It's Finals Time

It’s almost that time. You can feel your anxiety slowly rising each hour and with each flashcard you turn over. This is the feeling of finals week.

There are finals in most high schools, and maybe even in junior high. However, no one can understand what college finals are like until they have actually experienced them.

Don’t get me wrong, finals really aren’t that bad-- after you’ve taken them; but the days leading up to finals are an emotional and stress overload.

I’m not trying to scare anybody I’m just trying to be honest and also helpful. I want you to succeed and pass your finals with flying colors. There are certain things you need to do to be able to achieve this attainable goal.

First, you have to put on the clothes you feel most comfortable in. This can be jeans, leggings, sweatpants or even just your underwear. Put on whatever floats your boat, but you need to be one hundred percent comfortable before you can start your studying extravaganza.

Next, plan your studying schedule. Figure out your finals schedule. You can find out this information in the Registrar’s office, which is located on the second level of the administration building, and also online. Then, make a schedule of when, where and how long you are going to study for each final. Also, don’t over study or pull all-nighters. Sleep is one of the most important aspects of finals week according to usnews.com.

Now make sure you are keeping physically and mentally healthy. You might go into the library at 1 p.m. and not look at the clock until 6:30 p.m. then realizing you haven’t eaten dinner yet. You cannot retain all that Biology I information without brain food.

Along with keeping healthy, make sure you are actually sleeping at night. Shoot, if you have some free time during the day take a nap. The worst thing that could happen is showing up to your final sleep deprived and sick because you haven’t been treating your body right.

Make sure you’re taking breaks while studying. Ask your roommate if they want to go on a walk around campus; make sure you get fresh air and don’t just lock yourself in a room for 12-hours straight without daylight.

Locking yourself in a room, and looking over notecards you don’t understand will not get you an A on the final, regardless to what people may say. If you don’t understand the material in a class, we have these wonderful, free things called tutors. They literally get paid to help you get A’s. Why not talk to them and figure out why the limit really doesn’t exist.

Also, you might create a study group to get ready for the final. People rarely turn down study groups unless it’s just not the way they learn. Your best friend might be able to read a sentence and then recite it back to you without looking, but it might take hours for you to do the same. Figure out what tactic works best for you. Is it repetition, notecards, visual aids, or even just listening to someone say the information? If one-way doesn’t work, don’t freak out just try another method.

Finally, don’t worry yourself too much over finals because that won’t help anything. What will help is studying in an efficient manner and retaining the information needed. If you do everything you can, you should be proud of your final grade.