It’s that time of year again! All of the professors have just gotten out of their super-secret meeting where they all choose one week to have every exam and major assignment due. They may pretend to like us, but we know the truth: they get their kicks from causing as many mental breakdowns a year as possible. So whether you have three exams over three days or four essays due at midnight tonight, listen up here. I’m gonna fill you in on how to live through this.
1. Plan ahead.
“Psh, the exam’s not ‘till next week. I’ve got time.” We’ve all said it before and we’ll all say it again. But the truth is that a week is exactly what you need to study.
Day one: organize your notes and figure out what you know and what you need to learn.
Day two: create a comprehensive study guide using all that your professor has told you about the exam.
Day three: go over the study guide and go to your professor’s office hours to ask about the topics you don’t understand.
Day four: create some sort of practice exam for yourself, or do the one that your professor gave you if they did.
Day five: correct your practice exams and go back to your study guide for the parts you did poorly on.
Day six: give everything one last look over and spend some quality time testing yourself and flipping through your textbook, then be sure to get a good night’s sleep.
Day seven: very briefly review your notes before your exam, then take a deep breath. You prepared. You got this.
These steps are a thousand times more important when you have multiple exams coming up. If you only study for whichever exam is coming first and put off studying for the others, the later grades will suffer greatly. Be proactive and look at your class calendars.
2. Take care of yourself.
Don’t let the stress get the best of you. Make sure you are still making time to exercise and eat right. Being healthy is more important than ever when your mental health may be on the verge. Priority number one? SLEEP. Make getting eight hours the most important thing in your life.
That’s it. There are no more than two steps to keeping your head during these trying times. It really is just a matter of not letting exam season get the best of you. Trust you, you got this.
