For a freshman like me to be in college, the first quarter was exhausting and yes, there are the infamous, dreadful finals that all of us have to go through in our life. I know that they are exhausting but they are actually good for you because the finals test your strength, to see if you’re paying attention in classes and learning your subjects so that you can advance to other class for your major and potentially important for your future job. “Finals”, when the professor say that, we all freaked out and start to worry about them, we would have to pull all nighters so that we can get the best grades in those finals but we all have one common enemy, sleepiness. I’m here to give you some of my own tips on how you can become a pro in staying up late (not recommended to do all the time though)
#1: COFFEE! DRINK LOTS AND LOTS OF IT!!! Coffee is good for your health but the same time can help you stay awake, because it has natural caffeine. Very great way but the only downside is that you are going to crash eventually.
#2 CHEWING GUM. Whenever you chew your gum, it helps you to study faster since it will makes your mind occupied so you don’t have to wonder your mind around other stuffs which then you will be 100% focus on just your works. Adding a bonus to that is that on the day that you take the finals, chew the same flavor of gum you had for the night that you studied, it helps you to remember them easier and help you to do better in your test . It blows away all of your boredom.
#3: TURN ON ONLY THE LIGHT ON YOUR STUDYING TABLE. It will make your room fade away from your vision, taking your mind off all the gadgets surrounding you and let all the knowledge you need to know flow into your mind. Kind of like Harry Potter style.
#4: PLAY CLASSICAL MUSIC IN THE BACKGROUND. The classic tunes of those beautiful songs help to relax your brain, makes you relax but not sleepy, help you to concentrate better while you're studying.
#5: SPEAK WHAT YOU READ: Instead of reading your contents in your mind or mumbling them in your mouth, read them out loud, it helps you to remember them. Just whatever you do, don’t read it in a public place, trust me on this too, it happened to me before.
#6: TREAT YOURSELF: Every time you just finished a paragraph or two and you actually got them all correct, reward yourself each time and make the reward greater than the previous one so you won’t be disappointed and give up.
#7: TAKE MULTIPLE BREAKS. Whenever you feel tired or just starting to get bored, just kick back and close your eyes for 30 seconds, take a few deep breaths and go straight back to it. You’ll be like a machine that cannot be stopped (unless you feel bored out of your mind again, then just redo it again).
#8: STUDY IN GROUPS: If studying by yourself is almost impossible. Seek help from your classmates: Create your own study group with your friends to increase efficiency in studying and if you’re in a pickle, they’ll help you out, when you’re about to snooze off, you’re friends are there to wake you up with a cold cup of ice pouring it down your back! Unless your friends are all jerks then being by your own seems to be a better option.
#9: CONSTANT PRACTICE: The most obvious option is to practice all of your exercise over and over and over again, that builds up a better base of knowledge so you can understand better of what you’re studying. There’s a reason parents and grandparents always say: “Practice makes perfect!”. They were right all the time.
#10: STUDY BEFORE THE FINALS: The last resort for finals are to study before the finals come. After class ended, go home and review for the final you have been dreading since the beginning of the quarter.
Those are just some of the tips that personally helped me in the finals, you should test other ways to find out which one helps you best.
