Surviving College Life

Exam Prep: Your Finals Prep List

May 26th, 2010 Jamie

Doing a double-take when you walk past the calendar, lately? Why do finals weeks always creep up so quickly?

Well, even if you’ve still got some time left, this handy to-do list will help you prep for that week of seemingly endless studying. Just remember, it’s all leading up to summer break–you can do it!

All Talk

Before you hit the books, take a few minutes to get these important conversations out of the way:

• Talk to Your Boss about time adjustments for studying and test taking.
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• Talk to Your Profs or TAs in office hours about any concepts you’ve been struggling with (the day before the test is too late!). If you don’t have a test, you can still stop by for help with an essay prompt or thoughts about topic ideas you’ve brainstormed for your paper.
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• Talk to Your Roommate about both of your study plans for finals week. You don’t want to be up and studying when the roomie is trying to sleep, or have to deal with a study group invading your room when you want some quiet time. Agree on scheduling and figure out alternative study spaces in case your room doesn’t work out all the time (library, coffee shop, common room, quad, etc.).

Stock Up

Ditch the junk food and alcohol (which happens to be a depressant–you don’t want your brain or body slowing down during study time!) and pack your mini-fridge with these brain-and-body fueling snacks:

• Apples are supposedly better than caffeine for a wakeup call. Plus they’re low-cal and yummy.
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• Trail mix is awesome because the dried fruit and nuts are super healthy (the Mayo Clinic is a fan) and help keep you full, plus you get a little kick of sweet with the chocolate chips or M&Ms tossed in.
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• Whole grain cereal is a perfect midnight snack: munch on it dry or add some low-fat milk. Keep some on hand in case you forget to eat dinner (trust me, it can happen). Think low sugar–Cheerios, Grape Nuts, Chex, etc… But I bet you could get away with some Frosted Mini Wheats.
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• Water, water, water. This should be your beverage of choice–being properly hydrated not only helps your body keep up its energy up but also (bonus!) helps your skin stay healthy.

Read On

Looking for study tips? Check out the SCL study archives! Here are a few posts to get you started:

• Final Exam Survival Tips
• How to Stay Awake & Alert During Study Time (Without Coffee!)
• Study Tips: How Future Doctors Study
• Study Tips: Helpful Memory Tricks
• 5 Tips to Help You Get Productive
• Productivity: Building a Study Calendar
• Productivity: Ridiculously Easy Ways to Kick Study Time Distractions

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Related Posts

• Three Easy-Peasy First Exam of the Year Tips
• Kick Start Your Study Habits
• Cramming 101: Making it Through Last Chance Study Time
• Make More Time: How to Study While You Work Out
• Study Tips: How Future Doctors Study

Entry Filed under: academics