We have officially entered into the pre-finals week rush. The time where everyone is rushing to cram in all their studying from a semesters worth of material. This is probably the most stressful time of the entire year and it can be overwhelming to even think about where to start studying. So here I have come up with some tips to help you buckle down and go into finals (or even any test) with confidence and level head.

1. Finding your spot

The first part to studying is finding a place to begin it. You want to pick a spot that will minimize distractions and anything else that will discourage you from studying. Pick somewhere that is comfortable (preferably quiet) and allows you to spread out all your work, this way you can have a larger area to maximize your studying capabilities.

2. Make a plan

Studying for finals or a big test can be really overwhelming if you look at the picture. So to minimize stress the best way to cover all your material is to develop a plan for how long you want to study and what you need to cover in that amount of time. For example you can study two chapters of math in two hours and do fifteen practice problems per chapter. Then after that you can move on to another subject to keep your brain from getting bored of doing the same subject. Another good tip is to not just read your book but to also ask questions to yourself and look at past work sheets or study guides and physically go through your mind and re-answer the questions asked.

3. Don’t forget your rewards

While filling your brain with information you may not necessarily care to be cramming, rewarding yourself after the fact is a good incentive to keep yourself going. After you finish your hour of studying, reward yourself with ten minutes of free time to do whatever you want, but make sure you don’t get distracted on your break. When you’re recharging your brain from studying it’s also a good idea to re-fuel with some of your favorite snack food.

4. Get Motivated

This last tip may seem redundant when it comes down to studying, but all studying really is is a mental game. If you have the attitude that you will ace your final and you will remember that concept that you’re struggling with, there really isn’t anything you can’t do. On the other hand if you have a negative attitude while studying, all that will do for you is create even more stress and make you want to procrastinate even more. So all in all a positive attitude is the number one study tip for all situations.