Effective Ways to Survive Through College Finals

6 Effective Ways to Survive Through College Finals

College finals are challenging, we all know that. The pressure on a student in this period is immense. But you can pull it through! To help you out, we have prepared a few college finals tips and tricks on how you can avoid stress and increase your productivity during your exams.

When finals week gets closer, one can often meet students with bags under their eyes holding the fifth cup of coffee. You can almost see this stressing tension in the air. So, when the finals week is the only thing that stands between you and hot summer days of chilling and fun, it’s not surprising that you might feel a little overwhelmed.

When feeling so, it’s hard for your brain to be focused and organized. It’s not a rare case when students fail exams in spite of being well acquainted with the subject and because of not being able to pull themselves together. So, we are going to give you tips on how to survive finals week and stay calm.

1 – Eat and Drink Well

A lot of students feel like they are running out of time before final examinations. In pursuit of saving time, they commonly skip their meals and eat poorly. However, it’s not the best choice for you during this period because your body needs a lot of energy in order to keep you organized and productive.

Before the finals, your body and your brain need a lot of nutritious components and water to stay hydrated. Your meal plan for this time should contain:

• Omega-3 fatty acids (salmon, trout, herring, nuts, olive oil, coconut oil)
• Iron (apples, pumpkin seeds)
• Vitamin C (oranges, lemons)
• Vitamin E (pumpkin, spinach)
• Flavonoids, caffeine (dark chocolate, coffee)
• Lutein and Zeaxanthin (eggs, broccoli, grapes)

Drink at least 4-5 glasses of water every day to stay healthy and energized. If you face difficulties with eating healthy and inexpensive in college, our tips will be useful to you.

2 – Plan and Prioritize

When you have a lot of material to revise, it’s easy to fall into a chaotic state when you are just flipping through your books and notes. However, when you have a detailed plan, you can structure information better and remember it without mixing it up in your head.

Create a plan of studying and put the most challenging exams first and dedicate more time to them. Make sure to review your notes right before the exam to freshen up your memory.

3 – Follow a Schedule

Having a schedule is the most important step when preparing for exams. It’s quite easy to succumb to anxiety and sit with your notes till the late night. But this is not the best way to make your brain and concentration work.

Get up in the morning and go to bed at the same time every day. Make the list of subjects that you are going to dedicate time on a certain day and schedule little breaks in between your study sessions to relax. For example, you can watch your favorite TV show or listen to music. This way it will be easier for you to stay focused and process the information.

4 – Have a Great Sleep

Pulling all-nighter is never good for you, so take naps whenever you can. During sleep, your body relaxes and accumulates energy for you to continue your studying. Moreover, good sleep for at least 8 hours a day increases your productivity and attentiveness.

5 – Prepare Your Notes

Even though you might think that it’s better to study for an extra hour, your ability to retain information at the end of late studying sessions is getting drastically low. So, there is no need to force yourself to stay up, better go to bed earlier.

Structuring information helps with retaining and perceiving information better. Find the most effective way for you to remember the information and match your notes with the method that you chose.

• For example, people of the visual learning style will find organizing information on the paper effective. Different diagrams, infographics and educational videos on platforms like Coursera or Youtube will work the best.
• For people of auditory learning style podcasts and recorded lectures will be the best way to rehearse the material.

So, prepare your notes and organize them in the best way for you. You might also use markers to highlight some points while you are rereading them or write down some quick thesis statements. Check out other useful pieces of advice for higher grades.

6 – Exercise

A lot of students find exercising very useful during intense study sessions, and this is not surprising. Besides helping you lose weight, sport releases hormones and helps your brain fight with stress and anxiety.

Moreover, sometimes you just need to distract yourself from depressing thoughts and a good run or workout will do the magic.

If a gym is not your cup of coffee, try out yoga, meditation or swimming. You will see that these simple activities will boost your energy and positive mood. The time of the day when you are the most productive is also essential when planning your study sessions. So, check out our tips on how to choose the best time to study for finals.

These were our tips on how you can pull yourself through hard times of college finals and help your stress go away without using any medications.