The end of the semester is just days away, and the future residents of our Drexel apartments are already hard at work on all the studying, writing, and preparing for finals. This time of year is often stressful and anxiety-producing even for the most organized students, so we’d like to suggest a few tips that can help you crush it this finals season.
Share this post with all your friends and neighbors at your Drexel apartment who could use a little help getting through finals season (and let’s face it, who couldn’t?). Demanding seasons like these are so much easier if we all help each other out!
Set Yourself Up for Success by Having a Quick Read Through Our Top Finals Season Tips
Schedule Your Studying
You may have put all your finals and due dates on your calendar (if you haven’t yet, do that too), but have you actually scheduled when you’ll be studying? It can feel odd to put unstructured, open-ended tasks like “Study for English Final” on your calendar, but setting an expectation for yourself (and others) about when you’ll be studying and when you won’t can help you be more productive and less burnt out with your study schedule. Be realistic about the time you need for breaks, sleep, and self-care, and schedule those in as well. You’ll feel more productive and have higher endurance for the studying process when you’re intentional about studying and about meeting your other needs too. You are merely human, after all. Take care of yourself, body and mind.
Dissect Large Projects
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you try to focus on every aspect of a large task all at once. It can feel impossible to get enough done when you have something big hanging over you, and that can prevent you from even getting started. Take some time to enumerate separate tasks that are necessary parts of completing the larger task and then put those smaller tasks on your to-do list. Working on these smaller tasks feels more achievable, and will give you that helpful feeling of making progress, even when there’s still a lot of work to do. Breaking large projects into smaller tasks like this also makes it easier to manage your time effectively and schedule your work out on a calendar. In fact, this is a good habit to get into for all your projects, academic and otherwise!
Form a Study Group
Sometimes when we work alone, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed, or procrastinate as a way of coping with stress and fatigue. Studying with others helps us feel motivated and allows us to draw on the strength of others in areas where we don’t feel as competent. Being accountable to others and getting their help in return can make all the difference, especially when our notes have blank spots, we don’t understand a particular concept, or we’re just having trouble keeping to a good study schedule.
Utilize Every Resource
Universities, and your professors specifically, often provide lots of resources you can take advantage of around finals season. Take stock of what’s available to you and don’t resign yourself to doing everything entirely on your own. Attend those optional review sessions, visit your instructors during their office hours, and get help at the Drexel Writing Center or Penn Writing Center. Make sure you’ve communicated with your instructors about disability accommodations too, if applicable.
And as Our Last Finals Season Tips, Get Plenty of Sleep
Seriously, sleep is important. It helps you store the memories you need and stay focused during those long study sessions. And tempted though you may be to pull an all-nighter the night before a final, it’s particularly important to get good sleep before your exams.
With these tips, we know you’ll crush it this finals season! We hope you’ve enjoyed reading. If you’re looking for more community highlights, local recommendations, and lifestyle tips from your community of University City Philadelphia apartments, be sure to bookmark our blog page and check back in a few weeks for our next post! While you’re at it, make sure you’re following us on Instagram for all the latest on Mason on Chestnut.
Haven’t made New Year’s Resolutions yet? It’s never too late! Find out how to make it last on our article NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS YOU’LL ACTUALLY KEEP