Well, it’s about to be finals week, everyone’s favorite time of the year. SIKE. The weather is finally beautiful, perfect for spending the whole day out with friends avoiding responsibilities, and your upcoming summer plans seem so close, yet so far away. Before we can sip on our coronas and lay out on the beach, here are some great tips towards trudging through the last couple weeks of the semester successfully.
1. Use your planner for once.
Every year everyone always has the best intentions to copy down all their assignments to stay organized. Unfortunately, this goal is usually never followed through. Let these next couple of weeks make up for your sporadic organization skills. Sit yourself down and write down all of the dates and times of your finals and then create a study schedule in order to break down what you need to study and when. Doing this will at least limit several of the mental breakdowns that are already bound to happen during finals.
2. Give yourself a break.
While you should be spending a lot of your time hitting the books, breaks are also crucial. Don’t just force yourself to study for extended periods of time. A good idea is to allow yourself some mental breaks, maybe after every other chapter you study. Giving yourself 5-10 minutes to get out of your chair, grab some water or a snack, is a great way to recharge and give your brain a chance to relax. This is not to say that you should go watch another episode of "Parks and Rec" because we all know one episode turns into a whole season.
3. Play with puppies.
When the studying gets to be all too much, the perfect stress relief is on Bethel Road. Petland, or the best place on Earth, is filled with cute, fluffy, playful stress relievers. Grab a friend or two that are also feeling the pressure of finals and enjoy the unconditional love and joy from several furry friends.
4. Work on that summer bod.
Sweating out that stress and detoxing yourself from one too many Beat The Clocks is key to having a healthy mind and body. Blast some of your favorite workout jams and go for that run you’ve been meaning to go on. If you’re not much of a runner, and using weights and machines isn’t for you, look up some fun yoga or Zumba classes offered through the RPAC to clear some of your tension and get energized.
5. Soak in the sun.
Get some much-needed vitamin D by studying on the Oval. What better way to get through tough finals than to get a nice base tan while you flip through pages upon pages of notes? There’s nothing fun in sitting in your room or sitting in the basement of SEL when there are no clouds in the sky and it’s tanning season. Bring a towel, your jam box, your backpack and, of course, snacks and enjoy the sunny weather.
6. Get those zzz’s.
Last, but most certainly not least, get some rest. Don’t justify sleepless nights by saying that “sleep is for the weak” or that you can catch up on sleep once finals are over. In order to give your brain a chance to register all that you’ve been trying to study and memorize, have a cutoff time where you put all your stuff away and recharge for the night.
Good luck on finals, go Bucks, and let’s all play some school!
