It's almost that time of the year again! A time where stress levels are high, students pulling all nighters, free massages being offered at the UC, and when Midnight Breakfast is around the corner: Finals Week. A time of the year where Summer is close yet feels so far away thanks to studying, panicking over final grades and possibly reevaluating your life if you did not do so well on your exams. Whether if it's your first year in college or last semester, these tips on surviving finals week can always come in handy.
1. Prepare
This should be a given but a lot of students do not study the right way for finals (i.e. cramming) or if they do try to study a fair amount, they can get overwhelmed with the material.
My advice is to plan out a schedule for studying, taking study breaks, go to tutoring, and have snacks. You should try to study at least 5 days a week.
2. Sleep well
Okay, while studying adequately is important, sleep is too! If you don't get enough sleep, you won't be able to think properly, you could start acting moody, and you can develop health issues such as heart disease down the road.
I also know that during Finals Week, you won't be able to sleep all day like you plan on doing once this is finally over. Studies show that students who slept less than 5 hours of sleep were more likely to incorporate misinformation into their memories. So if you do have to decide between staying up an extra hour to study and sleep an extra hour, go to sleep.
3. Eat well
As I stated in an earlier tip, studying on an empty stomach is not the best idea. Eating a protein-rich snack or meal like nuts, yogurt, or cottage cheese are good choices because they can lead to greater to mental alertness. Avoid foods made from white flour like cookies or muffins. Also, stay away from food high in refined sugars because they take more time for your body to digest, and give you sugar highs (and sugar lows) . You should also make sure to eat during breakfast, lunch and dinner.
4. Drink well
I know what it sounds like but I'm not telling you to drink alcohol. Especially not since you obviously won't Ace or even feel like going to your exam if you're hung over. What I'm saying is you should avoid consuming sugary drinks (i.e. sodas, energy drinks) and opt for water or tea with less sugar. Typical advice would recommend you to drink eight 8oz of water a day but the daily amount depends on a person's overall health, exercise -or lack of- routine, and the climate.
After reading these tips, you have the tools to kick finals week's butt!
