Just thinking about it gives me anxiety. It’s the time of year where I just want to curl up in a fetal position in my closet and pretend to be a dust particle. Everybody seems to be dropping the “f-bomb” lately.

Finals.

Being new last year, I had absolutely no idea what was creeping up on me. And when finals week came around, I was a royal wreck. I was so full of stress. I’d stay up all night studying. Great idea, ride? Wrong. I’d wake up exhausted and couldn’t think straight.

This article is here to help you get organized and prepped for finals, be it if you’re a new student, a disorganized student, or just reading this article for fun. This list was composed not only by me, but also your fellow classmates.

1. Before you do anything, ask your teacher if the final is going to be cumulative or only cover the semester.  Cumulative is when the final covers everything you learned throughout the whole year. “I study my notes and quizzes” says Stephanie Muench, ’13.  It’s important to find out what type of final it will be because you don’t want to study notes and quizzes that won’t be on the final nor do you want to neglect information that will be on it.
2. Get a facial/massage the week before. Whenever I’m stressed, my muscles tighten up and my skin breaks out. I have more than enough to deal without having to also think about finals. I definitely don’t need skin issues taking up my time! And you know what’s worse than being a pizza face during finals? Having muscle spasms in the middle of a final. Get your skin cleared and muscles loosened.
3. Sort your notecards ahead of time. If you don’t have any notecards, make some with index cards. If you don’t want to use paper or don’t have the money to buy them, use Quizlet.com, a free website which you can make and quiz yourself with notecards. “After going over the note cards over and over you start to memorize the material. It’s how I study for every test now,” Sarah Wilcox, ’14.
   
4. When you get bored studying, remind yourself the impact these have on your grade. Who wants to study when you could be watching season two of Pretty Little Liars on Netflix? You know you should be studying Literaure, but that argument on Facebook about juniors parking in Senior spots is only getting more heated. Alright, those things are entertaining and fun, but if you don’t study, then they’ll also be stigma on not only the grade on your final, but also your overall grade. Study!
5. Get at least eight hours of sleep. Last year, I thought it’d be an excellent idea to stay up all night to study, sleep for two hours, and then chug a few mugs of coffee. This worked excellently for the first half an hour. But after forty five minutes, I thought I was dying. I couldn’t think straight and wanted to sleep. Moral of the story: open up a can of Z’s, not a can of Coca-cola.

I hope these tips help. See you at the beach after exams!