How to Survive Finals Week
Tips on how to get through finals week with minimal stress and great scores.
As the beginning of January dawns, the thrill of the new year starts to fade as the coming period of exams becomes more of a reality for high school students. You may wonder if getting through these coming weeks without having an anxiety attack or pulling multiple all-nighters is even possible. I am here to inform you that, yes, it is possible to make it through these weeks with both minimal stress and better exam scores. So pull on some fuzzy socks and grab a mug of cocoa; here’s how you can survive finals week:
Make sure you know the schedule for exam week. The semester exam schedule at South differs from the typical weekly schedule. Make sure to know this schedule ahead of time so that you can relax and plan a study schedule before the craze of the week sets in.
Begin studying a few weeks before your exams. This will help you feel more relaxed as your exam dates ominously draw closer.
Use exercise as a stress reliever. Exercise improves concentration and decreases stress. Even if you only have time for a quick Zumba session in your bedroom, make sure to be physically active in some way.
Take short study breaks often. Devoting long blocks of time to studying is a common mistake that students make. They believe that studying for longer chunks of time will help them retain more information when, in reality, the opposite is true! So go ahead, take those 5 minutes and join Camila Cabello in Havana, it'll only help improve your scores.
Don’t cram, sleep! Pulling an all-nighter the night before an exam is one of the worst possible things that you can do. Getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep the night before your exams will help your brain to be more alert and ready to focus on the task at hand. Even if you did manage to memorize the contents of your textbook in a single night, your brain would almost certainly be too fried to recall that information the next day, especially when you are crunched for time and your hard-earned GPA is at stake.
After your exams, don’t forget to celebrate surviving the hectic week! You gave it your all, and there is nothing you can do now to change the outcome, so don’t waste any energy worrying about it.