It’s the most stressful time of the year! Sure, break is on its way, but finals week is sooo long! It’s like being dared to chug a milkshake and getting brain freeze within the first two sips, and then realizing that maybe a large wasn’t such a good idea… Luckily, we’ve finally made it to the end! Now that we’re on the other side and our brain cells are regenerating, I’ve compiled a list of all the helpful (and oftentimes goofy) tricks that got my friends and I through our first semester of college finals. Maybe we can learn something for next semester!
- Group Studying
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Of course, studying alone in a quiet corner of the library is oftentimes necessary and highly productive—however, given too much alone time, I find that I distract myself more than my friends ever could. Our group found a comfy spot in the residence hall lounge and camped out for the day, and it was surprisingly successful. Sure, we ruined each other’s focus from time to time, but we found that our little interjections of laughter made it easier to get back to the grind without feeling burned out.
- Snacks
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Testing pushes the brain to its limits, so naturally it needs some refueling! In fact, studying is so difficult that we unanimously decided calories don’t count during finals week. If a bag of Hot Cheetos increases your word count, go for it! Of course, it’s always good to balance junk food with healthy food to keep you from feeling like a greasy glob. We definitely adhered to that rule. (A couple of almonds counts as healthy, right??)
- Impromptu Photoshoots
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Feeling gross and sloppy? Are you roaming campus with zombie-eyes, wearing pajama pants with little Cheeto crumbs stuck to them? Chances are so is everyone else. Own it! We decided to take a short study break to capture our trash-bag-ness by having a silly photoshoot, and it turned out that we’re still super cute anyway. This resulted in a refreshing laugh session, as well as a few fun pictures to post later.
- Exercise
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You’re probably rolling your eyes at this one. “Exercise? I’m already in enough pain!” But please bear with me here. We decided on a whim to take a field trip to the campus gym, and it ended up being very enjoyable. Don’t put any pressure on yourself to do a hard workout—just a little bit of blood flow will make you feel more awake and motivated to study!
- (Attempted) Yoga/Gymnastics
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If going to the gym seems like a little too much effort (no judgement here, exercise is hard!), simply getting up and moving around can relieve you from studying exhaustion. We thought it would be fun to try a little yoga, but once we realized we had no yoga experience, we resorted to bad cartwheels and precarious handstands. In the end, we were all rolling on the floor, cracking up at our clumsiness.
- Dance Party
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Nothing like a little jam session to pump you up! Pick your favorite song and go crazy for a few minutes—our playlist included “Mr. Brightside” (repeatedly), and “Sugar, We’re Goin Down.” Self conscious about your dancing skills? Don’t be! You’ll all look ridiculous together, and nobody has enough brain cells left to care or remember at this point in the year anyways.
Should we have been embarrassed about doing yoga and dancing in public? Probably. But finals week is a lawless time of year; therefore, we all reserve the right to do whatever helps alleviate just a little of our misery. Congratulations on surviving, and have a happy, well-deserved break!