Sometimes procrastination takes over our lives like a virus does to its host cell. Of course, we face the consequences in moments of despair and cramming. Of course, if you had started studying three weeks ago, it would have been beneficial; but since you didn’t you are now desperate for any ways to save yourself.
You’ve already heard all the clichéd tips: get off of the internet, study in a quiet place, go to the library. But none of that stuff is helping at all. You find yourself back at your computer after two hours of failed attempts at studying.
The first thing you ask yourself is why are you putting off studying? Usually it’s because you feel overwhelmed by the plethora of work that you have. Take five minutes to arrange which finals are more important and which are not (meaning they will not have much effect on your grade even if you fail). After that set aside an hour for each subject, with one ten minute break everywhere hour; basically you are studying for 6 or seven hours in row, yet switching subjects each hour. The reason this for this is so that you do not get bored and completely give up or get distracted. Once you have studied all the subjects for an hour, take a longer break and start the 6-7 hour studying session again.
In actual studying, it is too late to reread all the chapters, but if you are a fast reader and can understand what you are reading, go ahead. For the rest of us, it’s a good idea to just read over any notes you have. Another good idea would be to divide up each subject into major topics and make sure you fully understand them. If you have study guides, definitely go over them. Redo homework problems for math. If you go back and cannot complete a homework assignment, chances are you need to go over that material. There are always chapters that you fully understand and those that you don’t. Don’t spend as much time on what you already know (if you can remember it after 5 months, chances are you won’t forget it in three days). Essentially, go over the stuff you forgot, go over homework, and study review packets or study guides that your teachers have, hopefully, provided for you.
On Tuesday night, simply study for the subjects you have the next day. If you have extra time, or if your subjects on that day are easy, or you don’t have finals in those classes, only then should you be studying other subjects. By then it is too late to continue cramming. Focus on the next day more than the whole week. If you didn’t get distracted, you should be going over the last couple of chapters.
Remember not to study all night (with any luck, you won’t have to) and eat a good breakfast. If you feel as if you haven’t studied enough, don’t freak out. At that point, there will be not much that you can do about it. Your best hope is to pretend you know everything, take a deep breath and take the final. Defeat procrastination. Happy Studying!
