We just got back from Thanksgiving break and things are beginning to look they’re spiraling down at this point. We have two weeks left in the semester to get those grades up or to keep those grades up. And then comes the forbidden and unwelcomed finals week.
The week where you were probably assigned that last possible time slot on Friday or where you have four exams in a span of 48 hours or where you don’t have any exams at all because your teachers gave them all to you the week before finals week when you still had to go to every class (why).
Yes, we as hardworking students dread this miniscule cluster of weeks after Thanksgiving break and tend to rely on our all-nighters and excessive coffee intake to get through them, but we as hardworking students will continue to persevere through our mental break downs and we will get through the rest of this semester.
How, you might ask? How can we possibly get through that last time slot, those four exams, those exams during the actual last week of class? Well, that’s what I am here to help you with. As a senior finishing my last fall semester and my last fall finals week, I’ve been through it all, from taking 7:30 A.M. exams to having four exams in the span of 48 hours to having no exams until that last time slot on Friday. Each and every one of those finals weeks was absolutely awful, but I got through them just like all of you have and just like all of us will this semester. So lets begin.
First, stop pulling all-nighters. There have been multiple studies published that explain that at some point throughout the night, your brain will physically stop retaining whatever information you’re attempting to cram into it. As much as you think you’re making up for all of the time you really should have been studying and really believe that you’re accomplishing and understanding the material, it’s not actually working and instead you’re just making yourself miserable.
Your body and mind need sleep to recover from the day, whether you think it was a hard one or not. When you sleep, your body goes through four different stages of a cycle, and multiple cycles throughout the night, but three of the four stages are spent in an NREM stage where your body and mind is healing and recovering from the day. Trying to study with no sleep in you is comparable to typing something onto your computer when it’s dead; you need to charge your body just like you need to charge your computer to give it the power and energy to do its job.
If you really think you need those extra hours to memorize or understand any last bits of information, then wake up early and do it. Your brain retains the most information in the morning because it has yet to be used for anything strenuous, so take advantage of its rejuvenation, wake up, grab a cup of coffee, and begin the cramming.
Second, don’t listen to music while you’re studying. Listening to classical music while studying for your Organic Chemistry exam will not improve your ability to retain or understand the material. Your visual and auditory inputs both require language resources from the brain; so when you’re reading something off of your screen or piece of paper while also listening to music, your brain isn’t fully taking in what you just read because it has divided its resources to both listening and reading, instead of putting everything in one basket.
This is that moment in class where you feel like you can imagine and remember reading about the answer to that question that’s on your exam but you can’t seem to retrieve it from the tip of your tongue; you’re attention was divided while you were reading about that answer, so I’m sorry to be the one to tell you it’s not going to leave the tip of your tongue. You remember best what you understand best, so give you full attention (or at least the majority of it) to what you’re trying to understand.
Third, reward yourself, don’t deprive yourself. Go get some sleep; go get some food; go for a quick walk or run and get those endorphins flowing; go listen to your favorite music (preferably Mumford and Sons) and take a couple of deep breaths.
Then get back to work. You’re not going to want to understand the material or improve on it or finish strong if you can barely hold a conversation with someone or walk yourself to your room. No this isn’t an excuse to spend hours watching Netflix or spend hours scrolling through social media, but understand that it’s okay to take a break and you taking that break is not what’s going to make you do poorly on that exam. We’re all given the same amount of time in the day, so how you chose to spend it is what will be the deciding factor on how you do on that exam.
Lastly and certainly not the least, believe in yourself. You have it in you to beat that exam and pass that class. As much as I despise teachers for saying this because I truly feel like they don’t understand, I’m going to say it anyway: it’s just a letter grade. This one letter grade, this one small letter compared to every big thing you’ve been through, had happened to you, pushed through does not define you. This letter, your GPA will never measure up to the person you are every day. So don’t deprive yourself; don’t panic; if you feel like you have to cry then go ahead and let it out. But afterwards, stand a little taller because you got through another semester and another finals week.