The library is as packed as Bloomingdale’s the day after Thanksgiving, with the same frenzied anxiety as well.
But far from shoppers emerging from the mall with smiling faces and bags of new shoes, students trudge from the stacks with circles under their eyes toting backpacks stuffed with papers, laptops and fifty pounds of textbooks. Social lives, sleep and civil behaviors halt as everyone prepares for the dreaded word signifying the academic culmination of the semester: finals.
It’s perfectly understandable, and indeed expected, that you are freaking out about finals. Everyone is. And you will inevitably have to temporarily sacrifice some facets of healthy living to get all that studying in.
But there are some things you should under almost no circumstances give up, no matter how much of your Orgo textbook you have left to memorize.
Her Campus has made a comprehensive list of what can and cannot be sacrificed during finals frenzy:
It’s ok to slack on…
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What you wear. Even if you ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS look cute to go to class, this is the time to rock
your outfit of sweatpants and Wonderful Wednesday T-shirt for all it’s worth. Your fav jeans may look great on you, but your priority right now is studying, and if those Joe’s are so skintight that every now and then you have to stand up and walk around to keep up the circulation in your legs, your studying might suffer from interruption. - Intense gym sessions. It’s awesome if you’re one of those ridiculously in-shape chicas that runs marathons all the time, but for this one-week period you can forfeit your 3-hour gym sessions for a little more time in club libs.
- Social obligations. Your friend from your freshmen seminar is having a fancy birthday dinner Friday! And your HUGE-est exam is on Saturday (ohh the Business School…). This is one of those tough times that it is probably in your best interest to forfeit the birthday cake and hit the books on Friday night.
- Wearing contacts. Bust out those trendy nerd spectacles!
It is NOT ok to forfeit….
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Sleep. Try your hardest hardest hardest not to give up sleep for studying. Sleep fuels your brain: with
enough sleep, you retain information better and have energy to keep blasting through those powerpoint slides. Less sleep means less focus, so try to get at least six or seven hours, eight ideally. - Too much gym time. Working out supplies endorphins, improving mood and cognitive skills. You may not be able to afford a gym marathon session, but a little time on the elliptical could improve your focus and help you study better, so don’t sacrifice it all together.
- Basic hygiene. Seriously, don’t come to class without showering. No one needs to study so much that they don’t have time for that. Go wash those greasy locks already. Seriously.
- Good manners. We all want our Starbucks, we all want that spot in the library, we’re all stressing right now. Don’t forget to be a civilized human being!
This week is basically the worst, but it is only seven days… and soon enough you’ll be free of tests for a whole month and can head on over to Nordy’s for some Christmas shopping! Best of luck on finals from Her Campus Emory!!