Finals are near and maybe the stress and worry is getting ready to set in. Have no fear students, the Oarsman has created a list of useful tips to help. Follow our tips and this could possibly be one of the easiest final seasons you’ve ever had.

Don’t Wait to Start

It’s never too early to start going over old notes or reviewing. Don’t wait for your teacher to tell you when to start. If you already know the day of your final, create a schedule to plan out a study sessions. Doing so will allow you to manage your time and also help relieve some of the stress that comes around this time of year.

Get Plenty of Rest

Sleep is crucial to being successful during finals. Get into the habit of getting between seven and eight hours of sleep every night. Haven’t finished your homework yet? Forget about it, your sleep is more important. This will ensure that you will have sufficient energy throughout the day to keep up with studying and any other responsibilities for the day.

Also, getting enough sleep allows your mind to rest and will help with memorization and processing of new information.  

Don’t Drink Coffee or Anything that has Caffeine

Although caffeine does help one stay up, it should be avoided when trying to study. It is known that caffeine gives a person sudden instances of energy and at the end, one crashes. This is something you don’t want happening to you.

Imagine being in the middle of a study session, you just had a cup of coffee to “help” you, you’re studying and believing that you’re making progress and all of a sudden you find yourself barely being able to keep your eyes open. Or maybe the caffeine does the opposite and keeps you up for longer than you wish. That would also be affecting the amount of sleep you’ll be getting. Stay away from caffeine during finals season!

Turn Your Phone Off or any Similar Distractions

Phones, televisions, music, and other similar forms of entertainment should be turned off when studying. These are distractions and will interrupt with the time you have set aside for studying. Your favorite celebrities’ latest posts isn’t more important than your grades. The phone, television, or music will still be there when you’re done, and also, you’ll be able to enjoy your time spent on entertainment more when you don’t have to think about falling behind in your studies.

Go Over Any Study Guide that is Given to You

Some teachers give their students study guides. Take advantage of these. Teachers know what they will put onto their final and so their study guide will have information and questions that will prepare you for what is to come on the exam. Also, study guides will definitely help give an idea of what you need to study more and what you already know to help manage study time.

Take Breaks

You don’t have to dedicate all your time to preparing for a final. Don’t stress, take a break, get up to stretch your legs, go outside to take in some fresh air. There should be a balance between studying and relaxing. Manage your time and include time to take a couple of breaks here and there between study sessions. This will be very helpful as it will make studying for long periods of time easier.

Find Help

Are your notes not enough to remember a topic discussed earlier in the semester? Talk to your teachers and ask them for help, or look for help in other places like online video lessons or tutoring. It is best that you understand as much as you can, especially with material learned early in the year because some of it relates or is incorporated into lessons that are taught later on.