Join me in my freshman final freak-out

Since December first, my two brain cells have been in a tug-of-war of CHRISTMAS and FINALS. The finals brain cell was finally starting to win so I decided it was time to at least attempt being productive. I went to a workshop called “Preparing for Finals” lead by Pat Dickinson - partially so I could fool myself into feeling more prepared and partially for the free pizza. And while the pizza was only lukewarm, I do feel more prepared than before - I was a 0 on the prepared scale and now I’m maybe a 3... out of 10. Progress!The point is, since what I learned was useful, I thought it’d be a nice Christmas gift to share Pat’s tricks - and hopefully help bump you from a B to an A. If you’re a fellow freshman, pay attention. We have a storm coming.Before you do anything, you have GOT to make some sort of master plan. I’m serious. If your attitude is "I'll wing it," you’re going to have an epiphany at 2 am the night before your Neuro 10 final and realize that winging it was a super bad idea. Make sure you know the date, time and location of your exams and the due dates of any last remaining projects (double check Canvas, the syllabus, with your classmates, etc.). Next, calculate your current and estimated final grades: this is important because it’ll show you how much energy you need to spend on each class (for example, if you’re spending more than five hours studying for a S/NC class that you’d still pass even if you got a 30 on the final, you’re wasting your goddamn time). It’s also best to prioritize courses that are in your major or courses in which you didn’t do too hot on the midterms. When making your master plan, don't forget to factor in office hours, review sessions, and social time with your friends. (Please don’t hide away for an entire week, being a recluse is only cool when Boo Radley does it).Here are some takeaways for exam studying:

• Don’t go to learn-mode... you need to be in study-mode! What this means is, you can’t be frantically catching up on readings you’ve missed for the past three weeks, because you won’t have time to process all that new information as well as review everything. It’s best to find the main themes of your lectures, read the introductions and conclusions of your readings, and try to figure out how it all ties in together rather than cramming everything and hoping for the best.
• Know if your final is short answer, multiple choice, true/false, or a mix. Don’t just assume your final is the same as the midterm - odds are it probably is, but ask a TA for clarification. They’d also be able to tell you if the final is cumulative or not, if the professor hasn’t already. If there are no available practice tests or if you’ve already taken them all, then study the format of the midterms.
• If the final is mainly multiple choice, don’t just rely on memorization techniques. Make sure you understand the concepts, because if you’re used to one definition, then you won’t recognize terms when they’re defined in a new way. It’s best to study from different materials, e.g. lecture capture, TA slides, and the textbook, rather than just one of these options.
• For engineering, math, chemistry, and similar courses, do as many practice problems as you physically can. Remember, it’s important to get to the point where you can do a problem without looking at similar problems or the answer - if you can’t yet, you can copy the process, but you don’t KNOW the process.

Next, some tips for essay-writing:

• If you’re given a choice of prompt, choose the easiest prompt. Trust me, you’re not going to get bonus points for attempting a ‘harder’ prompt - if anything, you’re going to look like a dumbass when your classmates get As and you got a C for trying to be bold. Also, the prompt that is easy for you might not be what’s easy for everyone else.
• Stay on target - a well-written essay is awesome, but if you’re writing about the whole freaking zoo when it’s supposed to be just penguins, that’s not ideal.
• Unless stated in the directions, make sure your opinion doesn’t overshadow your analysis. Ask your professor for clarification on what they’re looking for if you’re unsure.
• Give yourself enough time to edit. After I finish outlining, I open up a Doc and just starting spit-balling, venting, whatever - and often end up churning out sentences I can use in my intro or conclusion.
• Print out your essay when you edit. Even if you have to do this fifteen times, like me.

Just some general solid advice:

• Take study breaks where you aren’t just switching to a different subject. Go for a walk, have dinner with your friends, do laundry. It gives you time to process the old information and keeps you from getting burnt out in two days.
• You’re not effective when you work late at night. You just think you are because there’s less distractions and your cortisol levels are low. The optimum time for studying is early/late morning (depending on what time you wake up) and afternoon.
• Allow for at least one hour of transition from homework to bed (talk to people, read a book, eat a snack - just don’t go on your phone).
• According to Pat, there’s a 10% decrease in productivity for every hour of sleep you lost the night before. So set a bedtime using your alarm (you do this to wake up, so why not do it to go to sleep?)
• Learn to say no. What little social time you’re going to treat yourself to must be precious. Don’t waste it with people you don’t care about - harsh but true. Go Christmas shopping with your friends, not with people whose last names you don’t know!

Remember: You is smart.