Studying for Finals

With school coming to an end, finals are going to be here soon. Even though most people's motivation to do schoolwork decreases as the weather gets warmer, it's still important to stay on task and pull through to study for finals. Because seriously, who wants to be proving competency while everyone else is hitting the beach and sleeping in late? I don't think anyone does! The tips I have for studying for finals work rather well, so I thought I'd share them with you all.

1. Get your study guides done as soon as possible. Cramming is one of the worst ideas ever. It creates so much stress and causes you to do poorly on an exam. If you get your study guides done as soon as you can, then you won't have to worry about doing them the night before the exam.

2. Ask any questions you have. While doing my study guides, I tend to have a lot of questions about topics I'm confused on or topics that I just need some clarification with. If you have any questions, ask your teachers! They'll most likely be more than happy to help you. Just make sure to ask them early because if you ask them any questions the day before your exam, they mBight get annoyed that you didn't finish your study guide earlier. That doesn't mean that you can't ask them for clarification about something the night before your exam - that's totally okay! It just means that it's not a good idea to come to them with an unfinished study guide the night before the exam.

3. Start studying in advance. Just like I said in tip number one, cramming your study guides the day before the exam is a horrible idea. So is studying everything for the exam the night before the exam. Your final exam will consist of the second half of the year's information, or maybe even the whole year, and that's a lot of information to try to remember in one night. If you start studying a couple of weeks before the final, the information will build up in your mind and help you to remember it better.

4. Have a group study session. Group study sessions are great because if you don't understand something, someone else can help you understand it and vice versa. You just need to make sure that you're studying with people who don't get distracted easily because if you end up getting distracted, you won't be studying.

5. Study things that aren't on the study guide. Just because you have a study guide for a certain class doesn't mean that it includes everything that's going to be on the final. You should study any notes that you took for that class throughout the year because they may include something that's on the final but not in the study guide. The notes also have some of the same information that's going to be on the final, so the information will build up. You should also study any quizzes or tests because there will most likely be similar, or the same, questions on the final.

6. Take breaks. Breaks are always good when studying for major exams. You don't want to take absolutely no breaks because then you'll feel stressed out and exhausted, but you also don't want to take long breaks because then it will be harder to start studying again. Ten-minute breaks every once in a while are good to refresh your mind.

Also, if you really want to lay outside and soak up the sun but also really need to study, why not compromise? Study while laying outside so you can soak up the sun and be productive!

How do you study for finals?