5 Tips that Will Help You Conquer Finals Week

By Vivian El-Salawy on May 2, 2017

The most dreadful time of the year for most college students is finals week, but it doesn’t have to be. Here are 5 tips that will help you conquer finals week:

  • Figure out if you work best in a group or individually.

Image via Amherst College

For some students, they cannot motivate themselves to get a minute of work done on their own – they either spend it on social media, texting, or doing literally anything around their household that has nothing to do with school. You know what I’m talking about – students conveniently decide to do their procrastinated spring cleaning the week of finals or decide to try that new recipe that they found in Pinterest. Those are the types of students that would benefit from working in a motivating, productive group setting.

On the other hand, many students get distracted in a group setting. Perhaps they work better on their own time because they fit in better with groups in social settings than they do in academic or business settings. This is not uncommon either. Before you can even begin to study, think about where you might work best in. If a group setting is desired, consider whether or not those should be friends studying other subjects or classmates that are in your same class. There is no right or way wrong way to go about studying, but there is a more productive way for each individual.

  • Focus on one class at a time.

Image via The First Tee of Greater Seattle

Perhaps the greatest deterrent when it comes to cultivating the motivation to study is the fact that people tend to overwhelm themselves with their thoughts. “I have an exam today and three papers due tomorrow and a project that I haven’t started and then a calculus test like an hour after that”. Breathe. Take everything one day at a time and prioritize. Think about which classes you are doing better in and which classes need extra time and effort and accordingly plan. The more you think about everything that you have to do, the less time you will spend doing it.

  • Once it’s done, it’s done.

Image via Her Campus

Don’t hold yourself in the past. If you feel that you didn’t do too hot on your first exam, don’t let that harp on you because that will take away from the effort you could be putting into the upcoming exams. Once you submit a project or finish an exam, imagine your grade already being established. From that point on, focus on what else needs to be done.

  • Treat yourself.

Image via The Odyssey Online

Regardless of whether you are the type of person who needs to study in increments or in one go, think of a reward system for yourself. For example, if you’re writing a paper, watch a short episode of your favorite Netflix show after certain sections of the paper. Be careful not to cut off your thought process though. If you need to get your project, paper, or studying done in one go, give yourself a bigger treat. Tell yourself that after several hours of studying, you’ll go watch a movie with your friends or kick the ball around with your roommates. Take your dog to the dog park or better yet, take your friends dog to the dog park. Studying is important, but it isn’t healthy for you to not give your mind any kind of rest. Take a nap if you need to. Do whatever you need to do to help yourself focus whether it’s recharging or letting out some energy.

  • Consider how far you have come thus far and how little is left.

Image via WordPress

Depending on what university or school you are attending, think about this: you have survived not only the past several weeks of college, but potentially semesters and years of it. If you are a graduating senior, only a few days of hard work stand between you today and your completion of your undergraduate studies. Even if you are an incoming freshman and this is your first finals week, think about how much work you put into one class alone over the course of a semester and how much work is left – a minority of it, right? That’s not to say that this last portion isn’t valuable, but it’s to say that you have overcome whatever the professor or TA has thrown at you so far, so push through to the end.

Consider holding off on binging your favorite Netflix series for just a few more days, and then you can treat yourself to a weekend, a month, or even a full summer of fun. You are capable of more than you know.

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