Tips on Studying for Finals

With only a few more weeks of classes before finals week and with balmy weather beckoning, it’s easy enough for any of us to get distracted and to lose focus on schoolwork. But at the risk of letting all your hard work to date go to waste, avoid the temptation to slack off! Below are some tips on studying to help you end the year on a high note.
 
1. Do Not Procrastinate
As clichéd as it may sound, if you put things off to the last minute, then you are setting yourself up to fail. By allotting yourself a few hours to write a paper, you are not presenting yourself in the best light. Be fair to yourself by giving yourself more time to complete assignments. Also, you are already probably aware that there are often lines in SINC sites (either to get a computer or to print) so if you wait until the eleventh hour to do a project, you will have to put up with many time-consuming factors that are out of your control. Save yourself some frustration and finish your assignments ahead of time.
 
2. Move Out of Your Room
To avoid distractions in your room, go study in the library. There are carrels on every floor so do not despair if all the seats on the third floor are taken! There are always seats available on the second and fourth floors. Central Reading Room also has a few comfy chairs so you do not have to give up all the comforts of your dorm to study. Being around others who are busy studying may help you concentrate on your own work. I call it the test-taking mentality. Just imagine that you are working on an exam and that the other students are your competitive classmates; you must concentrate on your homework if you do not want to fail.

3. Make a Schedule
You probably won’t retain much of what you read six hours before an exam, especially if you get no rest in that time. If you are responsible for reading 600 pages for a final exam a month from now, create a calendar that assigns 25 pages of reading a day. This way, you will not be overwhelmed on the day before the final. Rather, you will have dispersed the pressure induced by the final by doing a reasonable amount of work each day, many days before the final, and can spend the final days brushing up on what you have read and reveling in the knowledge that you are well prepared. A calendar-agenda will also help you assess how much work you need to do each day for all your classes so that you do not end up excelling in one class at the expense of your other classes.
 
4. (Hand)write Notes
Do you find yourself dozing away every time you open that history book? Then get out a pen and paper and start jotting down notes as you read. But wouldn’t it be easier to just highlight or underline in the book or to type up the notes? Yes, it would be easier, but it may not be as effective. Writing forces you to think more about the words you write down. Another good method is to stick Post-Its over important sections and paraphrase the key points. The idea is to actively grasp what you are reading and to retain that knowledge for as long as possible.
 
5. Form a Study Group
Get together with a small group of friends to discuss important points. Limit the group to four or five people to ensure that focus does not stray. Hearing other people talk about things that you have thought about will reinforce key points and make them harder to forget. Depending on what you are studying for, it may be a good idea to create a study sheet, or for each member to create an outline for a certain number of chapters in a textbook. Another benefit of studying with others is that group members can quiz and exert healthy pressure on each other.
 
6. Talk to Your Professors
If any course material or test-related information (e.g. format, content, practice test questions, etc.) is unclear, ask your professor for clarification. You do not want to be bothered with even the smallest doubts about technical matters when studying. Concentrate on the course material and do not let worries about other things interfere with your studying.