It’s that time of the year again, FINALS WEEK! Firstly, I would like to welcome all of the freshmen to finals week. I just want to share some tips with all of you on how to survive this week. For those of you in high school, read this to prepare yourself! It’s never too early to start getting ready! Freshmen, you might find this useful as this is your first set of finals. Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors, I know you have been through finals at Hope before, but maybe you can learn something new. Well, here we go!
SLEEP SLEEP SLEEP:
Ok, so you might think I’m crazy, but sleep is so important during finals week. Without it, you won’t be able to retain anything you learned, and you will lose your focus easily. Not to mention you’ll be fatigued, then that could lead to less studying. Research shows that for optimal learning, you need a minimum of 9.25 hours of sleep each night. So, this means that if you sleep this long, the neuronal connections in your brain strengthen, which causes a retainment in learning! Cool, huh? Anyway, you should make sleep your priority. With enough sleep, you won’t need that coffee because you will have all the energy you need!
PRIORITIZE!
Obviously, we all have more than one exam (with the exception of a fewer people…). Prioritize your studying in accordance to difficulty, date, or both! In order to do this, you have to manage your time. Plan out your week, and in doing so, you’re setting it in stone (for yourself). If you follow your plan, you’d be surprised how effective it can be! For example, if you have a cumulative exam on Tuesday, but just an exam on new material on Monday, make sure you have been studying your exam for Tuesday, but make room for the new stuff too. Remember, you can’t remember an entire semester in a couple of days. Planning ahead and prioritizing work is KEY!
DE-STRESSING
Stress is super common during finals week. If you haven’t read about my stress blog post here! I’m just going to summarize a few points here. If you’re stressed, there is no way that what you are studying will retain. It is so important to give yourself breaks while studying. Splitting your study sessions are effective, and give your brain time to process the new information! EXERCISING is a great way to de-stress. You literally kill two birds with one stone in doing so. You are doing something healthy for your body, and you’ll feel great afterwards, so studying will be easier because you’ll have motivation! And exercising prevents you from getting sick, and this is something that happens to so many of us.
STAY HEALTHY!
Make sure you don’t compromise your health during finals week. If anything, you should be eating healthier! You’ll get more energy and you’re helping your body out. Eating healthy and staying active reduce your chances of getting sick, which will keep you focused for your studying and your exams!
In Conclusion…
I can guarantee you that if you take at least some of my advice, your finals week will get a little better. For those of you at Hope, or who have finals this week, GOOD LUCK! We can all get through this week. Study hard and take care of yourselves. Try your best, but remember, grades don’t define who YOU are! It’s your effort, dedication, and work ethic that define you! God bless, and I will post again soon! If you haven’t already, make sure to read some of my other posts during your study break and follow me on twitter!
P.S. If you are a student who applied to Hope and was accepted, CONGRATULATIONS! All of your hard work has paid off, and everyone at Hope is ready for you 🙂 I wish you luck in your college decision-making process!