A Guide to Final Exams

1. Organize Your Study Materials

All your misplaced materials or papers in your bag? Take them all out and organize them into folders or binders according to your courses. Seriously, it does help. Those papers and worksheets are really important too, as some of them will most likely be on your test. You would want them to be organized and accessible before you start your study session.

• it would be a lot better if you organized them throughout the year; less stress at the end of December am I right ;).

2. Know Your Learning Style

Before beginning, one must know their way of learning. Whether it's making colorful study guides, flashcards, quizlets, kahoots, recalling materials, you should do what works best for you (QUIZLET IS YOUR BEST FRIEND). Likewise, you might find having discussions and studying with a group of friends helpful; just make sure you don't get distracted.

• DON'T BE AFRAID TO ASK QUESTIONS

3. Start Early

We know everyone says this, BUT DO NOT PROCRASTINATE!! Okay, we do it too; but please don't procrastinate for midterms. When having any exams, it is best to study early prior to the exam. Procrastination often causes sleep deprivation; cramming a semester's worth of information is exhausting. We suggest you study a week to two prior - it really depends on how fast you pick things up. When you start studying, make sure you know which subject requires the most attention and time. Don't spend too much time on things you already know.

4. Creating a Schedule

To be real, hopping from a subject to another can be confusing. Whether you study best during the day or at night, we recommend you to allocate time for specific subjects. Go along with a schedule, it helps to see your to-do lists on an organized piece of paper, rather than keeping track of it in your head. Also, check off all the tasks you've completed; celebrate each accomplishment :)!

5. Limit Your Device Usage

As we all know, these little gadgets can be very distracting sometimes. If you don't have self-control, deactivate your social media accounts; we know how tough it is when you hear those notifications ringing. To manage your time better, you can download apps like:

• Focus - Time Management

• Forest: Stay focused

• Study Bunny: Focus Timer

• Plantie - Stay focused.

• For those who have ios devices, you can go into your settings, and change your time limits for apps that you find yourself spending too much time on (just make sure you don't hit that ignore limit button).

6. Create an Effective Study Environment

According to statistics, a better environment can improve your studies and productivity by 25%. Learning in a messy and unclean area can make studying a lot harder. So before you study, you should probably clean your room or organize your work area. If you live in a loud area, you should also consider going to the library once in a while to focus on your studies.

7. Take Advantage of Your Cheat Sheets

Thankfully, some teachers do allow you to bring a small flashcard to your exam. When given this opportunity, TAKE IT. A cheat sheet doesn't only give you the information you need for the test, but writing necessary information will give you a huge advantage when you're stuck on a test. So yes, please take advantage of those cheat sheets when given the opportunity to use them. Try to write big enough for you to read and understand, but also small enough that you can fit the information onto that small flashcard.

8. Get Your Sleep

We all know what it's like to do things with lack of sleep and no energy; every morning you just want to snooze the alarm and continue sleeping. Sadly, the reality of the world ruins the dream to sleep in forever. The last thing you need is to go into the exam sleepy, and not remembering a single thing you studied. This is why we suggest you to have a balanced sleep schedule. Start fixing your sleep schedule now by having about 7-10 hours of sleep everyday.

9. Take Breaks

It's important that while you're being diligent you also need breaks. If you plan to study for hours straight on, let us tell you to not do that. Over studying can lead to more stress which you do not need. Give yourself a 5-15 minute break in between studies to allow your brain to rest.

• If you start feeling extremely stressed and exhausted, you might want to consider taking a break and have a snack. Body aches and headaches are also a sign of exhaustion.

• Make sure to stay hydrated aswell!!!

- Shareen S. and Halena C.