Surviving and Thriving During Finals

Well, Falcon, you’re nearly to the finish line. Just a few weeks of hard work come between you and the completion of your first semester at UWRF. There’s no time like the present to own your academic game: whether you’re satisfied with your grades up to this point, or you are realizing that you could have worked a little harder this semester, it’s not too late for things to change. With finals just two weeks away, take the following steps to do your very best in your classes.

Make a Plan: Organize and Prioritize

• Take larger projects and split them into smaller pieces. Start early and work hard as soon as things are assigned.
• Use breaks between classes (even if just for a half hour to an hour) to tackle pieces of assignments. This will make them less daunting when students have time to crack down and focus
• For some, creating a master to-do list can help you identify how to spend your “free” time and prioritize when projects need to get done.

Use a Calendar

Using your UWRF Outlook calendar that accompanies your school email account can be a real lifesaver. Think of school as a full workday: use your calendar to block off times for class, work, extra-curricular events, eating, exercising, studying, and some free time. Try to be realistic.

• Think about what you want for yourself in the long run. How many hours a week do you think you should be studying to ace that Anatomy exam? How long will you really be productive working on that paper?
• Break things into manageable bits.
• Set reminders on your calendar to alert you ahead of time of things you have on the horizon and keep you on track. 
• If it helps, try making a master to-do list, you can consider filling in the to-do list items within your blocked off times to ensure they get completed.

Find a good study space
 

Get out of your room and study. There are plenty of places in the library, academic buildings, residence halls, and University Center. Be honest with yourself about whether you can be productive with friends around or not for certain assignments and plan accordingly.

Minimize Distractions
 

Technology can really get the best of us when we are hunkering down and trying to focus. Opening one Snap from a friend can quickly turn into a half hour of scrolling through those darn Discover pages... ugh. But there are tools that can help you keep your distractions under control!

• Screen Time Monitors. Many smartphones have screen time monitors on them that can help you shut down access to apps when you’ve spent a designated amount of time on them.
• Website Blockers. There are plenty of services online, as well, that can “block” access to websites you identify after a certain amount of time. These can be helpful when you are looking for some distractions against your best interest.

Take Care of Yourself

• Prioritizing school work is important, but doing all of the aforementioned steps won’t do you much good if you aren’t feeling well.
  • Make sure you are taking care of yourself by getting enough sleep, taking study breaks, exercising and getting outside, drinking plenty of water, and allowing yourself time to rest.
• Eating well is especially important during finals. While it is tempting to load up on sweets and caffeine stimulants, recognize that these will take a toll on your ability to sleep and can ultimately make you feel groggy.
  • To do your best work, you’ll need to take care of your body!
• Be sure to take some breaks to spend time with friends and take a break from thinking about class—taking regular breaks in moderation can help you be more successful in the long run.
  • Check out things hosted in your residence hall and other events going on throughout campus to help you unwind!

Use Campus Resources

Whether you’re feeling behind in a class, or just feeling like you want to ace your finals, you should be taking advantage of these on-campus resources.

• The UWRF Writing Center
• Tutoring Services 
• Your professor’s office hours
• Classmates and peers: set up some study groups and opportunities to review each other’s work to give and receive feedback

Put these tips to use and do your best this finals season! We are cheering for you!

 

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Looking for things to do this month? Check out the following things happening on campus:

Freeze Fest
Friday, December 6th: 9:00pm-11:45pm
Falcon Center

Hygge: A Celebration of Winter
Wednesday, December 11th: 4:30pm-7pm
Involvement Center

Finals Week
December 16th- December 19th

Winter Break
December 17th- January 26th

January Term Classes (you can still sign up!)
December 21st-January 25th

Winter of Welcome
January 27th-February 1st