As the year wraps up, life seems to climb to a stressful peak. The semester is ending, grades are cutting off, and the holiday season is fast approaching, leading to many mixed emotions because, with the “most wonderful time of the year,” comes a hard price; and that is finals.

The few preliminary weeks leading up to finals can take its toll on everyone. Upperclassmen are used to this process, but this semester will be the first for the freshman class. Here are some tips to survive finals:

1. Budget your time

“I make sure that I budget my time and separate studying for certain classes for certain days,” says Senior Mandy Wesley. “This way I’m more efficient and it makes keeping track of classes much easier.”

Managing time inefficiently can be the deciding factor in the performance of students during school, especially during finals. Not only that, but this also tends to stress you out more than necessary. Make it easy on yourself and limit the distractions that may cause you to waste time and come up with a schedule to allow time for each class.

2. Don’t over stress

“If I had any advice to freshmen taking finals for the first time, it’d be to not freak yourself out,” says senior Griffin Brow. “If you do that, you lose before you even started.”

Finals are different in every class but most of the time, it is just the things that you already learned.

Wesley says that she often talks to her teachers to keep up with what is going on and to get a gauge of what the final is going to be about. There is no reason to make it worse by worrying and scaring yourself.

“Usually I’m not too stressed about it,” Brow says. “I’m more relieved since it’s normally followed by a break or something.”

3. Don’t procrastinate

We all do it, but when it becomes crucial to be prepared for several classes at once, cramming last minute is not the best idea. Instead, Brow says that he tries to study a little bit every night so he can retain the maximum amount of material. It is much more efficient to follow such a system, rather than wait until the last minute.
“Try to prepare ahead of time,” Brow says. “You will stress less too if you are cramming last minute. Be prepared.”

4. Take care of yourself

“During finals I just make sure that I have a good breakfast in the morning to start off the day,” says Wesley.

“Yeah I just try to get as much sleep as possible,” says sophomore Carmen Simon, “honestly it’s not worth getting no sleep. You’ll remember more if you wake up early and organize your time like that.”

No matter what, you won’t do as well as possible if you are sleep deprived and not getting good meals. Put those things first is crucial to prevent breakdowns.