4 Tips to Help You Cope With Finals Week
As the summer break looms fast over the horizon, the one thing standing between you and a summer of relaxation and socializing is finals week.
That boiling point of stress and worry throughout the academic year is finally coming to a head, and for most teens, this is one of the biggest weeks you have had to face so far, and it’s the culmination of your schooling for the year, all mixed in with the fear of change.
Finals Stress: Just a Myth?
If you speak to any adult they’re likely to say, “Stress? You don’t know what stress is!” when you complain about being stressed over finals, but that’s not true,
Just because you’re not responsible for a house or a family yet, it doesn’t mean you’re not experiencing some level of stress and acknowledging that stress is good for your mental health and it will help you to cope with this busy time.
Here are four tips to make sure you’re coping properly with finals week and in the right headspace to give it your all.
Get As Healthy As Possible
A healthy body supports a healthy mind, and you can’t focus on your exams and coursework unless you are fuelling your body right.
This means skipping the junk food and making sure you have a balanced and nutritional diet to see you through the difficult weeks ahead.
Ditch the fast food and grab yourself some
gummy vitamins to keep your mind sharp and give yourself something to chew one while you study.
Organize Your Workload Properly
Finals week is stressful for everyone, but if you’re one of the many thousands of teens who haven’t bothered to organize your time efficiently, you’re making life harder for yourself.
It’s time to get out that planner, plan in your revision time, your study time, and your break time to maximize your ability to focus and work properly.
At this point, you really should understand how long you can focus. If your attention begins to wane after an hour, plan in 5-minute breaks throughout your study session to keep you going.
If you’re not great at keeping an eye on the time,
get a Pomodoro app for your phone to remind yourself when it’s focus time and when it’s break time.
Change Your Study Location
Changing up where you study can make all the difference to your revision time.
If you usually study with a friend but it’s always chaotic, opt for some solitary independent study time, if you’re normally sitting in Starbucks getting distracted by the rest of the mall, go for somewhere quiet like outside in the park.
Wherever you choose to study, make sure it works for you and that you’ve
planned in breaks.
Color Coding Is Your Friend
Anything that helps you stay organized is likely to improve your study time significantly, but there’s a lot to be said for simple color-coding.
Break out the Post-it notes and the Sharpies, give each lesson or subject a color, and work your way through your week to ensure you have the right balance for you.
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