Top 5 Lies About College Finals
You’ve heard the horror stories about college finals. Your upperclassmen friends told you their worse-case-scenario stories. However, most of these stories are not accurate. They only increase your anxiety about exams.
So, what should you believe? What are finals really like? How can you even know what’s true in your first semester of exams? Stop worrying and start recognizing these 5 lies about college finals.
The Top 5 Lies About College Finals
1. You shouldn’t study for some classes.
Your upperclassman roommate might be telling you to forget studying for your classes with an A, but don’t listen. You can actually improve your grades in your classes, even if you already like your grades.
Instead of neglecting to study, strategize your studying. Be smart with your time and expectations. Calculate what you need to get on your final exam to maintain or improve your grade. (A finals calculator can do most of the math work for you.)
For example, if you have a B+ but you want to bring your grade up to an A-, don’t spend all your time studying for this one exam. The reality is that bringing up this grade will be very difficult and not worth neglecting to study for all your other classes.
Strategize your studying by prioritizing your classes. How likely are you to improve your class grade? For example, if you have 2 As, 2 Bs and 1 D, start by studying more for the classes without As. If after, calculating your grades, you can only bring your D up to a C- by getting a 100% on the final exam, don’t spend most of your time studying for this class. The likelihood of your getting a 100% is not very high. But, if you can bring your Bs up to low As, concentrate of your studying time on these classes.
Even if you can’t improve your grade letter, do not completely neglect studying for this class. You could do so poorly on the exam that your grade actually goes down. On the other hand, you could bring your letter grade up and improve your overall GPA.
Do study for all of your classes. But also strategize your studying time by prioritizing your classes.
2. You should go to review sessions.
In general, review sessions can be a waste of your time. (I’m saying this as someone who has led review sessions.) Most of the time students come to review sessions having put no time or effort into preparing. They expect to have essentially have the work done for them.
These sessions, although meant to be helpful, do not usually share any new information you didn’t hear in class. If you come without preparing, you will waste your time. You can use this time much better by studying alone or in a small, focused group.
Group study sessions are also generally a waste of time. Most people mainly meet for the social aspect, not for actual studying. You end up wasting hours with other students who are just as clueless about what to study as you are.
If you’re planning to study with friends, you’re probably going to waste your time. Although your college friends are the wonderful friends, they are not ideal study partners. Studying with your closest friends will not help you stay focused. In fact, you’ll probably get distracted.
Don’t go to review or study sessions. Instead, look at your test grades to see what chapters you need to study more thoroughly. If you don’t understand some of the material, try asking a capable peer in your class. Also know that most professors will let you look at your past tests and quizzes in their office.
Use these much better ways to prepare for your exams.
3. You should study in your dorm room.
Don’t go to your dorm room to study. Ever. You will get nothing productive done there. If anything, you’ll get very distracted. Food, your bed, your roommates—they all make incredibly tempting distractions.
Fight your desire to be comfortable and go to the school library. Don’t think about it. Just do it. If you wait until you “feel” like going somewhere quiet to study, you’re waiting too long.
For example, after finishing your last class of the day you go purchase a coffee. While there, you run into your friends. You stop and talk for a few minutes. You head back to your dorm to change. On the way to your room, your dad calls. After chatting, you change into more comfortable clothes. You feel tired and decide to take a short nap. When you wake up, you can barely get yourself to get out of bed, but it’s time to grab dinner. You eat dinner, but once you’re done your friend texts you about going downtown. You’ll just have to wait until tomorrow to study.
While that example may sound far-fetched or like a slippery slope, it does depict what can easily happen (even when you do really intend to study). Avoid this whole scenario by heading straight to the library.
Why do you have to go to the library? The library is a boring place. It is. By going somewhere that is meant for studying and nothing else, you’ll avoid side-tracking pitfalls.
So, right after your last class every day, gather your belongings and go the library for an hour or so. If you start doing this in the weeks leading up to finals, you will face exams with more confidence and better preparation.
4. You should try new study techniques.
The end of the semester is not the time to experiment with untried study techniques. Many struggling students think that trying new study techniques will help improve their grades. Finals is actually one of the worst times in the school year to study differently.
If you have some bad study habits, try some techniques that have worked in the past, and avoid using bad study techniques. Bad study techniques include cramming, making flashcards, the “junior-high technique” and “copy-paste” studying.
First, never cram for your exams. Cramming is a horrible study technique. You should have started studying a week before the exam, but you didn’t. Your brain isn’t meant to function this way.
Instead of cramming, try reviewing information daily in short 15-20 minute segments. This will work much better. Also focus on the content you can conquer by exam time. If you procrastinate studying until the day before, there is no way you will master all the information before tomorrow’s exam. So, focus on the material you can reasonably master—usually the first few and the last few chapters of the semester.
Second, avoid make flashcards. Very few exams should be studied for with flashcards. The exceptions include classes that are mainly memorized (e.g. anatomy). Sometimes the process of copying down your notes on 3x5 cards can be helpful, but most of the time it is far too time-consuming. Instead, try some of these study techniques.
Third, never study like your junior-high self. Unless you were a certified genius in your junior high school years, you should not revert to these study techniques:
Don’t highlight most of the lines in your notes and textbooks.
Don’t reread your entire textbook.
Don’t make a list of all your bold and italicized terms.
Don’t rewrite all your notes.
Fourth, never study for every class the same way—“copy-paste” studying. Just because one study technique worked for a class, does not mean it will work for every class. Additionally just because all of your classes are difficult, does not mean you should study for all of them the exact same way.
Use the knowledge you have about each of your professors to your advantage. Remember how each professor usually tests and study accordingly. Use any study guides handed out or exam overviews discussed in class. Focus on specific areas your professor highlighted. Most finals aren’t entirely cumulative, so target the main areas with tried-and-true study techniques.
5. You should sacrifice your health for your grades.
Your upperclassman roommate may have told you that the week of finals is like purgatory, but it doesn’t have to be. If you’ve heard “you won’t be able to get sleep or eat properly during finals, so don’t even try,” that’s a lie. You actually can get sleep, exercise and eat well.
You should not skip meals to study. Your brain needs fuel to study. When I say fuel, I mean healthy food. Many students eat tons of fast food the week of finals, which doesn’t help them stay healthy.
Your health is important. Think of the food you eat as medicine for your body and mind. If you forget to take “medicine,” of course you’ll feel lousy. If you take harmful “medicine” (e.g. french fries every day), your body will react. So, be sure to eat plenty of protein and vegetables. You want your brain and body to be in the best shape possible.
You do not need to stock up on caffeine and sugar during finals. Coffee addicts out there may disagree, but you shouldn’t be having more than 4 cups of coffee daily according to the Mayo Clinic. Only “up to 400 milligrams (mg) of caffeine a day appears to be safe for most healthy adults.”
Some people are particularly sensitive to caffeine. If you get jittery or have trouble sleeping, you are probably caffeine sensitive. These people should be very careful about how much caffeine they consume.
Eating too much sugar can also have negative mental effects. According to Dr. David Sack, writer for Psychology Today, consuming “sugar may also compromise cognitive abilities such as learning and memory.” As tempting as it might be, avoid consuming holiday treats, energy drinks and other sugary foods and beverages.
You should exercise during finals. Not only does exercising help you take a break from studying, but it also helps relieve the stress of exams. Some students believe exercise helps them be more productive. You don’t have to exercise for an hour each night, but try going on a 10-minute walk.
Finals are difficult and intimidating, but don’t fear. You can confidently face finals by debunking these 5 lies. You should study for all your exams, study the material on your own, go to the library to study, study with techniques that have proven successful and maintain your health during exams.
