Survive Winter Finals This Year With These 15 Tips
Your winter semester finals probably induce more chills than the actual weather. But, surviving through them can actually be accomplished if you follow these simple tips! You’ll never run the risk of failure with these tips in mind.
1. Schedule, Schedule, Schedule!
It might not seem important, but constructing an agenda the weeks before your finals can prove more beneficial than you realize. Book yourself some designated study sessions, assign subjects for certain days, and relearn your past assignments.
Prioritizing has never been more important than the week(s) before winter finals, so start organizing yourself now!
2. Study Groups
Among your best bets for a successful winter finals season would be to form or join a study group. Though you may prefer to study alone, you might not have all the information written down from class.
A study group is an excellent briefing on what the test will go over from different perspectives. Rely on the work and advice of your fellow classmates and contribute your own notes for mutual success!
3. Stay Somewhere Warm
Look, it’s the winter season, so it’s bound to be colder wherever you are (unless you’re reading this from Australia). So, why not set up your study camp near the fireplace or atop a pillar of bed sheets? It’s scientifically proven that studying in warm areas allows you to concentrate better.
Okay, that’s not true, but the winter season is already cold enough as it is, so do yourself a favor and at least wrap a blanket around you?
4. Tutoring
Tutoring is readily available on and off campus for nearly every subject. Find out where on campus do tutors work in or check online to see what subjects they specialize in. Tutoring may seem middle school-ish, but any help is still help.
5. Flashcards
Flashcards are easy to make and portable enough to carry anywhere! Flashcards aren’t as awkward to carry around non-academic spaces. Write down the bare information on them to learn in concise, yet still accurate ways. they’re good for self-quizzing and to bring for social situations!
6. Mix Academics With Your Social Life
Did you already plan to study all day after class until your friends invited you to go to that sushi place you’ve always wanted to try? Fear not, for there’s always a way to have to do both! Bring your flashcards, your notebooks, and your worksheet assignment to any social event. So long as you can balance social activity and study.
7. Study Early
The best way to study is to just learn what you can, even if it’s just a few pages of information, as early as possible. Cramming the week before finals won’t always cut it, but studying your material during a lengthy amount of time is guaranteed success. If your project is a final, doing the necessary material as early as possible means less to do on winter finals week!
8. Meet With Your Professors
Your professors always have office hours you can take advantage of as described in your syllabus! Professors are actually way more approachable than most students may think and it’s a shame hardly anybody uses this method.
Your professors just want you to get a good grade and pass their class. Go see them and ask what assignments and chapters you need to be looking at.
9. Online Resources
The internet is a valuable tool for learning that most everyone uses for cat videos. If you’re having trouble learning a subject or remembering something, the internet is guaranteed to have lessons, examples, and tips that range from online forums to video demonstrations.
10. Keep Up With Your Health
Just because you’re prioritizing academics first, doesn’t mean it should come at the cost of your health. The goal is to earn your graduate certificate, not a death certificate! Always keep up with your three meals a day; don’t skip breakfast or lunch just because you stayed up all last night getting those extra study hours.
Staying up late isn’t a good idea, either. Sleeping the required eight-hour minimum is a must. Cutting out your sleeping hours or sleeping in the next morning isn’t going to cut it come winter finals.
11. Google Docs
The beauty of college in this tech-savvy era is that. for almost any class, someone will ultimately make a Google document shared between the whole class. A classmate will go online and pull everyone’s email just for you to have access to the Google doc!
Since it’s a collaborative effort, a lot of your classmates will be adding and editing what they think everyone will be tested on. Be a team player and be among those classmates.
12. Eating Healthily
Eating junk food come finals week is mere instant gratification. Sure, potato chips might sound delicious and rewarding after a two-hour-long study session, but all that fat and sugar will eventually make you sluggish enough to stop studying altogether. Avoid that risk and opt for healthy fruits and vegetables instead!
13. Give Yourself A Break
Information isn’t guaranteed to stick with you even if you studied the material four hours straight. The true test of comprehension comes when you’ve distanced yourself away from your studies but still know their information. So give your brain a rest once in a while and go out for whatever social activities you have in mind! Just so long as you prioritize your studies first and foremost.
14. Quiz Yourself
Quizzing yourself is good warm-up for the weeks leading up to your winter finals. Use flashcards, use your notes, use the practice questions on your Calculus textbook! Your resources are everywhere and will comprise of everything in your study arsenal.
Get over your fear of failure by subjecting yourself to home-made quizzes!
15. Take A Breather
Finals week is stressful. Like, super stressful. Sometimes, the best and healthiest thing to do is to just step outside yourself, take deep breaths, and calm your nerves. You tell yourself that you’re going to get through your finals intact. Relax with this mindset for a bit before resuming your studies.
