A+ Tips to Help You During Finals Season
It’s finally that time of year again everyone dreads, finals season. With a few (very scary) exams in the way of winter break, it can be hard to get excited about studying for finals. While I don’t have any secrets on how to necessarily love test-taking, I do have some tips on how to effectively study.
As a ~woman in STEM~ student, I have slowly (but surely) gotten better at effectively studying throughout the years. Below are a few of my favorites that have helped me both get work done and get most of my sanity.
Ditch rewriting notes:
Although rewriting your notes can make you feel very productive, it doesn’t have that much of an impact on retaining information. Note writing can be a passive form of studying and at times requires no thought, which isn’t an effective way of remembering the information you need. Switching to similar but more active styles of studying such as making flashcards (and actually reviewing them), and creating practice questions out of lecture content allows you to engage with the material and increase your chances of actually remembering it.
Seattle Pacific Universities guide to active learning
Pomodoro Technique:
We’ve all had those days where we tell ourselves that we’ll get a million things done without taking a break, and then only end up checking off only a fraction of the boxes on our list. Something important to remember while studying is that breaks aren’t bad. Studies have shown that taking breaks while studying can actually make you more productive. Using the Pomodoro Technique is a great way to be intentional with your breaks and allow yourself time to breathe without getting sucked into Tiktok for 45 minutes at a time. According to the Pomodoro Technique, you should plan your studying in blocks of 25 minutes with a 5 minute break after each block. After 4 blocks (100 total minutes of studying), you receive a longer break between 15-30 minutes. This way of studying has been proven to help you actually study for longer periods of time and avoid feeling burnt out along the way.
Get out of the house:
Home is where the heart is. And it’s also where you’re comfortable enough to take a nap, reorganize your closet, or basically anything else that can help you procrastinate your work. Getting out of the house and studying at a library, coffee shop, or an aesthetically pleasing hotel lobby (aka The Graduate) can help you get in the right mindset for studying. Personally, I also feel like being around people who are studying pressures me into actually working and dialing in on what I am supposed to be doing. On campus my favorite study spots include; the Health Sciences Library, The Graduate, Walter Library, and the Starbucks in Dinkytown (when the music isn’t blaring).
Have a Plan:
In college, half the battle is staying on top of everything that is due and managing your time so that you’re not consistently overwhelmed. Writing down a priority list of what you need to get done each day can help you stay on track and productive. But it’s also important to keep in mind that having a list does not always mean that you have to stick to it. Sometimes just jotting everything down can be helpful in relieving the stress of thinking about all your upcoming due dates. When writing down my plan for the day, I always try to be realistic with the amount I can actually accomplish. It’s easy to want to write down everything because you just know that you’re going to have the most productive day ever, but being reasonable with your list can save you a lot of stress and disappointment.
iPad Supporter:
Yes, I have to admit that I am in fact a simp for my iPad. When I bought it a few years ago, I was a little concerned about how much I was actually going to use it. However, I can attest that I do use my iPad for every class, and have found it to be extremely helpful in getting schoolwork done. The ease of only having one “notebook,” having the capability to annotate lecture slides, and having two screens (in conjunction with my laptop) has made studying a lot easier. You definitely don’t need to ball out on the nicest one out there, I have the iPad linked below and it works perfectly.
