Hello and welcome to a new rendition of my advice column! Today, since 'tis the season, I will be giving you my fail-safe advice on how to get through finals. I have survived them 3 times already and currently fighting my way through the round 4 so I'm pretty sure I qualify as an expert on this matter.
Here a few tidbits on surviving the war on finals:
1. Stay away from social media.
Unless of course you need to check your class' facebook group for any updates on the next final or if you want to read comments, comments, and more comments about how you will be the first of the previous classes to fail a subject as a group. Weirdly enough the same people who keep saying that they're most definitely failing are the same people who get better grades than you. And low and behold, you, most of the time, haven't even seen these people in lectures...or the university for that matter.
Or you want to make sure you don't fall behind on stalking. After all, stalking is important, specially when it's a crush. We must feed that curiosity of ours or it will come back and bite you in the butt. A.K.A If you don't satisfy your stalking needs you can't possibly focus on things like what goes on the debit side and what goes on the credit side. And definitely you couldn't possibly pay attention to what a government should be doing but can't. But hey, that's just me...and everyone else in my class at the faculty of commerce.
Oh and don't forget about youtube, because nothing helps you study better than lifting your spirits with a couple...hundred...maybe thousand funny videos. Some you won't even know how on this earth you managed to find.
But other than that....yeah. DEFINITELY stay away from social media...if you can/want to.
2. Eat well.
The brain cannot function well with low blood sugar. Therefore you are allowed, actually entitled, to drop studying, go to the kitchen, and cook yourself a nice meal. Or if you can't cook then just watch hundreds of cooking videos about cooking the perfect meal that gives you plenty of energy to focus and help on retaining information, while eating a snack, of course. Afterwards, just sit down at your desk and hit the books. But the MILLISECOND you feel a bit peckish...drop everything once more and go eat something. You know what they say, can't focus on an empty stomach. And by empty I mean you've digested one 100th of the meal you just made. Point is, just eat right then get to work.
3. Listen to music while you study.
Put on some tunes, sit at your desk with your textbooks in front of you, and really let the music flow within you and motivate you or stimulate you to study the heck out of those books. You need to give it some time for the lyrics or maybe just the beat to really sink in. Be it 1 minute or 1 hour, whatever floats your boat. Then when you feel the determination surging through your body and the beat starts kicking in, get studying like there's no tomorrow. Of course, if you feel like stopping to sing along or even become the entire song (musical instruments included) go ahead. Nothing wrong with making studying a little fun! Heck, throw a concert for yourself! Drown out all of the negatives thoughts and all distracting surroundings. Or just forget about thinking all together and sing out loud, while ignoring your parents yelling at you from outside your room to shut up and study.
What was I going for? Oh right! Listen to music to help you focus.
4. Study : break ratio.
It's a proven scientific fact that the best way to study is to study for 10 minutes and take a break for 20 minutes. But I think we could just adjust that ratio according to how much our brains can handle. Like some people can study for an hour and take 30 minutes for a break while some can study for 10 minutes and need 40 minutes recovery time. So just get acquainted with your brain activity schedule and adjust that accordingly with using the study : break ratio. Don't be stingy on the amount of breaks you give yourself either. How can you focus with a tired brain? All you need to do is take a break at the first signal of fatigue your brain sends and use that ratio. But ummm...seriously give yourself a break every once in a while.
5. Leave the most important topics to the end.
So my strategy is to approach the boring and old topics in the last day or two before the exam. Why? Because the most important information will be fresh in my mind. "But doesn't it make more sense to study it first and take your time with it, maybe even repeatedly study it?" Sometimes, but some minds work better with a deadline looming over their head. The adrenaline that comes from having to finish studying something that will most definitely show up in the exam right before exam day is better than caffeine. You won't get more focused than that. Also, you know how sometimes exams end up containing all the topics you focused on the least? Well this strategy puts that possibility in mind. You'll just look at the question and think "Oh yeah I already knew this waaaay back," and you'll feel like a total genius because you know everything, not just the major stuff.
6. Get plenty of sleep.
You need to give yourself as much sleep as you need. If that means taking a nap in the middle of studying, or sleeping in until noon, or even taking a little snooze on your desk 10 minutes into the first chapter of the text book, so be it. You can't afford to be sleepy while studying, so make sure you sleep like a freaking baby. And if you have to pull an all nighter on the night before the exam, you'll be more than capable since you've been sleeping a lot and have energy to spare. Go into cat mode, if you have to. Sleep whenever and wherever necessary. Just make sure you get that beauty sleep. Or in this case, focus sleep.
In case you haven't noticed by now, I have a very sarcastic sense of humor. So please don't take any of what I said too seriously. Definitely try my tips for surviving this horrible and exhausting period of every one of use students' lives, just don't follow it to the letter xD Also, any serious parents reading this, I'm absolutely joking so please read between the lines and see that I actually am giving advice and not just spewing out horrible jokes for no reason. Please don't urge your kids to stop reading my blog...please xD
I hope you were laughing while reading this as much as I was laughing while writing this. I find it hopeful to make jokes out of a not so good situation. Keeps a smile on my face and a sigh of relief in my lungs. I want to wish all of my fellow students the best of luck and success in their exams and I hope you all get through this trying period with the least amount of exhaustion and the most highest of spirits.
Ok, so that's it for me this week! I hope you enjoyed reading. Please subscribe to the blog to be told when I post anything new! Also follow me on all of my social media links and see what I get up to. Maybe leave me a like on the facebook page or comment if you want to read about a topic you have in mind for next week or just any questions/criticism you think I should see. Thank you for reading, subscribing, commenting, liking, and all that jazz, and I will see you next Thursday! Hue Mann, over and out!! ;)