With the weather finally heating up and summer just around the corner, I know many people, including myself, are starting to struggle with a form of the typical spring fever dubbed “senioritis” by everyone, even those who are just finishing up their freshman year. No matter what way you say it, it is everywhere on campus. Students are going for walks at midnight, playing volleyball for hours upon hours instead of studying, and many are even quitting class. While the first two are both great activities, the final three weeks of the semester are extremely important. Here’s a few tips that might help you pull out those last few all-nighters that are surely coming.
Do NOT procrastinate.
Procrastination is a staple in the college lifestyle, but if you procrastinate now, you will literally run out of time when it comes to the final assignments. Procrastination is something we are all guilty of, myself included. In fact, just to make it sound better, a few friends and I always say that planning to procrastinate means you are extremely organized. But don’t let that fool you. Set aside a couple of hours a day to tackle the immediate assignments before you let yourself venture outdoors. Better yet, do your assignments and studying while soaking up some sun. If you are a determined go-getter, set aside a day or two and do nothing but homework and get ahead on everything, and you will be home-free the rest of the semester. You can go about this any way you would like, but the bottom line is do your work in a timely manner. This way, your grades won’t suffer with sloppy work either.
Go to class.
It seems as though near the end of a semester or year, class sizes keep diminishing. While that may be great for those students that still show up, it can really hurt your grades and in turn your spirit if you are one of the many who are ditching. In a small school, the professor knows when you are not there and knows when you don’t have a good reason. At my school, many professors begin to dock your grade once you have skipped more than three classes. Maybe if you go to a bigger school, skipping in itself won’t literally hurt your grade, but in a sense it will. Even if you think you are learning everything from the PowerPoints you’re reading on your laptop while lying on the bed in your dorm room with a bowl of fruit and Law and Order: SVU playing the background, nothing will ever be the same as what you get out of going to class. Even though the gorgeous sunshine might be much more appealing than another microbiology lecture on infectious diseases, know that your grade will thank you in a few weeks.
De-stress.
This one might sound a little contradicting to the first two, but it is essential. If you don’t allow yourself any time for fun or relaxing activities for four days straight, you are more likely to throw in the towel the week it counts the most, finals week. Make some time for yourself. Go for a walk, play some volleyball, sunbathe, get some ice cream with friends, anything! If watching Netflix for hours or playing video games well into the night relaxes you, do it. All work and no play makes you a dull student! Plus, if you work on that tan now, you will be beach-ready in no time!
Believe in yourself.
I know what you’re thinking. This is the most cliché thing in the book, but when it comes to an emotional, broke, and confused college student, it can mean everything. Ever since midterms, people have talked about giving up on their classes that they just don’t care about at this point, and today in fact, I heard it more than I ever had before. Everyone just wants to give up and skip by the next few weeks to freedom and sleep. But although saying you are done might make you feel better at that time, don’t give in to the temptation and ruin all the hard work you have done for the last thirteen weeks just because you’d rather be sleeping on some sand somewhere in the tropics. Give yourself a pep talk about all of the obstacles and tiring study sessions you have overcome this semester and remind yourself that you only have a few more weeks. Remind yourself that you can do it again, just like all the times before. Tell yourself the fact that all of your hard work will pay off in the end, and you will be thanking yourself later.
And there’s that! Hold on, just a few more weeks and we will all be sipping some (virgin) cocktails poolside. At least, I hope you will be, since I’ll be taking a summer class on top of a job. But heads up! Good luck with the rest of the semester!
