1. Avoid stressful people.Stress actually is contagious. During exam week, resist the urge to have a study session with your super-tense friend, especially if she’s complaining about all the work she has to do and breaking pencils all over the place. Her stress will only add to your stress.
2. Eat healthy and exercise.
This seems like a no-brainer, but it’s a wonder how many people forget it. Skip the sugar, which will make you crash, and go for snacks like granola bars, healthy cereal or fruits and veggies to keep your blood sugar stable. If you’re studying for a long period of time, eat some protein too. Also, try to get some form of exercise. Even a 10 minute walk will leave you calmer and more focused.
3. Just say NO.
I don’t mean to drugs, although I’m not recommending them or anything. What you need to say no to are the people who want to take up your time. There will probably be a friend who needs to talk to you for hours about her life, or a keg party the night before your final, and if you say yes, you’ll probably be tempted to blow off studying. Resist the urge. Say no to the distractions and be selfish for a day. You want a good GPA, right?
4. Force yourself to take breaks.
For every hour or so that you work, take a 10 or 15 minute break. Let yourself do whatever you want (check Facebook, check out that guy sitting nearby, stare off into space, call a friend, etc.) for those 10-15 mins, then start working again. This gives your brain a little rest and will help keep you more focused when you are actually doing work.
5. Visualize it all going right.
This is actually my favorite tip of all, even though it sounds kind of nuts. Imagine yourself taking the test and feeling confident that you know all the information. Picture getting all of the answers right, and focus on how relaxed you feel. Then picture the A on your test paper. When you imagine a happy ending, that’s often what happens, because you make the decisions that lead to it without even realizing.
6. If you’ve studied all you can, get up your confidence!When test-time rolls around, it’s time to get yourself into confidence mode. You’ve prepared as much as you could, and now it’s time to ace the test. The tip here is to do whatever works to convince yourself you are going to do really well. Again, I know this tip sounds a little crazy but you just have to try it for yourself. I think you’ll like the results.
Secretly, sometimes I can be that "super-tense" friend. So I need to surround myself with extra calm people in order to calm myself down. Coffee works too. My stress food is actually flaming hot cheetos, which probably isn't the healthiest food but they're so addicting. When I study I love to snack because, I know it's silly but, I think of them as little tiny breaks for my brain, haha. I never really have to force myself to breaks because for me I usually have a problem with too many breaks too often. I've found that I need to just sit, focus, finish (or complete enough) then watch an episode of How I Met Your Mother or if I'm hungry find some food, and then do it all again.
I like to schedule my study times so when people invite me to things I can easily tell them no, however I am easily persuaded to do something else than study but the final weeks of the semester is when things get serious.
A lot of the other sites said to get enough sleep. I'm lucky if I get six hours on weeknights. Sometimes it's because I'm interning, or I have to wake up ridiculously early, or I just can't sleep. Recently my mind doesn't stop thinking of more and more things I have to do and so in bed it's hard for me to just relax (sometimes). Some nights I just instantly fall asleep, but for the nights I toss and turn I've learned that lavender oil works wonders. My mom gave it to me because I didn't want to take sleepy medicine and the lavender scent is supposed to relax you. I just open the bottle and smell it and I'm so sleepy after. Hope those tips help!
I hope everyone has a great rest of the semester! Happy almost weekend! :)
SO AGREE WITH YOU!!! I, too, am not a fan of finals week! However, like you, I tend to fill my mind with happy thoughts and surround myself in a calming and quiet environment. With children, work, and married life - it's not easy being a college student. Nevertheless, I appreciate you posting this! Happy finals week! And next semester, we'll be saying "Congrats Graduate!"
ReplyDeleteI agree too. I hate finals week. I particularly hate it when people act like school is over because finals week doesn't count. That test that's worth 25% of my grade, that totally counts as school! Thanks for the post, and the advice. :)
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