Prepping for Finals: EU students share tips ad prime locations for making the most out of studying for finals week

By: Katherine Seeley

As finals are right around the corner, I wanted to impart some wisdom to get us through this week together. First, find a great place to study. I find that the second or third floor of the library is a great place to focus. When it comes to finals, having a clean space and one that makes you feel motivated is a great thing. My favorite place to study is the second floor of the library facing the windows. I love looking at the views because it makes me feel at peace during this stressful time

Another one of my favorite places is my dorm room. I like to study on the floor because I do my best thinking there. It helps me concentrate and let’s be honest, a lot of us love lying on the floor. I do a lot of my work there and finals are a time filled with tons of work. My dorm is my safe place and when I study, I want to be in a place that is cozy and makes me feel comfortable. Sometimes my dorm is not the best place to do work, but when I feel like I want a cozier feel and not a productive one, my dorm is the best place for that. 

After I find my favorite places to study, I start reviewing the material. Some of my professors give a study guide a week before finals, so I start on that because when it comes time to study, I want to just hit the ground running. I highlight all my notes on the study guide in different colors because it helps me remember things more easily. The different colors keep my brain engaged with the material, plus it looks pretty. 

I advise putting your phone far away or putting it on do not disturb. I use an app called Plantie that locks your phone for a certain amount of time and once it is set it grows a plant. It is a fun thing to do because you get to watch it grow bigger the more amount of time you study. You also can unlock and plant different trees once you study for a certain amount of time. 

Another thing I like to do is make a Quizlet. I used to love making notecards, but I got lazy and when you have a ton of finals to study for, the last thing you want to do is spend hours creating notecards. Quizlet is easier because you can copy and paste terms and definitions onto the Quizlet cards. It takes about an hour to two hours when I do this. Once everything is highlighted and put onto a Quizlet, I start studying. It is easy to want to pull an all-nighter, but that is not the best idea. Set a time to stop studying so you can get some rest before you take your tests. 

Remember, finals do not define who you are as a person. We are cramming a lot of information into one week and sometimes we have multiple tests a day. As long as you try your best, that is all that matters.