry kiddos, we just have to get through these next two weeks and we can be free to enjoy life and binge watch Netflix until it asks us if we’re still actually watching. Right after reading that sentence you probably are thinking of what shows you need to catch up on or start, by the way, "Friends" still reigns supreme if you ever need a good recommendation.
What some parents and people do not understand is that after finals, we all tend to have something called “finals brain,” a sad phenomenon where our brain has officially gone into hibernation because it is having to console and comfort itself after taking that many difficult tests, dealing with that much stress and being worked overtime with little to no sleep.
Finals does bad things to not only our GPAs but our bodies as well, meaning we all need time to recoup and readjust upon completion of the semester. What’s even worse is when the finals are cumulative and not just what we learned about after the midterm, our brain is automatically sent into a panic trying to remember what it was taught in the first weeks of the semester that happened four months ago.
The hardest thing about finals, aside from the toll it takes on everything, is the fact that it can determine a pass or fail and even a continuation or halt in someone’s college career plan. For all of you who are in this type of a situation, just know that all will be well and you will pass that final you are completely stressing over. The situation will work out the way it needs to and stressing right now is not worth the amount of energy it is wasting.
The amount of hours being put in will not go unnoticed even if the test grade does not reflect all the time you spent trying to memorize every single thing mentioned in the study guide. For those of you who are not the lucky ones given a study guide, just remember, if it was mentioned in lecture more than once, it will definitely be on the test.
During this time, it will be truly tempting to have a mental breakdown and cry for a bit, which is completely normal. If you didn’t have one of those moments yet, then you haven’t had the true college experience! As tempting as it will be to look back on the times you wish you could have changed your studying habits or what you had done in the beginning of the semester that gave you a rough start, just focus on how you can help yourself now. It is important to continue to move forward and suck up all the information possible, like a little sponge of knowledge that we all are during these terrible two weeks.
Finals weeks in itself are overwhelming and exhausting so remember to block out all the other stressors in life and allow yourself the time to focus on school because those other issues that seem to be plaguing you during this crazy time will more than likely be resolved by the time finals are over. So allow yourself the luxury of stepping away and into the pit of studying that you won’t be climbing out of until after finals.
The best Christmas gift to yourself will be knowing that you worked your butt off the whole semester, or even just for finals, instead of getting lazy in the last weeks that matter. As daunting as it seems, this time will pass, just like it has in the semesters before. You will pass and do well and life will go on, no matter what the outcome of the tests and final grades are. All good things take time and it is important to remember that you are the one that controls how much effort and studying is put into helping you succeed.
I wish all of you luck and sanity, and for goodness sake, do not forget to breathe while going through all of this. You are not alone in the least, so remember that you have an entire campus of people that are in the same boat you are. Therefore, be nice to each other and don’t get too overwhelmed. You can, and will, get through these two weeks!
Keep moving forward and enjoy these memes!
