There's No Need for All Nighters
I refuse to pull all nighters. I refuse to sacrifice my sleep (and general health/wellbeing) for grades. Call me crazy but I just won't do it. There's this societal stereotype that finals week has to be filled with stress, junk food, little sleep, and overall misery–I think differently.I have never been one to stress over exams, I know I am of the minority of students who don't have exam anxiety. Over the years, I have started to find strategies that help me perform best on exams (spoiler: none of them include staying up and cramming)–just because these work for me doesn't mean they will 100% work for you. Find what you like and what makes finals week just a tad less miserable.UPDATE: I wrote this at the beginning of studying for finals. I just finished my fourth and last final in 72 hours and I can honestly say this past week was pretty dang miserable buuuuut it could have been a lot worse. These tips didn't completely rid my finals week of misery but it made it doable. Just wanted to be transparent with you all :)
Tip #1: Break things up
I can't focus on the same thing for more than an hour, and that's even pushing it. I find I am most productive when I work in short burst. This goes for studying, doing homework, or working on my blog. I try to work for 20-30 minutes and then give myself a little break (no more than 5 minutes) then I repeat. After it's been about an hour, I move on to something else. For me, this gives my brain a break and keeps me from burning out and giving up. For finals this semester, I had 4 exams and rather than spending one day cramming for each subject, I worked on each for a little bit each day leading up to exams.I also try not to push myself. When I can't focus or find myself reading the same sentence over and over, I leave it. I don't always go onto studying something else–sometimes I'll go on a walk, cook something, call my Mom, or even watch Youtube for 20 minutes. I have come to learn that the more you fight your brain, the more counterproductive you will be.
Tip #2: Change of scenery
I think there's this unwritten rule that during finals week, you have to be locked inside of the basement of a library in order to study. Yeah, that's not true. I try and study a different place each day during finals week. This goes for doing homework throughout the year too. Sometimes I'll go to a building on campus that I usually don't go to, sit by Starbucks, or my favorite is getting off campus and studying at a local coffee shop–the food/drinks def motivate me. This semester, I did a lot of my homework in my dining room when no one was home so now that it's the tail end of our semester, I can't even think about sitting at that table any longer. Step outside of your comfort zone, discover some place new.
Tip #3: Stay on top of your health
I cannot stress this enough. I get it, school is important but your health (physical and mental) is way more important. During exam periods, I still workout, eat healthy, and get plenty of rest (I go to sleep no later that 10PM, people). We all know the benefits of working out, but would you believe me if I said working out will actually help your focus? I experienced this first hand–I woke up a few days ago and ate breakfast then forced myself to start studying. Long story short, I couldn't focus at all and end up leaving the student center to go on a run. After the run, I studied with no problem. I think we also all know the benefits and importance of eating to fuel our body. I don't want to hear the excuse that eating healthy takes too much time because there are so many healthy, convenient options. I won't talk too much about this but SLEEP!!! Sleep is probably more important than studying. What's the point in staying up all night to study if when you get to the exam, you can hardly focus on what the questions are asking because you're so tired?
Tip #4: Do something fun
I bet you can take an hour to hangout with your best friends and get ice cream. Or even watch a movie on Netflix. Whatever makes you happy, do it. No matter what you do, studying isn't fun. The pressure of finals is not fun. On one of those longer breaks between studying, do something enjoyable. Even if it's just going to a coffee shop with your best friend (what I am currently doing), do it. Who wants to spend an entire week being miserable? Not me and not anyone else I know.
Tip #5: Let go
I'm going to be honest, grades aren't everything. While the are very important and it's good to care about them, let go of the pressure society, your parents, and most importantly YOU put on yourself. An exam is an exam and if you don't feel like you know the material 24 hours before you take it, you most likely aren't going to learn it. Stressing over a test will lead to overthinking which leads to second guessing which never turns out well. When going into an exam, I always take a deep breath and trust myself and my knowledge. I have this theory that we are all way more intelligent than we give ourselves credit. It can be easy to let self doubt take over but if you believe you know it, you'll do so much better.I'm not claiming that I am a perfect student. I don't always ace exams but I feel that I have started studying smarter (not harder) since coming to college. I want to eliminate this stigma surrounding finals week and exams in general. Think about a kid before they go to school for the first time, if you tell them not to talk to everyone because of bullies and to ask questions to get good grades, the kid is going to be too scared to go to school and won't go. But think about if you told that same kid about all the fun things they'll do in school, the kid won't be able to wait to get to school. We live in a society that builds fear around exams when in reality that is only causing us to do poorer on these exams.So breathe a little, live a little, and maintain your health when it comes to finals week. Good luck, my friends!