It’s that time of year again: Finals time. It is said that 99 percent of the stress of a semester takes place during 1 percent of the time. There are always tips and tricks that can help make this week go by as smoothly as possible. Studentlife.ca offers some helpful tips for finals week.
Starting off, location matters. Find that place that will keep you from getting distracted. Any place that doesn’t have much noise or many people seems to work well.
Reward yourself. This can be done in many ways. For example, you can put a piece of candy at the end of every page or paragraph you read in your text book. Maybe once you finish making notecards you will take a break and get a snack.
Laugh a little. Did you know that crying when you laugh is due to a tension and emotion build up? According to stress.about.com, this stress can be released by a good laugh. Laughing also provides a quick distraction from your work.
Be the teacher. Do you have friends in your class? Get together to study and have one of you take on the role of the teacher. Explain a topic or chapter to them. This is the easiest way to see how much you truly understand something.
Get off social media. No matter how many times you hear this, you still end up on Facebook or Twitter, right? Get some self-control and turn it all off during your study time.
No all-nighters. This is one of the worst things that you can do right before a test. Your mind will not retain as much, and you lose out on sleep. Instead read over all your notes and go to bed immediately after. Collegeatlas.org states that sleeping on it helps retention.
Not all tips are as obvious as “study harder” and “avoid distractions.” Eric Brownlee, Ph. D., an assistant professor of sport management and marketing, said that sleep is the most important thing during finals week.
Bruce Kibler, Ph. D, an assistant professor of management, said that the key to success is plenty of sleep, good food, exercise and fresh air.
Douglas King, Ph. D., an associate professor in the English department, stated that teachers are there to answer questions.
There are no dumb questions, so make sure you ask them and understand all of the material.
The Potty Press for November and December listed healthy good choices that will improve your health and mood. It stated that chocolate actually reduces stress and anxiety, and salmon calms nerves and spinach boosts your energy. These are all important during finals week.
The best advice is to study, but not to drain yourself in the process. Make it as fun as you can without over doing it. Most importantly, get your sleep. Pulling an all-nighter is not the way to go if you want to do well.
KAT SHINDLEDECKER
