How to Organize Yourself for Finals: 5 Essential Steps
This blog is all about how to organize for finals.
Finals are around the corner, and so are the endless coffees, all-nighters, and mental struggles. Finals are the most stressful days for any student.
Staying organized for finals is the key to avoiding burnout.
Good planning of your final exams is essential for productive study preparation. By setting time blocks for study sessions, we allow ourselves to have a life beyond studying.
In this blog, I will show you how to prepare for college finals. By the end of this blog, you’ll know how to stay organized, reduce stress, and create an efficient study plan for finals.
STEP 0: Understand Your Study Needs
Before building your study schedule for finals, it’s essential to know certain information about yourself. This will be your starting point, since you will be building your schedule around these ideas.
Must-know personal information to create the best finals organization system:
- How much time do I need to study? How much can I study in one hour?
- How much time do I have to study?
- Do I have any additional to-dos during finals apart from studying? Work, sports practice, family gatherings…
- When are my exams? Make a list of all the dates
- What do I need to study? List all the material you need to revise.
STEP 1: Choose Your Preferred Study Technique
Before building a study schedule for finals, it’s essential to decide which study technique you will be using. Each technique requires a different time, so you have to plan for that.
For example, the Pomodoro technique requires more rest time than active recall. Spaced repetition needs at least a week to be effective.
If you don’t know how to choose your study technique, read my post on 5 proven study techniques.
TIP: You can choose a different study technique for each class. In my case, if I have a math class, my technique is to assign extra time for practice tests. On the other hand, if I have a class I struggle with, I would go with Pomodoro, so I don’t burn out easily.
STEP 2: Take Care of Yourself During Finals
Studying and getting good marks are important, but we don’t have to forget that we are people. We need to disconnect, get fresh air, move our bodies, etc.
When you create your finals study schedule, make sure you set time for:
- At least 8 hours of sleep
- 30 minutes for walking or exercising (preferably outdoors)
- Socializing
TIP: Implementing self-care during finals isn’t that difficult. You can go to a café with your friends to study, or take a 1-hour break to have lunch with your friends.
Taking breaks and prioritizing your health will help you be motivated and productive, as well as prevent burnout.
STEP 3: Build your finals study schedule
Although building a finals study schedule seems like a mind-blowing job, it is actually very simple.
First of all, take your planner. It can be a physical planner (this is my optimal option), or you can take an online calendar. I like Notion calendars, but any other calendar or spreadsheet can work as well.
TIP: check out my FREE Notion template for college students.
Once you have your planner, add all your exam dates.
Second, block time for revision. This time will be just for revising, not studying. My advice is to set aside at least one full day if you have enough time. If not, it can be 1-2 hours on your last study day. However, revising needs to be the last thing you do before the exam.
Lastly, block out time for the actual studying. My advice? Set a time for each topic you have to study. Your planning needs to be precise; you have to know what you need to study, when, and for how long. If not, it’s easy to procrastinate.
TIP: Assign break times between study sessions for more productive studying.
STEP 4: Set a Proper Final Exam Study Environment
Some people need music, others need silence, or people around. Whatever it is that helps you concentrate, the key is to have a set study space.
Although sometimes it’s the most comfortable place, don’t study on your couch or bed.
Your mind relates places to actions. Therefore, when you lie in bed, your mind instantly thinks of sleeping. If you assign a space to studying, once you sit down, your mind will know that it’s time to study.
A proper study environment won’t ensure that you will have an effective study session, but it will help you lock in.
In my case, instead of a place, what helps me concentrate is music. If I don’t have music on, I get bored and struggle to focus.
My favorite final exam study tip is to have music on. I have a Spotify Playlist that I listen to whenever I study. Therefore, whenever I listen to that playlist, my mind instantly knows it’s time to study.
Conclusion:
If your finals are coming up, don’t worry, you are not alone! Remember that studying is important so that we can have the life we desire. However, you can’t get lost in your priorities. Taking care of yourself is always more important than good marks.
Now grab your planner and start building your finals schedule. You can also comment on your biggest finals struggle.