Well, the good news is- BREAK IS ALMOST HERE! The bad news is- that means finals will be here sooner…Every college student knows how stressful finals can be. I always HATED studying, I would much rather have done an actual assignment. Who wants to sit around for hours trying to memorize and understand an endless amount of information?! So here are a few of my recommendations on how to study and maintain your sanity during finals:

1. The most obvious- Don’t procrastinate. Sure its boring, but in the end you will take so much pressure off of yourself. For me, studying for multiple subjects in the same day never fared very well. Assuming that you have enough time until finals week, try to study for one class a day instead of cramming them all in. This will help your mind stay organized and keep you from information-overload! Just read over your notes once or twice the night/morning before.

2. It’s okay to take breaks! In high school I had a teacher who told us we better not study for his tests for more than 15 minutes at a time. Was he saying only study for 15 minutes? I WISH! His point was, after awhile you tend to drift off and you are no longer retaining the information. Now some of you may have longer attention spans than others. Find the amount of time that suits you, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour (if you can fully concentrate for an hour without interruption- I applaud you!). Once you have studied for your chosen amount of time, put the books down and walk away. Talk to a friend, get a snack, or just relax for a few minutes (10-15 is probably a good amount). Repeat the cycle until you feel confident for the test!

3. SLEEP!! If you exhaust yourself, you will not perform to your best ability on the test, nor will you be able to focus on studying for others. Perhaps you can use those breaks in your studying for a little snooze 🙂 Use your time wisely so that you can get to bed at a decent time.

4. If you choose to study with a friend, choose the right friend! I always found it helpful to have a friend quiz me or work on homework together, but if you choose the wrong one you will just get distracted. Make sure to choose a disciplined friend who will help you stay on task.

Try out different things and see what works best for you. Everyone learns differently! Want to find out your learning style? Try taking this short quiz: http://people.usd.edu/~bwjames/tut/learning-style/stylest.html

Good Luck Everyone!