Hello there!
No one knows how much college students suffer during those last 30 days before the finals or the mid-terms. Yes, laziness during the semester might be a major cause for that last minute stress and depression yet students are somehow excused, swinging between the obligations and boredom of studies –to be honest, our programs are not something to be excited about- and the need to have a life and to develop their own selves. We mustn’t forget that college years are meant to be a person’s “years to remember”.
Either it’s laziness, a love story, family issues, a natural disaster or whatever, never forget that you still have time to do a good job if not great. The key binding all the clues I’ll be talking about below is to never give up, never say :it’s late… I know it sounds cliché but believe me, that’s the one and only key (besides studying like a maniac the whole semester and end up with a skin whiter than vampire’s , no social skills and eyes pending out of their eye balls)
And now to the core, HOW ON EARTH WOULD I BE ABLE TO DO IT IN SUCH LITTLE TIME?
Bellow, are 4 tiny baby steps that would hopefully help you answer that question:
1 – Let’s get ourselves stressed a bit more before we start:
Yes, I am not drunk and I mean what I wrote. In order to cool down a bowl of soup quickly you should bring the hottest parts sitting in the bottom upside and release all the heat at once, otherwise you should wait way longer for it to cool on its own.
Take a calendar, and start counting how many days you still have left, once done you should make a list of all the subjects you’ll pass that semester and put them in the same order you’ll pass them into. After this you are probably more aware of how much trouble you’re in, and you know how serious the situation is. Acknowledging the problem is the first step toward solution (Oh sweet l! I sound like Dr.Phill -_-).
2 – Never work as a lab rat in the last minutes:
A weird tip, but give it a thought and you’ll see where I am heading.
90% of us last minute workers have a need to ask other people about their study methods, and how can we improve ourselves, and is the time we counted in the step before would be enough to study everything? it’s like we need their approval or blessing to start working.
This is one of the leader causes of failure. I am not playing Oprah here, but by doing so you are crashing the tiny amount of self esteem you still have after knowing that you’re in a critical situation and that your semester depends on the few following days.
It’s not the time to start doubting your methods, and remember that each one of us have lacks and special features, so you mustn’t compare yourself to anyone else, it’s the biggest harm one can do to one’s self.
3 – Stay alert to your inner demon’s demolition plans:
After knowing we are doomed and assuming it, and after getting confidence in our own methods and our own selves, we must know that our subconscious is always influenced by the outside way more than it shows, therefore, once it’ll feel us getting on the right path, it’ll try sabotaging us by so many ways. I can only recite a few:
- Over sleeping: A major red code alert. We all have those mornings or afternoons where we can’t get out of bed, we’d love to keep on sleeping, to escape the world, we can’t study, there’s not enough time, who am I fooling with this crap? Even if I get up it is only 3 hours till sunset and it’s over. NO
- I can’t remember anything: Don’t believe that falsified feeling of you being dumb, or unable to get any piece of information to stick to your mind. It’s only games you are playing to keep yourself from achieving the possible.
- Procrastinating: “Since I finished this early today, I’ll leave the next chapter until tomorrow morning, so I would remember it all, I am tired right now” NO, again it’s only an excuse and remember that every extra effort you make, every time you finish early, every minute you earn could be used in rest later.
The 3rd step recommend that we must be as aware as possible to any inner attempt of destroying what the steps before have built.
4 – Beware of Mr/Ms know it all:
Now that we protected ourselves from the inside, we shouldn’t forget that we live in a world where people aren’t always kind and pink and fluffy and full of candies. We all have people around us that wouldn’t want us to do it better than them, and it’s ok because we are human. Greed, jealousy and envy are default settings in a human being.
We all have those people around us who try to play The rescuer at that critical time, and I let you the honor to remember scenarios from your own experiences :D.
The best answer to those would be: Thank you but NO!
The last thing you need is someone to increase your doubt about yourself, always keep in mind that you are doing your best, you are doing well, and it would pay off, just keep doing it the way you see fit. And never let go, never be passive and say: I’ve done all I can. If the exam paper wasn’t looking you in the eyes, you still have time to improve yourself.
I know I am in no position to give advice, since my experience is as immature as it can be. But what’s written above is what I personally follow every time I feel screwed ^^. Your advice, suggestion and questions would make the perfect add to this post, and hopefully it’ll get your approval.
Peace and work your butt out of exams.
