I’m terrible at finals. And I’m not above admitting it. In high school, due to a variety of loopholes, I was able to get out of taking finals for probably 90% of my classes. Sure, maybe I had to go to school sick to meet attendance incentives, or shamelessly brownnose to get above a certain grade threshold, but it was worth it to not worry about finals.
Naturally, my lack of experience with major tests became a huge liability in college. I had no idea how to study a semester’s worth of notes, no idea how to prepare for the grueling schedule, and no idea what to expect from the tests themselves. With a little luck, a little research, and a lot of help from my better-prepared friends, I kept my head above water and made it through. Sure, there were mishaps – there was one 8 AM final I overslept for and ended up running through the business end of a pressure washer to get to – but that’s a story for another day. The point is, moving from “clueless about finals” to “actually handling finals” was a real learning process, one I got through with an extensive checklist – and so I thought I’d share it with you.
Tests
When are your tests? Completely missing a final is a dire mistake, and might not be one you can fix. If you need to, set an alarm a million alarms on your phone to remind yourself, but make sure you’re out of bed and ready to go well in advance, even after an all-nighter.
Where are they? A lot of my finals were in my normal classrooms, but the ones that weren’t were disorienting. Make sure you know where you’re going and how to get there – there’s no shame in exploring an unfamiliar building in advance to make sure you can get to your room.
What are they over? Noncumulative finals are a gift from above, and if you have some, cherish them. Cumulative finals are a lot trickier to study for, and might merit a little more time and effort. If you don’t know, ask your professor before classes are out what will be covered.
How are they formatted? A multiple choice test requires different study tactics than an essay test, so find out the format of the test in advance, if you can. Then tailor your studying to the setup of the exam.
Studying
Anticipate your test schedule – if you have a evening test, you can spend all day studying it, but if it’s a morning exam, you’ll have to have most of your studying done the night before. Having more than one exam in one day can also throw a wrench in things – be mindful of your time.
Focus in any way you can, whether that’s hiding in your room, going to the library, listening to music, or incentivizing yourself with food. Once you find a method that keeps you focused, stick with it and don’t be afraid to dedicate yourself to your studies. Your friend/boyfriend/cat/whoever can live without your constant attention for a week. (But if you do have a cat, make sure it gets fed).
Collaborate with others in your classes. Group Google Doc study guides have saved my grade a few times, as have study sessions. Come to any group setting able to contribute something – no one wants dead weight leeching off their hard work, so study a specific section or subject in advance to help everyone else out. If there is no study group for your class, now is the perfect time to make one!
Prioritize whenever you can. If you have multiple tests in one day, or a huge backlog of information to learn, you might get overwhelmed. Make sure you understand big ideas (or the details won’t make sense), give extra time to the subjects you struggle most in, and focus on the concepts covered the most in class (they’re usually a good indication of test content).
You
Relax as much as possible. Stress messes up your ability to focus, retain information, and sleep, three crucial parts of surviving finals. Relax any way that works for you, and don’t feel too guilty for taking time for yourself, provided you get back to work in a timely manner. I’m sure you’re a superhero, but no one can study nonstop for days.
Sleep as much as you can. Good scheduling can usually help you avoid an all-nighter, and being well-rested is essential for finals week success. If you’re able to take short naps during the day, even better – fighting off exhaustion is difficult, but necessary.
Procrastinate Right I’m not going to pretend I (or anyone else) can avoid procrastination entirely. But there’s a productive way to procrastinate, and a destructive way, and I think we both know which one we should be doing. Luckily, I wrote an entire post on how to procrastinate better just a few weeks ago that can help.
Be Confident because you’ve made it through the entire semester so far, and you can make it through finals, too. One test isn’t going to define your life, so as long as you give it your best, you’ll be able to look back on this terrible, terrible week without regrets.
What are your best finals week survival tips?
