Exams, essays, group presentations, big projects—whatever your finals consist of, they’re the culmination of a long semester of hard work and they’re rarely easy. Ultimately, if your teachers have done a good job preparing you and you’ve done enough preparing, you should be able to pass, whatever the assignment may be. This is way easier said than done, though. A single final becomes harder still when you factor in the final exams and projects for all of your other classes, each likely due in the same few days. Trying to work, sleep, eat, and exercise while also writing and revising papers, studying flashcards, taking exams, and attending group meetings seems to me like an impossible balancing act.
It’s overwhelming, to say the very least.
We’ve talked about finishing the semester strong and told you ways to study when you’d rather be doing anything else, but let’s talk now about how you both survive the very last week of the semester and get better at it too.
Sleep isn’t overrated.
When you are feeling the heat, you might be inclined to pull an all-nighter to get a few more hours studying or writing, working until the sun rises and you inevitably have other obligations to attend to. In my first years of college, this was my finals week M.O. too, but by doing this I was probably performing worse than I would have been if I’d just gone to sleep.
The Sleep Foundation reports that “poor sleep impacts your memory, creativity, and logical reasoning. In other words, not sleeping enough impairs all the skills you need to perform well on a final exam. When students miss out on sleep, they have a tougher time paying attention, and it’s harder for their brains to commit new information to memory.” Ultimately, you will be better off if you schedule some sleep instead of working.
Some nights you will have to stay up, and if you need copious amounts of caffeine to do so, by all means, do what you must. But try not to let yourself fall into too much of a deficit because sleep deprivation can come on gradually. For instance, Sleep Foundation also tells that “missing out on just one hour of sleep per night for a week produces the same cognitive impairments as a single all-nighter.”
So take a nap. Set a hard line for when you’ll stop studying each night and keep to it. Do what you need to, but sleep too.
Cramming isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.
Studying for a test can be stressful because, of course, tests themselves are stressful. Trying to cram all of the information into your short-term memory in the two hours before you take your exam may seem ideal, but Chloe Lane from Top Universities reminds us that cramming “has been proven to increase stress levels, and can lead to panic and anxiety, making it a lot harder to take in information.” Cognitively, you’ll do better if you study a bit over the course of multiple days instead of in one fell swoop the evening before (or the morning of). That’s why making and studying flashcards is so helpful. (You can learn more about the “why” and “how” of flashcards here.)
If you must cram, though, study smart by going over provided review materials, previous assignments, or essay questions from earlier in the semester. Whatever you do, do not spend all night aimlessly reading your textbook. Get some sleep, set a timer, and do what you can.
Make a big list.
I’m convinced that I wouldn’t have graduated college without constantly making and checking lists (channeling Santa all year long). We’ve offered this advice before, but it bears repeating: make a list of every single thing you have to do before you can name your semester officially done. Every assignment, every group project meeting, every class, every test, and every social obligation you can’t get out of. Write it all out so you don’t have to hold any stress of remembering, and then sit down with an agenda (or drawn/printed-out blank calendar pages) and schedule when you will do each task as well as when they are due.
Getting organized is my biggest piece of advice for you. If you have things scheduled, nothing can sneak up on you. If you know when you’ll work on things in advance, you’ll have no need for cramming and, best of all, you’ll get enough sleep.
Start early.
The best time to get a head start on your assignments is at the beginning of the semester —or basically any time before the final two weeks when you will probably be booked with studying and sleep deprivation—but determine now that next semester you will get a head start on assignments (particularly the big final ones). You don’t always have to be rushing to get it all done the night before. Make a plan of attack for how you will do better next semester and stick to it when your syllabus week rolls around.
Finals will not get easier, but as you practice as you practice studying smarter and getting organized, you will get better at them. Have a cry if you feel like it, eat a pound of your favorite candy, do what you need to do, but remember that you already have everything you need to succeed within you. No matter how well you do, in one short week, finals will be over and you’ll have a whole semester before you need to do it again.