Surival Kit for Exams

What I'm Listening To: Fly away-Newsboys

Mifflin was this weekend, which was nice because I saw some friends I don't usually see. It's basically like Taste of Chicago only it's only beer and college students. I attended, but didn't partake of anything as I had to study a lot for this week. It's finals week as I sit here writing this in my Spanish class (which is 25% empty) and I have a rigorous study schedule. Here is my finals schedule:

Friday 4/7/10 (OPTIONAL)
Com Dis 240 1:00-3:00 pm

Sunday 4/10/10 (Mother's Day)
Spanish 223 10:05-12:05 am
Com Dis 5:05-7:05 pm

Monday 4/10/10
Philosophy 210 7:45-9:45 am

Thursday 4/13/10
AOS 100 7:30-9:30 pm

Needless to say it's probably a good thing I gave my mom her Mother's Day present already. This year will be interesting because usually I've had a day between all of my finals and never two on the same day. I'm bad at studying for multiple finals, hence the rigorous study schedule. I've decided to post some tips on how to make it through exams in one piece. Some are obvious, but some may surprise you. Here are five traditional tips and here are some of my own:

1) You should study the amount of days that your class is worth. So if you have a four credit class, you should study for days before your exam, three credit, three days and so on.
    a. if you can't do that because you have multiples, alternate the number of hours that your class credit is with another class in the same day to stay prepared and focused (i.e. for mine I'm studying two for philosophy, three for Com Dis, and then one for Spanish and then Com Dis will increase or decrease accordingly and then the next day Spanish will increase with Philosophy until I'm only studying Philosophy for a day)

2) Cramming only makes use of  your short term memory, so if you must, use flashcards or make up memory games to help retain it better

3) Be careful about using energy drinks. Make sure you're drinking enough water and eating all well if you do and be careful about the amount of caffeine you consume (like you shouldn't need pills, Red Bull, coffee, and another stimulant). My personal fave energy drink is Amp because it doesn't taste really horrible and I tend to make sure I'm stocked with coffee.

4) Make sure you get some sleep in. I'm bad at this because I tend to never sleep. My days usually start at 7:45am and end at 2:00am during the school year.  Try to taper yourself off and get a little more sleep in or you will crash from your caffeine and your exam times could be really awkward, like mine this year.

5) Have some snacks ready. They will keep you awake.  Try to have ones that will give you energy, like nuts or something sour and sweet. I tend to alternate between milk and dark chocolate, nuts, chex mix, and oranges. The citrus will help you

6) Remember to take breaks. Short ones. If you're having problems staying awake, go run down the hall or some stairs or get down and do some push-ups. The oxygen will go to your brain and wake you  up and you'll feel much better afterward because you got working out AND studying in.

Those are the main tips that I have, but how well we do depends on us. Which is why I should probably stop and pay attention to the music video we're watching in class. What are some of your tips?