by Peder Thompson

Created on: November 24, 2008

As your mood begins to swing between a euphoric joy at being almost done with the semester and a down-in-the-dumps mood considering your upcoming grade report, it is time to begin (or continue) to consider your upcoming finals.

Hopefully as you read this it is a good two or more weeks until finals. But even if your first finals begin tomorrow, you need to retain some hope for success. I will attempt to consider both scenarios to help you no matter where you are at in your semester.

Two Weeks Until Finals:

Congratulations! Just by thinking about your finals more than a few days in advance, you are already on the road to success!

The most important thing you should begin to do is study for each final at least a few minutes each day. Even if you only have the chance to put in five minutes reviewing your biology notes after lunch, the short amount of time spent will help immensely in sparking your memory later on.

Making a short list of what you should study for each final often helps as well. Even just jotting down on a note card something like:

Bio ch. 10-15 (just info off notes from class)
Psych ch. 1-21 (comprehensive!)
Math ch. on solving differential equations (find tutor?)

Being able to see what you need to prepare for can help to prepare a state of mind more ready to attack a long list of information that needs to be studied.

A last thing to consider a couple weeks in advance is your classes. If you haven't been attending one (or all) of your classes, now is the time to begin going. It is important to not give into end of the semester feelings of freedom until after your last final. Attend class, take notes, and make sure to pay careful attention to exactly what will be on the finals!

HELP! My first final is tomorrow and I haven't even started to study for it!

Firstly, you need to avoid panicking. Immediately after reading this article, disconnect from the internet (facebook, email, or whatever else trust me, you are not going to find any reassurance changing your facebook status every hour to say things like, "So-and-so has a history final tomorrow and is totally not prepared!" Take out your material for your first final and briefly look at the syllabus to see what the final will be covering. If you know someone else in the class, you might want to call them and see if they or anyone else is planning on studying before the test.

If you have a second final the day after your first, I would also advise taking a few minutes to look over what material you will need to study for that one as well.

Notes are one of the best tools to use for studying for a final, and if you have not taken your own try to find someone who has and either study with them or beg them to let you copy their notes.

Get some sleep, eat breakfast, look over some last minute notes, and calmly enter the test room telling yourself that you will do just fine. Accept your final with a smile, take out your pencil and begin!

Good luck!

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