‘Twas the night before finals and all through the dorms, not a student was sleeping through the stress storms.
The scantrons were purchased from the bookstore with care, with hopes that winter break would soon be there.
When all of a sudden rose such a clatter, for someone on the fourth floor had finally said ‘what is the matter?’
She rose from her desk and let out a gasp, for she wished she had last week back in her grasp.
But now it was gone and she had to do better, which made her really wish she had gotten her life together.
The end of the semester sneaks up on all of us. There’s no denying that the weeks between Thanksgiving and winter break are similar to the last lap of a Mario Kart race. I mean, 500,000 people on Twitter agree, so obviously it’s true. No one wants to think about finals when they’re full of turkey and pie. Though, the reality is finals are coming. No, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger’s Time Turner can’t save us now. All that’s left is sucking it up and getting our lives together in the mere hours we have left.
going to school inbetween thanksgiving and christmas break feels like the last lap in mario kart where the music is all fast and gets really stressful
— hannah (@hannahfallshand) November 26, 2018
Please, for the love of God, clean your room
Now I’m no scientist, but I’m sure it’s proven that the human mind is calmer when your living space is clean. Cleaning your room is both therapeutic, needed and very stress-relieving. It’s easy to put off sorting away that mountain of laundry from The Chair or wiping down your makeup covered mirror. Looking at a mess in the small dorm space you live in can make you feel even more anxious. Taking an hour to clean up is the first step to having a more relaxed and clear mind before you start selling your soul to your trigonometry book this weekend.
To all my STEM gals, find your calculator now
Okay, I know. This already sounds weird, but most university math classes now require you to use the TI-30XA on exams. For those of you not familiar with a TI-30XA, you’re better off not knowing. Ignorance is bliss in this case. It’s likely this whole semester we’ve all been using our nice graphing and scientific calculators to get by. We’ve probably even gotten 100’s on everything for this exact reason. It’s incredibly easy to feel like you don’t need to study because of it. However, you and I both know that most of our understanding is rooted in understanding how to press a button to get an answer. In the days leading up to finals, put away the expensive calculator and go back to the burning dumpster fire that is the TI-30XA. You’ll feel 100 times more confident going into your exam if you know your way around the calculator you’ll be provided.
Excel spreadsheets are the real MVP
We all love bullet journals and fancy wall calendars, but sometimes they are more for show than practical. What you really need is something you can color coordinate, erase easily, and not be afraid to mess up. Start by writing down a list of everything you need to accomplish going into finals week. It can be work, school, laundry, book club, anything. Next, assign a color to each. Open Excel and start arranging your plans to fit around your study schedule. Making a plan of action will stop you from procrastinating and binging that one last episode.
Take some time & call your mom
No one, absolutely no one, is rooting for your success more than your mom. Being around college students the week before finals means being around some of the highest stress levels possible. Other people’s worries and stress start to become your problems whether you know it or not. It’s easy to feel more overwhelmed than you actually are because of secondhand stress. You start to think you need to be studying if someone on Snapchat is and that you need to be freaking out as hard as the people on Instagram. If you ever start to feel like you’re in over your head, calling your mom and voicing your concerns is some of the best therapy.