Bianca Harkless
Editor-In-Chief
Whether you have one more semester or seven left, finals are still hanging over your head. As a senior, I have made my way through enough finals that I feel I can give good advice on how to handle it.
For starters, the best advice I can give is to start studying early. Everyone hears this advice and no one follows it because who wants to start studying early? Well, reviewing early gives you a chance for you to brush up on things you do not remember and allows you time to relearn a whole school year’s worth of info the night before you take this huge test.
Another tip is to study with friends. Whether it be working on algebra or a desperate attempt to remember all of the bones in the human body, having a friend to talk about it with helps. For example, my Sophomore year, I was placed into Ms. Zint’s Chemistry class. Luckily for me, one of my best friends, Trinity Clark, also has the class and understood basically everything that went on in it. I spent a few days before the final studying with her asking her things I did not understand and, because of relearning the things I had forgotten, I did very well on the test.
Turning off your phone is another great tip. No teenager wants to be told to get off their phone but it is the best way to study. Without your phone in your hand or vibrating every time something happens in the world, you are better able to focus on the work that is in front of you. If you are like me and do not like studying in silence, you can create a playlist on any movie platform and leave that playing therefore you are not changing the song every time one ends.
Following putting your phone down, the next best piece of advice is to do the work you are dreading the worst first. You are not going to want to do it at any point in the night, so you might as well knock it out first.
Additionally, set up a time where you work and when you do not. For me, I tend to do 30 minutes of work and then I am on my phone, laptop, or doing whatever I want for 15 minutes. You can change the time to whatever works for you, but I have found I have the best results when I do that. Another thing you can do is motivate yourself through food. For example, if you have a passage you are reading or a study guide you are trying to make your way through, read a certain amount of pages or answer a certain number of questions and then eat a cookie or your favorite food.
Studying is no one’s favorite activity but it is necessary for school. Regardless of if you actually do any of these, I wish you all the best on your finals and enjoy the time you have left in high school, but please, learn some studying tips before you make it to your senior year.
Image Credit: Debby Hudson on Unsplash
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